<p>Does anyone know where to find rankings for colleges for foreign languages? I am specifically looking for top French programs. It seems that every school has a French degree, so it's been very hard to find ones that are really good.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Grad/undergrad/overall?</p>
<p>The NRC ranking for French:</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>UC Irvine</li>
</ol>
<p>German:</p>
<p>German
1. Berkeley
2. Princeton
3. Cornell
4. Harvard
5. Yale
6. Stanford
7. Washington
University
8. Virginia
9. Johns Hopkins
10. Wisconsin</p>
<p>Spanish/Portuguese:</p>
<ol>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>Duke</li>
<li>Brown</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Virginia</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
</ol>
<p>It's for grad, but I daresay undergrad shouldn't be too different. =)</p>
<p>I'd choose none of the above for undergraduate intensive foreign language study, especially Romance languages, with the best study abroad opportunities. I think you'd do better (if male) with Middlebury, Pomona, Hamilton, and Macalester, and, if female (and overall, I think these are better), with Smith, Wellesley, Scripps, and Mount Holyoke.</p>
<p>Undergrad and grad, actually. I want to continue on to a masters.</p>
<p>I'm female, but I definitely want to go to a co-ed school.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Mini has no idea how small the language depts are at large schools and how many special programs they offer. At Wisconsin there are only 60-70 French majors per year and half that in German. Typical classes are fewer than 20 students. There is a French house where you live and eat and speak French. Other languages have there own special programs and they teach around 65 languages so you never run out of choices.</p>
<p>It's still a big jump from 5-10 majors to 60-70, bear in mind, as well as from classes of 8 to classes of 20. My intro language classes were 8-12, speaking intensive from Day 1. There are languge halls, language tables, and so forth (Scripps/Claremont Colleges).</p>
<ul>
<li>This isn't at ALL to say that smaller is automatically better or that Wisconsin (or who knows where else) isn't outstanding, nor is it even to say that small schools necessarily are. I think there are definite advantages to larger language departments, as there are to smaller ones. But it's unfair to say that a previous poster has no idea how small the language depts are at large schools, b/c there is still a difference in numbers, regardless of whether that's a positive, negative, or neutral issue. Also, previous posts didn't make any big deal out of size, so there may possibly be reasons OTHER than size behind mini's suggestions.</li>
</ul>
<p>And how many classes per semester do those 5-10 majors have to choose from? After French level 4 there are about 20 advanced classes for UGs at UW per semster.</p>
<p>How does your dept compare?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.uwfrenchhouse.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.uwfrenchhouse.org/</a></p>
<p>Middlebury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>I think that small departments can be great, as can large ones. My only point is that the size of the department alone does not bear any necessary relationship to its strength. Previous posters said nothing about large schools having inferior programs due to the departments' sizes, as you seemed to understand. </p>
<p>Better justification/clarification for suggestions might be helpful in this thread.</p>
<p>Every school named by Mini is a small LAC. It is reasonable to conclude that school size was his main criterion.</p>
<p>I don't think you could go wrong with Middlebury or Wisconsin. If your only purpose in college is fluency, I would choose Middlebury, but Wisconsin is a better all around school.</p>
<p>Yes, but I don't want to freeze my butt off. :-) Aren't there any top schools that have great French programs in California? I checked Hawaii, and nope!!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for all the responses!!</p>
<p>Funny that someone with "trans-siberian" as a username wouldn't stand cold... I guess that rules out McGill too. It's a pretty good place to study French, given that it's in Montreal, and, if you do the honours program, you are eligible to get exempted from international tuition (that is, provided you fill the right form, you may only have to pay Quebec tuition, which about (canadian) $1650 a semester).</p>
<p>Berkeley, Irvine, Pomona, Scripps all = California, and the latter three are all in southern Cal.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If your only purpose in college is fluency, I would choose Middlebury, but Wisconsin is a better all around school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>that's certainly open to debate...</p>
<p>"Funny that someone with "trans-siberian" as a username wouldn't stand cold... "</p>
<p>I did my ID in honor of the group, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They're cool, but not cold. :-)</p>
<p>national universities and the number of graduates in french languages and/or literature 2004 IPEDS</p>
<p>UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE CAMPUS 37
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN 33
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 29
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY 28
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 26
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER 25
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 25
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES 24
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR 24
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY 23
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-MAIN CAMPUS 22
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK 22
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEW BRUNSWICK 19
TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 19
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 17
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 16
