My college required students to be conversationally fluent in a foreign language before graduation. I had 4 years of middle school/high school French under my belt, but had to take another year of college French before I could pass the fluency test. The first day of class I showed up to a room full of people speaking French completely naturally, which confused me until I realized my classroom with filled with native speaking French-Canadians from the hockey team looking for an easy A. Overall it probably helped me because it was a more immersive experience, but walking into that room on day 1 was a shock.