<p>University of Michigan - Ann Arbor</p>
<p>I am very surprised no one has mentioned this university.</p>
<p>S1 is in his 3rd of 4 years of Arabic for his IR major at Tufts. While it’s not a major, he has been very happy with the program.</p>
<p>Ispf72–I know it’s been awhile, but can you say anything more re your son’s experience taking Arabic at Tufts?</p>
<p>Middlebury now offers a major in Arabic plus will now have three Middle East Schools abroad. (although Israel will be all about the Hebrew)</p>
<p>I don’t know why Tufts isn’t on that list since they offer both Chinese and Arabic as majors. (Not just minors which post # 42 implies.) My son is a prospective IR major and as part of it he needs to take 7 semesters of a foreign language. He’s taking Arabic, so far he likes it very much, but it’s tough. (He got a C+ last term.)</p>
<p>I think the problem is the College Board’s list is keyword driven. In other words, it’s a database is built upon common keyword searches, so that schools which use different language (pun not intended) may not come up. Also, it doesn’t seem to have been updated in a significant chunk of time.</p>
<p>IMHO a lot of highly selective schools house their language departments within greater literature/cultural studies/civilizations type programs.</p>
<p>For example, Duke’s Asian & African Languages and Literatures major sounds like a great fit for your prospective student. The areas of concentration include Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, and Korean (other languages are offered too, just not as a concentration). Your student could major in this area and study both Arabic and Mandarin.</p>
<p>Similarly, at the Univ. of Pennsylvania the Asian languages program is called the East Asian Languages & Civilizations major. At Princeton your student would be in Near Eastern Studies (Arabic) or East Asian Studies (Mandarin). At Dartmouth it’s Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures major; at Stanford one can minor in Arabic by officially minoring in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. (I’m not suggesting these schools are the best for your student, or the best to study these languages at, I’m just explaining why they may not come up in “majors” searches/lists).</p>
<p>I would also check out the University of Indiana. It has excellent Near Eastern Studies and East Asian Studies programs.</p>
<p>East of the Mississippi I think your state flagships tend to offer the Chinese and Arabic programs with the greatest depth. The ones I liked most when my D was looking for Chinese programs were Ohio State, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pitt, Maryland (MD is Flagship for Arabic too), and Ole Miss., most of which sponsor Language Flagship programs. She especially liked OSU’s program because they offer multiple learning options including a 5 year Master’s program. Michigan and Michigan State also belong on the list. I think Michigan State is a Flagship school for Arabic. I know I’m leaving out one or two, but those were some of the ones that come to mind. </p>
<p>The privates she liked for Chinese were Furman, Emory, Chicago, WUSTL, Middlebury and Duke. Developing programs she came across include Rhodes. Wofford, Wooster, and Washington & Lee. Again, those were only for Chinese. </p>
<p>I think schools in the West actually have a greater selection though - can’t really beat Berkley, for example. </p>
<p>I also agree with justmytwocents, that you have to look beyond just what some schools have posted as majors. There are some nice gems to be found for language studies within broader cultural studies departments. </p>
<p>Depending on all of the other attributes being sought after in her choice of school, I wouldn’t necessarily eliminate a school solely on the basis of the size of its language department. You have to do a little more digging to identify them, but students can receive an incredible academic experience and great benefits from a smaller program subject to the specific initiatives of the department. </p>
<p>Lastly, assistance with study abroad experiences will be crucial so it’s also important to investigate those opportunities as they are not all created equal.</p>
<p>Hi kzoo–
I’d say overall it’s been very good. It definitely wasn’t easy but he took it seriously and did consistent A- work up until last semester,. This fall (senior year), he felt he’d fallen a bit behind the pack re: his speaking skills. Due to army conflicts he wasn’t able to study abroad, and by senior year he was one of the only (I think ‘the’ only, surprisingly) one in his particular class who hadn’t been to the middle east or in a position to speak Arabic consistently. Otherwise fine. Fall of freshman year it came down to a last-minute decision between Russian and Arabic, and he’s glad he chose the latter.</p>