The first two years of a language are easy. Taking year 4 or 5 shows academic rigor.

The best reason to continue a foreign language in high school isn’t to get into college but to satisfy the college’s foreign language requirement for graduation. For example, if you’ve completed 2 years of foreign language in high school, VATech doesn’t require any additional study at the college. For William and Mary, it’s 4 years. At UVA, unfortunately, you have to test out; just completing years of class is insufficient. All that said, some colleges have open curriculums that don’t have a foreign language requirement.

My oldest is 11th grade so I can't firsthand answer your question, OP. But, within the last few years my sister's daughter finished FL in grade 11 at spanish 4 honors because the ap spanish class didn't fit into her schedule senior year so that she could fit in ap calculus and ap statistics which she considered more relevant for her interests than ap spanish. She was a top student in her graduating class with strong sat scores but did not get into UVA as an out of state student (of course always a crapshoot) and after the fact was told that UVA admissions considered it a negative that she didn't continue into ap spanish as a senior.

OP not everyone finds languages easy, some of us struggle. I would aim for the 4 years if possible but also investigate colleges / courses that your kid is interested in and see what they have as requirements.

My son will be taking 4 years. He started off in Latin in 9th grade but didn't love it so he switched to Spanish 1 in 10th grade.

I say this as someone who has avoided advanced stem classes in private he by taking advanced foreign language. Don’t do it. I ended up on a fine path as a journalist and now commas person, but I’m sure that’s many a dcumers worst nightmare. In hindsight I wish I took physics and calc!

I would aim for level 3 of a language, if possible, just to keep options a little more open. I don't think 4 is truly necessary, but 2 seems skimpy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An unmotivated or incapable kid who does only 2 years of a foreign language is very likely deficient in other ways to get into an Ivy, SLAC or even any top 500 school but community college is a good option. Some kids mature late and others just need the basics to get a job slightly above minimum wage.

Why do you assume the kid is unmotivated or incapable? We are discussing this very option with our sophomore. He has gotten As in language, but would rather take additional STEM classes than more language.

This, especially if you have to build a schedule around dual-enrollment classes

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize its an option. Doesn't your kid need it to graduate high school? Did they have MS language too?

Just taking what was mandatory, my kids will have had way more than 4 years of languages.

Only 2 years are required for High school graduation

But, isn't that minimum meant to accommodate kids who aren't going to college? Does the high school recommend that for kids who are in the college prep track?

Anonymous wrote:An unmotivated or incapable kid who does only 2 years of a foreign language is very likely deficient in other ways to get into an Ivy, SLAC or even any top 500 school but community college is a good option. Some kids mature late and others just need the basics to get a job slightly above minimum wage.

Why do you assume the kid is unmotivated or incapable? We are discussing this very option with our sophomore. He has gotten As in language, but would rather take additional STEM classes than more language.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't realize its an option. Doesn't your kid need it to graduate high school? Did they have MS language too?

Just taking what was mandatory, my kids will have had way more than 4 years of languages.

Only 2 years are required for High school graduation

Anonymous wrote:An unmotivated or incapable kid who does only 2 years of a foreign language is very likely deficient in other ways to get into an Ivy, SLAC or even any top 500 school but community college is a good option. Some kids mature late and others just need the basics to get a job slightly above minimum wage.

Thanks for the snarky comment. My kid took 2 years of language in high school and 3 in middle school. For college admissions purposes only the high school years are counted. My kid got into Michigan, Georgia Tech, UiUC and UMD Honors college with Scholarship. Can’t believe how mean DCUMER’s can be!

An unmotivated or incapable kid who does only 2 years of a foreign language is very likely deficient in other ways to get into an Ivy, SLAC or even any top 500 school but community college is a good option. Some kids mature late and others just need the basics to get a job slightly above minimum wage.

I didn't realize its an option. Doesn't your kid need it to graduate high school? Did they have MS language too?

Just taking what was mandatory, my kids will have had way more than 4 years of languages.

I get that you need it or it’s recommended for selective schools (Ivy/SLaC) but only 2-3 years is recommended for most state schools. I guess taking 4 years gives you more options when you are looking at colleges. Do you have a kid or know of one who only did 2 years of foreign language and still got into a SLAC or Ivy? Thanks