Seconding Tufts and Middlebury. (I’d add Bryn Mawr for girls).
Note that nowadays, many “top” programs are content-based/culture-based, and focus on understanding interculturality (ie., how to understand the other culture, how to function in two cultures, or being “third culture”) whereby literature is part of the culture but not the sole focus. Most programs include important areas of work involving North Africa and West Africa, and will have ties to African Studies and/or Women’s studies. Most departments will offer at least one course involving films. Some also have ties to Art History, philosophy, architecture/urban studies. You really have to dig.
I’d recommend Dickinson, St Olaf, Haverford, Brandeis, Centre, Goucher are all examples of colleges that focus on cultural skills as well as literature within culture, rather than literature alone. They also make it relatively easy to coordinate with a business/commerce/management certificate and make it easy to tie career interests and study abroad. Among larger universities, Indiana University, USC Columbia, Penn State, Georgia Tech, MIT are all universities with a cultural focus for those who want it, as well as double majors or coordination with other departments.
You can try and google 'major in French&Francophone Studies" (vs. simply “French major”).
In order to actually function in the language, study abroad is a necessity (in the same way you couldn’t function as a programmer if you don’t own your own computer. It’s THAT basic.) Of course if you’re content with a B1-B2/ Intermediate High to Advanced Low level, you don’t have to, but you can’t really do much with that level - to continue to the equivalent, it’s a bit like a math major who’d stop after Diff. Eq and Linear Algebra; sure it’s more than what most do, but it’s kind of pointless or a low-level major. To demonstrate accute mental agility and useful skills, you have to use these classes as a foundation till you can function independently and that content is so natural you don’t even need to recall it intentionally, it’s just there, and your brain correlates/synhesizes/analyzes efficiently and in novel ways. Actually beware of any university program that allows you to graduate with a foreign language major without some time abroad (they can’t really REQUIRE it but language in the major’s description should be something like “expected”, “strongly recommended”, “virtuall all our majors”…)
As for high school students:
attending Concordia Summer Language Village (after 10th grade) and/or Middlebury Language Programs for HS students (after 11th grade, very intense but very efficient) would be great boosters.
Thanks @MYOS1634 for an update on how French majors have changed! Very interesting. I did get a lot of culture based classes in my French major (top 25 school) way back in the day, but much of it was during the year abroad. My college’s Romance Languages dept had a French film series (outside of class) but no film classes. Not much on French speaking Africa back then except in French history classes, though I had North African friends in my French dorm.
McGill is an English-speaking university (and an absolute pillar of the anglophone Establishment in Montreal). It is perfectly possible to go there for four years and learn little more than rudimentary French. Of course, it’s also possible to speak a lot of French in Montreal. Quebecois French, however, has meaningful differences in vocabulary and accent compared to the French that is spoken elsewhere in the world, and the people who speak French elsewhere in the world tend to be very, very snobby about accents and the like. If you want a career in or dealing with Europe or francophone Africa, learning French in Montreal may not be the very best course.
I second the recommendation for a school with a top notch, full year, study abroad program. My daughter spent her junior year in France living with a French family and became very fluent. She is a French and Medieval Studies double major, graduating next May.
Agree with JHS. A woman I know who grew up speaking French in Quebec, and who went to McGill, spent thousands of dollars on getting rid of her Quebecoise accent to advance her career as a businesswoman who did a lot of work in France. Call it snobism, call it classism, for the French, Canadian French is like nails on a chalk board.
The difference between French and English in this regard is that we are used to and tolerant of regional accents. Several centuries ago, the French got the idea that everyone should speak French exactly the same. And while there are still vestiges of regional accents and dialects, among educated French speakers – including in French colonies in Africa and the Western Hemisphere – there is really remarkable consistency. Except for the Quebecois. A Quebecois accent isn’t a complete killer, but it’s something for French speakers outside of Quebec to notice and to get over.
An issue is that the Quebecois accent derives from 17th-18th Western accents, whereas “Metropolitan French” moved to another direction. There’s a fantastic film from the 40’s, Les Enfants du Paradis - listen to the accents. Or Jeux Interdits, another film from that era. You definitely find some traces of Quebecois accents there but you hear that they’ve already moved apart. And if you compare to TV accents today… they’ve changed so much! So, no matter how sophisticated the Quebecois speakers, to “Metropolitan” French, their accents subconsciously sound like that of old peasants from Western France. It’s not a “class” thing like in Britain, but an “educated” French accent (like would be expected from teachers, business managers, TV and radio anchors) may keep a regional tinge that shouldn’t overshadow the “educated” part.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I think we can move past the Parisian accent vs. Quebecois accent. One can argue which is “better” a la Peninsular Spanish vs. Latin American Spanish (itself with a multitude of accents) or American English vs. British English (ditto), but that is not the question being asked.
I’d like to add that Canada is our #1 partner and, by law, everything must be conducted in English AND French. So, Quebec French is good, too. Beside McGill, Bishop’s and Concordia are other English-language universities. Other universities include UdeM, Laval, UQAM. Simon Fraser in Vancouver has a “French cohort” program. Ottawa gives you an automatic half tuition scholarship if you take half your classes in French (in any program, political science, business, etc.) While these may not be the “best” schools for a French major, they’re certainly a good option.
My dd was quite interested in the program at one time. She decided not to apply, but it was b/c of her other areas of interests not being available at an appropriate level for her, not due to the program.