Colleges with best language programs ...

<p>Looking for colleges that offer a variety of languages ... and cultural offerings. I noticed that some colleges say that they have great International programs but do not offer a variety of languages. For starters we are looking for Italian and Portuguese with an opportunity to take Russian and Arabic ...</p>

<p>THX</p>

<p>I'm sure there are a lot of colleges that teach these langugages. A better way to start narrowing it down would be to tell us how strong your application is and what you're looking for in terms of social scene.</p>

<p>middlebury college!</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins has English, French, Spanish, Italian, East Asian, Classics, languages ALL ranked among the very top 10 within the past two years. Johns Hopkins has a very very strong and respectable IR program as well. I challenge you to go there and research more yourself.</p>

<p>University of Chicago has one of the most exensive offerings of languages of any college in the US.
Courses</a> & Programs of Study</p>

<p>Seconded Middlebury College.</p>

<p>This has been asked many times, so do a search.</p>

<p>One thing to note is that the large publics tend to have enough students get even obscure languages taught. That's why they tend to have tons and tons of languages that you've probably never heard of (Yoruba, Khmer, etc.).</p>

<p>However, you should also look into the financially rich privates: they sometimes allow students the option to request that a certain language be taught, and, if it's granted, they will find an instructor to teach you (and others) the language. I know Stanford offers this option and I think Princeton too. There are probably other top privates that have this policy.</p>

<p>Another thing to consider is how well the languages are taught. Lots of large schools hand over the teaching of more obscure languages to int'l grad students who don't necessarily know anything about teaching language.</p>

<p>If you're interested in a wide variety of languages (as is my D), most LACs won't fit the bill. Often they have only 3 or 4 of the most common languages: Spanish, French, German, then maybe Russian or Italian, possibly Chinese. Middlebury is a singular exception, but even Midd has limitations. If you want ot study Hindi or any of the other languages of the Indian subcontinent, for example, there are only a handful of major research universities where you'll find these languages offered, even though Hindi is the third most widely-spoken language in the world (second if you include its close relative Urdu). Even Arabic, the world's fourth most widely-spoken language, and Portuguese, the sixth most widely-spoken, are a rarity at most LACs. (Middlebury does have both Arabic and Portuguese, along with French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian). Anything more obscure than that and you absolutely need to be at a major research university.</p>

<p>Because of this, we're looking at a bunch of major research universities for D. Another interesting option, though, is LACs that are in a consortium with a larger research university: Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Swarthmore with Penn, for example, or Barnard with Columbia. This potentially gives you the small college experience with the opportunity to cross-register for language courses at the major research university.</p>

<p>Going to go ahead and third Middlebury.</p>

<p>Middlebury is known for the quality of its language programs, not the diversity.</p>

<p>Complete</a> List of LS Programs</p>

<p>That list is very limited in comparison the great publics and large private schools.</p>

<p>same data sorted by the NUMBER of foreign language graduates, not the proportion</p>

<p>university, SAT 75th percentile, total bachelors graduates, number of foreign language graduates, proportion of foreign language graduates</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE CAMPUS 1310 7194 315 0.04
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 1320 6829 312 0.05
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN 1340 8917 245 0.03
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 1390 6336 239 0.04
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1280 8288 204 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY 1450 6650 179 0.03
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER 1280 5196 175 0.03
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES 1280 6049 170 0.03
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 1410 7026 170 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR 1390 5923 145 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA 1300 4564 144 0.03
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 1320 5769 139 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK 1370 5959 139 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1360 8574 135 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS 1280 5608 134 0.02
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 1240 7783 126 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-MAIN CAMPUS 1430 3207 121 0.04
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY 1470 1670 120 0.07
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEW BRUNSWICK 1310 5734 116 0.02
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BLOOMINGTON 1220 6172 111 0.02
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1290 9134 109 0.01
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 1410 6763 106 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH-MAIN CAMPUS 1330 3861 97 0.03
BROWN UNIVERSITY 1520 1490 93 0.06
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1410 4492 91 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 1310 4633 86 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1240 4015 86 0.02
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 1240 4035 84 0.02
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS 1520 1634 78 0.05
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1440 4344 77 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 1530 1014 72 0.07
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 1560 1804 72 0.04
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 1550 1064 63 0.06
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 1300 3020 61 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 1510 2797 60 0.02
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA 1280 4086 59 0.01
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 1440 1514 57 0.04
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA CRUZ 1280 3053 57 0.02
CORNELL UNIVERSITY-ENDOWED COLLEGES 1490 3577 53 0.01
MIAMI UNIVERSITY-OXFORD 1320 3784 50 0.01
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 1580 1797 49 0.03
TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 1435 1452 49 0.03</p>

