<p>wildworld-just to be clear the only full year programs in English speaking countries in Europe are at LSE and an African studies program in london as well . Everything else is, including St. Andrews, Edinburgh, etc is for a semester</p>
<p>Wow! Your daughter’s study abroad plans are changing fast. How wonderful she’s going to be able to do what she wanted! Thanks, r6L, for the clarification.</p>
<p>What I wouldn’t have given to study at LSE for a year. Oh my.</p>
<p>Franchement, mon cher, je m’en fou.</p>
<p>Thanks Carolyn! </p>
<p>Like some parents, I was reluctant to have my daughter go so far away for college. But the education and opportunities available to her at Smith are well worth the sacrifice, and incomparable to our state U.</p>
<p>(TD - me too - the LSE part!)</p>
<p>CarolynB, can you be more specific when you say that French or German would be a better choice for English majors? What do you mean they’ll be required in grad school?</p>
<p>Haha, I"m pretty sure that that “African studies” program in London is the School for Oriental and African Studies. It’s an excellent and venerable old institution for Near East Affairs, Asian studies, and African studies.</p>
<p>you are correct S&P. It stuck out in my memory as "african studies’ for some unknown reason</p>
<p>Spirit, (as if you have nothing else to do at the end of your high school career!), take a quick look at grad school websites (here are Stanford, Yale and Harvard): </p>
<p>[Graduate</a> Studies | Stanford University Department of English](<a href=“http://english.stanford.edu/graduate.php?type=grad_faq#2]Graduate”>http://english.stanford.edu/graduate.php?type=grad_faq#2)</p>
<p>[Yale</a> University Bulletin | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Programs and Policies 2010?2011 | Degree-Granting Departments and Programs](<a href=“Welcome | Office of the University Printer”>Welcome | Office of the University Printer)</p>
<p>[English</a> - The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences](<a href=“http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/programs_of_study/english.php]English”>http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/programs_of_study/english.php)</p>
<p>The specifics of language requirements are different among these three PhD programs, but you will get an idea of what’s required. My mistake: there seems to be a lot more flexibility these days in the choices of languages than there used to be, so if you want to go to Florence junior year, go for it!</p>
<p>It is, or at least used to be, that the single most common reason folks left humanities Ph.D. programs in the U.S. was inability to meet language requirements. I know Smith used to offer a semester-long program for seniors in “Reading German”, directed toward those going to grad schools. It might be worthwhile. (My d. did four years of Italian, a year of German, and already had enough French, and, strangely enough, as a grad. student she has actually used them all.)</p>
<p>Spirit, it occurred to me you may not understand the reasoning behind the language requirement: you are asked in grad school to be reasonably fluent with languages because you will be asked to read literature in the native language.</p>
<p>@mini, your daughter had no difficulty in fulfilling her language requirements, that’s for sure! Hats off to her! Thanks for the info about German. My daughter has proficiency in Spanish, but she’ll have to take on at least one other language; if she’s interested in German, hopefully it will be offered her senior year.</p>
<p>Actually, for what she’s doing, she still needs medieval/Renaissance Latin. </p>
<p>The main reason she needed the German was not to read literature, but to read scholarly papers.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info! I had no idea foreign languages were required for a graduate degree in English. That’s really good to know. I’ve been studying Latin since middle school (in AP now) which was why I thought Italian might be the easiest transition. And as much as I’d like to learn two modern languages, it’s good to know that Latin will be accepted in some programs in case that doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Almost all top-notch humanities programs require a reading knowledge of French or German (and sometimes both) and a second, or even third, language relevant to the research area. Applicants who have a strong foreign language background have an advantage in graduate admissions. </p>
<p>As Mini says, the proficiency is needed to read both scholarly papers and original sources.</p>