Middlebury & ? for Foreign Language studies

<p>I am the mother of a HS jr who plans to study French & Spanish, maybe Arabic, in college. We've talked to several language teachers at different HS and all mention Middlebury 1st as the place to go for foreign language studies. So Middllebury is now at the top of my son's list of colleges. However, we know Middlebury is fairly selective. My son is second in his class presently (out of about 600), but we do need some other suggestions for college applications.
I'm looking for schools with excellent foreign language programs and great undergrad experiences. Suggestions?</p>

<p>suggest you post on the parent's forum....</p>

<p>Dickinson as a safer bet.</p>

<p>If he does go someplace else, keep in mind that he can still attend Middlebury's summer language school.</p>

<p>Another good school for foreign language and international study is Lewis and Clark College. LClark is nowhere near as selective as Midd (nor as prestigious) but it has strong foreign language programs nonetheless. It could be a good safety school. Midd accepted some 18% of applicants this year, so admission is insanely tough...Find some matches and safeties FIRST, then work your way to reaches.</p>

<p>Grinnell College, in Iowa, has a very similar feel to Middlebury in terms of having a close knit community in a rural area. Grinnell also has reportedly strong foreign language programs.</p>

<p>Macalester and Dickinson are also good choices.</p>

<p>I am really into foreign languages myself, and I was faced with the choice between Middlebury and Georgetown. I ultimately chose Georgetown for the atmostphere and the city. As an applicant you would apply specifically to Georgetown's Faculty of Languages and Linguistics (FLL), and its languages are on the same level as Middlebury's (So a few professors at Middlebury told me). It is about as selective as Middlebury though, they had the same acceptance rate this year of 18%</p>