<p>The two LACs with the highest proportion of graduates majoring in languages/area studies are Smith and Middlebury. This proportion is important to look at because (for liberal arts colleges) the ability to support a robust number of upper class electives is heavily dependent on enrollment, as are language tables, film series, and the colleges' own study abroad options. (Smith is also part of consortium that includes a major university, which enhances offerings in the languages with lower enrollment.)</p>

<p>There are also excellent language offerings at American, which also offers Turkish, Swahili, Kwaswahili, two forms of Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, and a number of others.</p>

<p>Interesting factoid: Middlebury has no language requirement. Its professors do not want to teach those who are not motivated to be in the class.</p>

<p>same data sorted by the NUMBER of bachelors graduates in foreign languages, not the proportion</p>

<p>DICKINSON COLLEGE 1370 512 65 0.13
SMITH COLLEGE 1370 688 49 0.07
WELLESLEY COLLEGE 1460 603 46 0.08
HAMILTON COLLEGE 1420 457 43 0.09
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 1500 632 40 0.06
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS 1350 675 39 0.06
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE 1410 299 32 0.11
AMHERST COLLEGE 1550 428 32 0.07
COLGATE UNIVERSITY 1430 646 32 0.05
FURMAN UNIVERSITY 1370 643 32 0.05
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 1390 757 32 0.04
GRINNELL COLLEGE 1490 367 31 0.08
BOWDOIN COLLEGE 1460 414 31 0.07
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND 1355 579 31 0.05
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE 1260 703 31 0.04
MACALESTER COLLEGE 1450 428 30 0.07
HOPE COLLEGE 1260 638 30 0.05
WHEATON COLLEGE 1420 604 30 0.05
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 1490 722 30 0.04
DEPAUW UNIVERSITY 1320 522 26 0.05
COLBY COLLEGE 1430 486 25 0.05
GETTYSBURG COLLEGE 1340 597 25 0.04
CARLETON COLLEGE 1480 455 24 0.05
BARNARD COLLEGE 1430 600 24 0.04
SAINT OLAF COLLEGE 1340 708 24 0.03
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE 1530 364 23 0.06
DAVIDSON COLLEGE 1440 426 22 0.05
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE 1300 540 22 0.04
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY 1340 420 21 0.05
VASSAR COLLEGE 1460 614 21 0.03
BELOIT COLLEGE 1300 261 19 0.07
REED COLLEGE 1460 310 19 0.06
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY 1450 398 19 0.05
SKIDMORE COLLEGE 1340 597 19 0.03
HAVERFORD COLLEGE 1460 323 18 0.06
DENISON UNIVERSITY 1330 514 18 0.04
TRINITY COLLEGE 1400 492 18 0.04
MUHLENBERG COLLEGE 1320 595 18 0.03
BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY 1380 856 18 0.02
OBERLIN COLLEGE 1440 722 18 0.02
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 1340 314 17 0.05
SEWANEE: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 1320 313 17 0.05
WILLIAMS COLLEGE 1520 531 17 0.03
EARLHAM COLLEGE 1340 249 16 0.06
WHITMAN COLLEGE 1440 337 16 0.05
COLORADO COLLEGE 1380 523 16 0.03
KNOX COLLEGE 1340 265 15 0.06</p>

<p>^ This is somewhat helpful information, but there's more I'd like to know. Lots of people take languages not as a major, but as a sideline interest in college. And even the totally language-crazy are likely only going to major in one language, or possible do a double major in two, although they might pick up a third or fourth along the way. Some colleges are going to be better suited for this than others. I'd only say that if you have a strong interest in a language, or in languages in general, take a good, close look at what languages are actually offered at the college, whether they go beyond intro- and intermediate-level courses, and try to get a read on how well the languages are actually taught.</p>

<p>French, German, Italian and Spanish are pretty common majors. Most good colleges and universities should have good programs in those languages. Arabic, Portuguese and Russian aren't as popular. You would probably want to look at larger schools. For example:</p>

<p>Columbia University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Indiana University-Bloomington
New York University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania</p>