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 14
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 14
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 14
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 13
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 13
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 13
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BLOOMINGTON 13
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA 12
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 12
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 11
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA 11
MIAMI UNIVERSITY-OXFORD 11
COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY 10
CORNELL UNIVERSITY-ENDOWED COLLEGES 10
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 10
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 10
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 9
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 9
BOSTON COLLEGE 9
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH-MAIN CAMPUS 8
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 8
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 8
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS 7
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS 7
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY 7
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME 7
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 6
RICE UNIVERSITY 6
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY 5
DUKE UNIVERSITY 5
TUFTS UNIVERSITY 5
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY 5
SUNY AT BINGHAMTON 5
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 5
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 5
TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY 4
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 4
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 4
BROWN UNIVERSITY 4
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 4
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 4
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 3
AUBURN UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS 3
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 3
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO 3
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 3
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY 3
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 3
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY 3
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 3
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY 2
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 2
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 2
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 2
YALE UNIVERSITY 2
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-RIVERSIDE 1</p>
<p>national liberal arts colleges number of graduates in french language plus french area studies 2005 IPEDS</p>
<p>DICKINSON COLLEGE 23
WELLESLEY COLLEGE 21
BARNARD COLLEGE 13
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 12
SKIDMORE COLLEGE 11
GRINNELL COLLEGE 10
AMHERST COLLEGE 10
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE 10
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE 9
BOWDOIN COLLEGE 9
SMITH COLLEGE 9
COLGATE UNIVERSITY 9
SCRIPPS COLLEGE 8
DEPAUW UNIVERSITY 8
WHEATON COLLEGE 8
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE 8
DREW UNIVERSITY 8
DAVIDSON COLLEGE 8
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 8
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE 7
VASSAR COLLEGE 7
TRINITY COLLEGE 6
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE 6
SAINT OLAF COLLEGE 6
COLLEGE OF WOOSTER 6
WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY 6
FURMAN UNIVERSITY 6
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND 6
COLBY COLLEGE 5
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE 5
DENISON UNIVERSITY 5
REED COLLEGE 5
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY 5
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND 5
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE 4
POMONA COLLEGE 4
MACALESTER COLLEGE 4
OBERLIN COLLEGE 4
BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY 4
GETTYSBURG COLLEGE 4
URSINUS COLLEGE 4
AUSTIN COLLEGE 4
WHITMAN COLLEGE 4
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 4
MILLS COLLEGE 3
COLORADO COLLEGE 3
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 3
CENTRE COLLEGE 3
BATES COLLEGE 3
HAMILTON COLLEGE 3
ALLEGHENY COLLEGE 3
FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE 3
WOFFORD COLLEGE 3
RHODES COLLEGE 3
RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE 3
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE 2
CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE 2
SPELMAN COLLEGE 2
ALBION COLLEGE 2
HOPE COLLEGE 2
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE 2
CARLETON COLLEGE 2
COLLEGE OF SAINT BENEDICT 2
SAINT JOHNS UNIVERSITY 2
HOBART WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 2
KENYON COLLEGE 2
LAFAYETTE COLLEGE 2
WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY 2
BIRMINGHAM SOUTHERN COLLEGE 1
PITZER COLLEGE 1
KNOX COLLEGE 1
WHEATON COLLEGE 1
EARLHAM COLLEGE 1
GOUCHER COLLEGE 1
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS 1
ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 1
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 1
HAVERFORD COLLEGE 1
JUNIATA COLLEGE 1
MUHLENBERG COLLEGE 1
SEWANEE: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 1
SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 1
BELOIT COLLEGE 1</p>
<p>Your data looks faulty, Wisconsin has about 40 French majors per year.</p>
<p>barrons,
You are quite right. Wisconsin had 46 bachelors graduates in french which would make it the most prolific producer of french majors in the country. I think I made an error in the "copy and paste" process from my spreadsheet. I probably failed to highlight the top row in my sort before I copied. Sincere apologies.</p>
<p>WISCONSIN IS PROBABLY THE MOST PRODUCTIVE SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY FOR LANGUAGE GRADUATES IN GENERAL AND FRENCH IN PARTICULAR.</p>