French Studies B.A.

French is now more widely spoken as a first language outside of France than within it and is the sixth most-commonly spoken language in the world. Studying French at the U of M takes you far beyond the stereotypes and basics. The major in French Studies introduces students to world cultures and history, preparing them for our interconnected, global future. The program cultivates students' cultural sophistication and their skills in language, communication, analysis, and argument. It opens doors and strengthens skills vital to today's careers.

Recent research shows that employers prefer to hire employees who have double-majored as it often leads to more innovative thinking skills, making you more marketable. French is an ideal choice as a second major for almost any other major at the U. French Studies reinforces the kinds of skills Liberal Arts degrees are rightly heralded for, or can help develop parallel skills to majors in other colleges (Business, Science, Agriculture, Design), where critical thinking and communication skills can work together with analytical and practical skills developed from the other discipline. The vast majority of our majors are double majors, and graduates go on to successful careers in international fields or in education, law, medicine, or business. These students choose French as a second major, rather than a minor, because it allows them to reach a higher level of language proficiency while achieving a depth of cultural understanding that is not possible in the shorter program.

Students who join our department will quickly discover that this idea of combining disciplines is well-entrenched in our faculty and course offerings, which sets us apart from many language departments that focus more on traditional approaches to the discipline. Our faculty are deeply committed to research in fields such as film and the moving image, genocide studies, representations of the body, disability studies, gender and queer studies, migration, and more. All of our elective courses relate to one or more of our primary themes: language/linguistics; thought/philosophy; gender/sexuality; media/visual/ performance studies; contemporary global/intercultural perspectives; historic global/intercultural perspectives. Students can easily take the variety of elective courses that most closely align with their other major, allowing the majors to complement each other to their greatest effect.

Some nuts and bolts: Students must complete FREN 1501/2, and at least four 3xxx-level courses totaling 12 credits, on the UMN TC campus. They can transfer many courses from study abroad. We accept appropriate coursework (agreed upon with a departmental advisor before going abroad) from our Montpellier programs, the Senegal MSID program, and others. The majority of our majors do study abroad, if even just in a shorter-term summer program, and these experiences are almost always a life highlight.