Specifically, I am interested in knowing about the Romance languages department and the German department. How are the profs, the classes and the curriculum, study abroad opportunities, et cetera.
D1 (now graduated) took two years of German. Gave high marks to the department and most of her professors. She did a non-Tufts study abroad in Berlin, and felt very, very well-prepared. Some of the others in her program had 3 or 4 years of German study under their belts, and her German placement was similar to theirs. She’s said that in retrospect she would’ve done fine and her improvement from language immersion purposes would’ve been better doing direct enrollment to Humboldt rather than going through a study abroad program.
Son took two Italian courses last year and will take two more this year. Enjoyed both classes. Deliberately chose different professors to mix it up. He’s researching travel abroad options right now. Is considering Italy, Scotland (university of edinburgh), or tufts’ program with Oxford, for which you need a 3.7 gpa from freshman year. He’d love to learn to speak Italian more fluently, but as an English major, the UK programs are really appealing to him. Tufts also has its own program in London. He’s been delving into this from tufts’ study abroad website. I’d suggest you do the same. Tufts is known for its study abroad options.
Tufts requires all A&S students to take at least three language classes (or place out). This is very rare in the university world and demonstrates Tufts commitment to language study. The emphasis on language leads to broad course offerings and generally good teaching. Both my DDs continued from strong language education in high school, both felt highly prepared for study abroad, and both have jobs (one permanent one a summer job) where Spanish fluency is a requirement. YMMV