Best colleges for French in the US

<p>My D is interested in studying French in college. I've been doing some research. We have Middlebury (naturally) and Bryn Mawr on our list. Can you recommend any other schools?</p>

<p>Why not consider McGill University in Montreal? Academics are excellent, the core language of instruction will still be English, but she’ll otherwise be able to immerse herself in French in so many ways and it’s probably far less expensive than Middlebury.</p>

<p>As far as McGill is concerned, majoring in French means exposure to Quebecer literature in French also.</p>

<p>What’s your D’s file looking (in terms of GPA and SAT/ACT scores, since McGill is not holistic)?</p>

<p>My D is a sophomore, she hasn’t taken the ACT/SAT as yet. She took the PSAT last month and we’re awaiting that result. She has a GPA of 3.92 overall.</p>

<p>Edited to add that her GPA is unweighted. Her HS doesn’t weight grades, nor do they rank.</p>

<p>Wisconsin</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://uwfrenchhouse.org/]La”&gt;http://uwfrenchhouse.org/]La</a> Maison Fran</p>

<p>Let’s say that she could keep a 3.92 until application time. McGill’s French department looks at CR and W scores most on the SAT (and, if she chooses to take a SAT II in French, can confidently score 650+ in it, and take AP French, she only needs one extra SAT II, again at 650+) so I think 700+ on each subscore, while scoring 650+ on the math section, will make McGill a realistic choice for her that isn’t a high match or reach. Or 30 on the ACT, with a minimum of 26 on each subscore. (People could get into McGill for French with 28, 29 on the ACT but McGill was respectively a reach and high match for them)</p>

<p>Perhaps UQAM, Laval University or University of Montreal would be willing to accept her (actually, these three schools are test-optional safeties in her situation should she remain at 3.92) should McGill fall through. Actually Laval U has much lower dorm and housing rent than McGill ($304/month at Laval vs. $600+/month at McGill).</p>

<p>But, if she can get into McGill, she can get into UWI.</p>

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings Overview: French and Francophone Language and Literature - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: French and Francophone Language and Literature”>NRC Rankings Overview: French and Francophone Language and Literature)</p>

<p>Tier 1
Duke
Penn
Princeton
Yale</p>

<p>Tier 2
Chicago
Harvard
Indiana
Michigan
NYU
Vanderbilt
Wisconsin</p>

<p>Might want to make sure that she can double major, or triple major, since French majors are not in high demand.</p>

<p>Not sure that selecting colleges/universities based on the rankings of the French dept. is of utmost importance since any serious foreign language major will spend at least one full academic year studying abroad.</p>