So I placed into L4 - Now What?

How you got here:

What you need to do to fulfill the requirement:

Some things you need to know up front:

1. Deadline: You need to complete your L4 course by the end of your sophomore year. Don't jeopardize your promotion to junior year by putting this off!
   
   
2. At any level, fulfilling the Foreign Language Requirement only gives you minimal proficiency in your foreign language. If you plan to make any practical use of your language, you should seriously consider taking at least four semesters of it at Yale, and going abroad at some point wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Be sure to read Eight Reasons the Foreign Language Requirement Isn't Enough to find out why you (yes, you--no matter what you're planning to major in) should keep taking language courses even after completing the requirement.
   

A few options:

1. You could take your L4 semester right here on the Yale campus in beautiful downtown New Haven. Some language programs offer L4 during the fall.  If yours does, great: take it right away before you forget too much.
   
   If it's not offered until the spring, you could wait until spring of your freshman year to take foreign language, but that's a whole semester you'd be spending forgetting what you knew when you took the placement test--you'd risk sliding backward. One good way to combat that problem is to practice or study on your own during the fall semester. Another is to talk with the instructor or Language Program Director in your language about whether you could take L3 during the fall anyway--at least it'll keep you from forgetting what you knew--or whether they have any other suggestions for you to help maintain your language skills before you can take L4. (If your language program is one that allows you to take L3 in the fall even though you don't need it, you would still have to complete L4 to fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement.)
   
   You should also seriously consider continuing your language study for at least a semester or two after you've fulfilled the requirement. Take a look at Eight Reasons the Foreign Language Requirement Isn't Enough for some points you might not have considered about the usefulness of advanced language skills!
   
   
   
2. Summer Courses. You could fulfill the requirement by enrolling in Yale Summer Session or another approved summer study program. Some things to consider about this:
   
   a. The Yale Summer Session course will likely be an intensive course that combines L3 and L4. You should speak with your Language Program Director or the Director of the Summer Language Institute before choosing this option, since you might find the L3 part of the course to be repetitive.
   
   b. If you participate in a non-Yale program, you will have to pass an additional exam when you return to campus before your experience will count toward fulfilling the requirement.
   
   c. During the summer, you may have the opportunity to complete your language requirement abroad, which is always a great opportunity.
   
   d. However, depending on the summer program you choose, you also risk missing out on some of the cultural experiences available on campus during the academic year. Many language programs offer language tables, film series, and other outside-of-class learning opportunities that do not run during the summer. If you do fulfill your requirement during the summer, be sure to try and take advantage of some of these opportunities during the year, too.
   
   e. Summer courses are most effective when immediately followed up by an "anchoring" language course in the fall. For example, if you do the eight-week Intermediate Spanish course in Yale Summer Session, you should plan to take a fifth-semester Spanish language course (either Advanced Conversational Spanish or, if you're ready, a bridge course, such as Spanish in Film or Advanced Spanish Grammar) the very next semester. If you do, you'll be amazed at how much Spanish you've learned in a very short period of time, and you'll be well-positioned to go on to learning just about anything in Spanish. If you don't follow up your summer study with an L5 course, you're likely to forget what you've learned very quickly.
   
   
3. Academic year study abroad (non-Yale). Technically, you can complete your requirement while studying abroad during the academic year. (You would have to take an exam upon return to campus before your experience would count as part of the requirement.) However, you'll likely find that most study abroad programs have more demanding prerequisites for participation than just three semesters. (Check on this early so you have time to fulfill any prerequisites before you apply to a program!) Study abroad during the academic year is a wonderful opportunity to expand your knowledge of a language and culture of a foreign country. However, if you plan to do this, it is strongly recommended that you complete the L4 level at Yale first, so you can be as prepared as possible for the challenging language situations you will likely encounter abroad.