Bienvenue! Wesleyan’s French faculty offer a diverse, multidisciplinary curriculum that opens a window onto the literatures, ideas, and cultures of the French-speaking world, from the Middle Ages to the present day. These courses foster the linguistic proficiency and intercultural awareness necessary for living, studying, and working successfully in a French-speaking environment. Students who study French will develop critical self-awareness by becoming more adept at understanding other points of view and will acquire the resources needed to develop their own creative and critical capacities to succeed in future academic and professional endeavors.
All students taking French (both majors and non-majors) are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester studying abroad in a French-speaking country. We encourage students to participate in Wesleyan’s own program in Paris (the Vassar-Wesleyan Program).
It is possible to double-major in French studies and any other major at the University. Recent French studies graduates have double-majored in art history, College of Letters, computer science, English, history, molecular biology and biochemistry, music, neuroscience, and psychology.
Graduates have gone on to pursue studies and careers in medicine, law, education, business, international relations, finance, the fine arts, government, and nonprofit organizations.
What You'll Study
The French studies major consists of a minimum of eight courses beyond our language sequence:
- four literature/culture courses in French, taken on campus
- four other courses whose content is devoted substantially to the study of French or Francophone literature, history, culture, or society. These other courses may be in French or English and taken on campus or abroad.
