u/Defiant_Mood6359

Hey everyone,

I’m an incoming Stanford student, Class of 2030, and I’m trying to better understand the language requirement.

From what I saw on Stanford’s website, students can fulfill the requirement with a 4 or higher on the AP Spanish exam, but there also seems to be an option to take Stanford’s own placement test and potentially test out that way.

I had a few questions for current students or anyone familiar with the process:

1. How hard is the Stanford language placement test, especially compared to the AP Spanish exam?
2. If the goal is only to fulfill the requirement and not necessarily continue Spanish, is the AP route generally easier or more straightforward than the Stanford placement test?
3. The website made it seem like completing the beginner sequence takes a full year. Is that actually true in practice?

I’d really appreciate any insight from students who have gone through the process. Thank you!

What’s up!! Incoming co’30 here and I’m super excited about Stanford 🙌

Would love any advice you guys have — especially around:

what classes to take first quarter

any must-take (or avoid) courses

how to approach course selection in general

how people usually balance workload first quarter

best intro classes for econ / CS (thinking of exploring both)

how hard I should push myself vs easing in

tips for managing GPA early on

how useful office hours / sections actually are

And honestly, open to anything you wish you knew before starting — social life, dorms, internships, clubs, whatever.

Appreciate it a ton!!