Colleges with strong language programs?

College Search & Selection
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I’m interested in languages and have taken French for 5 years, Latin for 2, and Arabic for 1. I’m not sure what I want to end up actually majoring in, but I definitely want to continue my work with these languages.

I’m a freshman at the University of Iowa looking to transfer; my university is unsupportive of anyone taking more than one language and doesn’t offer the intensive language programs I want.

I have a 4.0. I’m retaking the ACT and SAT in the upcoming months, so hopefully I’ll improve when I actually practice this time, but in high school I had a 33 (35 English, 29 Math, 34 Reading, 32 Science) and 2200 (790 reading, 730 writing, 680 math).

What are some schools I should look into? Thank you!!

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Colleges with instruction in Latin – traditionally taught within the classics department – beyond the intermediate level are fairly uncommon. Often the step beyond this will involve readings in the language, in which, depending on the school, a greater or lesser selection of courses may be available. This may be somewhat of a limiting factor for you.

Cornell, Middlebury and Georgetown would be schools to research. Simply moving north, to the University of Wisconsin’s excellent language programs, or east, to Indiana University’s, would be other options. UCLA is another public university that is excellent in languages. Considering your frustrations at your current school, you might also like colleges with flexible curricula such as Amherst, Brown, Grinnell, Hamilton, Smith and the University of Rochester, provided their catalogs show their language offerings to be sufficient.

Some, but not all, colleges mentioned may be additionally difficult to gain admission into as a transfer student, so make that part of your research as well. If you say more about what type of school you are generally looking for, more suggestions will be offered.

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Middlebury is the best place to study a language. NO ivy school will ever compete with them.

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+1 for Middlebury. It’s even better than the native country.

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French is rather common, but Latin and Arabic are less common. So you may want to look for schools that offer advanced course work in both Latin and Arabic.

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Do you have any budgetary concerns? Middlebury is an awesome school, but it is also expensive. So if you do have any cost limits, that info will influence the list of suggestions.

Fwiw, I wonder how many universities are going to be supportive of 3 languages as majors. Most language majors require study abroad for the degree. Some Latin majors are going to require study of Greek as well. If you absolutely want all 3, you need to make sure you investigate depts thoroughly.

Do you have a priority amg your list? How about goals? My dd loves languages, as well, and her personal goal is high advanced/superior, but that is above the goal of many UG programs. For Arabic, a flagship school would be the best choice if that is a priority for you. The Arabic flagships are at the Universit(ies) of AZ, MD (CP), OK, TX (A). http://www.thelanguageflagship.org/content/arabic I think I heard that Ole Miss is aiming for flagship program as well. (you would need to confirm that.)

Fwiw, I do not think you need to retest. Your scores are solid and you will be applying as a transfer student.

Another fwiw, I can share what my dd has been doing (bc her budget is very limited and programs like Middlebury are not an option.). She has been talking to depts to see if they will allow her to take grad level courses as an UG. She has been meeting with small depts and asking about independent study and whether or not attaining advanced level language skills is possible in through their dept. She has gotten responses that have eliminated schools immediately, but some schools have surprised her by their willingness to help her achieve her goals.

Good luck!

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Middlebury’s language offerings are very good, especially for a liberal arts college, but the style of instruction isn’t any different from that of any other top college. Where Middlebury really shines is its summer school for languages – which offers a much more intensive style of instruction and hires many non-Midd professors.

Also note that Midd’s offerings are very slim, about a dozen languages. That’s plenty for the OP, whose languages of interest are commonly offered, but it wouldn’t satisfy everyone. Unlike the Ivies or (especially) large public universities like Berkeley or Indiana U, Middlebury doesn’t offer Celtic languages, African languages, southeast Asian languages…etc.

I recommend focusing on strong Arabic programs. You have a fair amount of French under your belt, and most good colleges have adequate French offerings. Latin is more rarely offered, as merc81 pointed out, but it’s not uncommon to arrange for an independent study (or group independent study) for advanced Latin reading if there’s some classics professors on campus. (Not ideal for a classics major, but I don’t get the impression that’s your goal.)

Arabic is a very different beast – difficult to pick up and requires lots of practice in reading, writing, and speaking to get down. You should also plan to spend some time abroad (e.g. through the Critical Language Scholarship) to improve your ability.

There’s quite a bit of interest in Maghrib studies these days – possibly a way of combining your interests in French and Arabic. There’s even some very interesting Phoenician and Roman ruins there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Maghreb

Try these websites:

[Programs, Experts, Resources in Middle East Studies](Middle East Studies Association)

[Less Commonly Taught Languages](The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA): Less Commonly Taught Languages)

I second Mom2aphysicsgeek’s recommendation of the Language Flagship programs.

You have great stats. Check out Michigan, Chicago, Cornell, Emory, Dartmouth, Tufts, Georgetown, GWU, and Wash U in particular, though transfer admissions is definitely tough at some of these. I second most of merc81’s suggestions in post #1 and would add Swarthmore to the list of liberal arts colleges.

If cost isn’t a problem, you could add NYU and some out-of-state publics (U Washington and UT Austin in particular).

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