I am interested in studying French as my major and am searching for universities at the top end of the spectrum in this regard. I am English and also applying to study French here, and may well get into Oxford (I’m not taking it for granted). I know the standard of French majors in the US will probably be lower than that at Oxford, but I prefer the American college system and have some American family. If anyone can name me some of the colleges with the best French major programs, I would be very grateful. My first choice college is currently Duke, as it fits a lot of my college credentials, but I would also like to know how it ranks for French. Thanks in advance for any responses.
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I don’t know if the undergrad depts are ranked. I don’t think they are.
What is your career goal?
What are your stats?
It sounds like you’re an int’l. Do you need aid and will you qualify for the aid that you need? How much will your parents pay?
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Middlebury College in Vermont has outstanding language programs, generally; I don’t know specifically about French, however. If you wish to follow up in regards to that school, you might post a query on the Middlebury forum on College Confidential.
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True.
Many of the LACs probably have very good modern languages depts, as well as many flagship univs and better privates.
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Why do you say the standard of French majors is lower in the US?
Most great colleges will provide a pretty strong French program, with Duke and Midd being two of the best. BYU has excellent language programs, but is LDS affiliated and almost entirely Mormon, so probably not a great fit.
Sorry for the lack of info:
My SATs were 2270 in the old format, and I am still yet to take subject tests.
At GCSE I got 7A*s and 3As - probably sounds a bit foreign but apparently correlates to 4.0 GPA
Aid will probably be a factor - my parents will probably be able to pay around $40,000 a year maybe more and from financial aid pages I have filled in we may qualify for around $10-15000 of aid per year.
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McGill University in Montréal if you are already fluent in French. McGill operates in English but the French Department assume that you already know the language.
And also, assuming that the standard at Harvard, Yale etc. is lower than at Oxford merely shows how uninformed you are.
usualhopeful I only say that because Oxford is known to be the best in the world for French, I recognise that there are fantastic French programs in the US, I just meant that I was ready to sacrifice Oxford for a different style of college.
I would assume that a university in France would be best in the world for French.
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TomSrOfBoston - Oxford is ranked number 1 in the world for modern languages and I know that there are fantastic programs in America. I’m pretty sure the whole point of coming on here is to ask advice if you are uninformed about colleges.
Besides that, thank you for the advice - I’m not completely fluent - I can hold a good level of conversation but I’m not close to fluent.
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TomSrOfBoston - yes undoubtedly but of courses with French as a second language Oxford is best - I didn’t mean to cause any offence by making an assertion
Go ahead and contact McGill anyway. I think that’s a great suggestion and the school will be able to help you determine if your conversational skill is sufficient for the program.
If you’re a woman, look into Bryn Mawr.
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Oxford is also slightly closer to Paris, and round trip tickets are not terribly expensive.
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Otterma - Will do - unfortunately I’m not a woman but thank you for the suggestion.
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I was in the foreign language teaching biz for a while, and it seems pretty clear that studying them in classrooms only is not very effective. Canadian universities in general seem to take the learning of French very seriously, as it’s a national language. If you are serious about learning it and practicing it other than in a classroom, it would seem to make sense to go somewhere in Canada, especially Quebec. Or at one of the several bi-lingual universities in other provinces. While (obviously) the faculty & students in French departments at American colleges will take it seriously, almost nobody else you will run into will know or care about the language, nor will they be helpful in practicing it.
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moooop thank you. Very insightful comment. I will definitely look into Canadian universities and I definitely find that watching French TV shows is a better way to learn French than French lessons.
Middlebury College is pretty much the benchmark program in foreign language study. While they are need aware for foreign applicants, they’re decent with aid.
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