Hey, I am currently a junior in high school and I was thinking of majoring in French at a top school. If there is anyone who is studying French or wants to study French in college, can you please tell me what college admissions are looking for in a French student. What can set me apart from the competitive pool of applicants?
Thank you so much for your help, hope you can reply soon.
Try asking in this subforum:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/foreign-language-culture-majors/
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It is best to be fairly fluent in French at time of application.
I’ve applied to major in French! Most of my ECs are French related, voluntary teaching, leadership positions in school, spending time in France etc… Read books in French and maybe talk about them? Take any and every opportunity to do anything French related. I talked a lot about my experiences when I spent time there when I was young and spoke basically no French, and how that affected me and made me love languages etc as I haven’t got any decisions back yet I have no idea if any of what I have done is any good, but it worked for getting into U.K. Universities!
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French departments at the top universities are very literature and theory/philosophy oriented. They will look at how you do in these subjects in high school, and at what kind of level. (Obviously the top schools want APs)
It may not be the right major for you if you’re not a voracious reader of French literature, and if the idea of studying semiotics or deconstruction doesn’t make your toes wiggle with pleasure. (Exaggerating a bit here on the toes part.) If you simply love the language and culture, but aren’t really into theory or the French classics, you might consider another major, while minoring in French to gain/maintain fluency.
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Have you thought about what you want to do with your French major? My sr loves French, too. Absolutely loves it. She watches the French news every day, reads French novels, watches French movies, etc. But she really struggled this last yr with trying to find a path forward utilizing her love of languages. (She enjoys other languages besides French, too.). She spent a lot of time researching different fields and different career paths. She decided that for herself that she didn’t want to just major in languages; she wants to be able to incorporate languages with another major. Study abroad opportunities, otoh, she couldn’t see herself without. She plans on a lot of time abroad. (We made an appt with the study abroad office at every college we visited.)
We visited so many depts that I have lost track. I recommend trying to understand the language level goals for the different schools. Unlike my older kids’ college searches, it became apparent very quickly that foreign language depts are all very different. It was important to her to find a dept that was willing to work with students with high language acquisition goal objectives.
Good luck!
Btw, one program that she found interesting is USC’s CIFA cohort: http://moore.sc.edu/academicprograms/undergraduate/majorsoffered/internationalbusiness/optionsoverviews/cifafrance.aspx
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I am actually hoping to do a double major (I also want to study pre-med). Never the less, I am not only interested but I have also had a big exposure to French literature (I actually have a better knowledge of French literature than English literature). I have also won some international French language competitions even though I am from Ethiopia. This then brings me to my question: Is my exposure to the French language a good hook to get me to a school like Stanford or Columbia. I know ECs and GPA and test scores matter but I am pretty confident when it comes to those things. I am just worried that the fact that I didn’t go to France or am not a published French writer be a set back.
Thank you so much for your help guys, hope you’ll reply soon.