ADVISING
Beginning in our language courses, students work with materials from different parts of the world and from historical periods that range from the medieval to the contemporary, in a variety of genres and media. They acquire skill as well in a number of different approaches to reading and analyzing texts: historical, sociological, psychological, and literary—including the perspectives of race and gender. Students who graduate from our program have gone on to further study in areas as diverse as the law, medicine, international relations, museum science, art and art history, English, French, and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as to careers in publishing and on Wall Street and Madison Avenue. Graduates who are professionals in industries from tech to finance to media routinely report that their skills in French are a significant asset in their careers.
Find an Advisor
The goal of academic advising is to help you clarify your goals for your education, provide you with information about options and requirements, and plan a program that is consistent with your abilities and interests. Please
submit this Advisor request form well before the College's deadline for major declarations, typically December 1 for sophomores planning on studying abroad and March 1 for sophomores not going abroad. Feel free to email Professor Scott Gunther (
sgunther@wellesley.edu) if you have any questions.
French Placement Test
All incoming students who have studied some French and who are considering taking French at some point during their college career at Wellesley are required to take the placement test. True beginners, without an experience in French may register for French 101 or 103 without taking the test. The placement test is a tool to evaluate your proficiency in French so that you will be placed with students who are at the same level as you. Any student who takes a language course at another institution and would like college credit must obtain permission in advance and take the French placement test upon her return to verify she has attained the required level. To take the placement test, please contact Professor Scott Gunther, chair of the placement committee.
Language Requirement
The Wellesley College language requirement can be met with the successful completion of the FREN 201-202 sequence. Students who place higher than FREN 202 on the department's placement exam can satisfy the requirement by successfully completing one course above FREN 202. A student who takes FREN 202 without having completed FREN 201 must elect one of the following courses in order to complete the language requirement: FREN 205, FREN 206, FREN 207, FREN 208, or FREN 209.
Students entering before fall 2020 can also satisfy the language requirement with an SAT II score of at least 690, an AP score of 5, or a Higher Level IB language score of 5 or above. Students entering in fall 2020 or later with an AP score of 5 or a Higher Level IB score of 5 or above may satisfy the language requirement by successfully completing one course above FREN 202 or two semesters of introductory work in another language.
Honors in the French Major
The department offers two options for the achievement of honors in French:
Under Option A, students write and defend a senior thesis. Candidates must complete a 300-level course or its equivalent before the fall of senior year. In addition, a 300-level course is to be taken concurrently with FREN 360-FREN 370 during senior year.
Under Option B, students sit for a written examination based on major works and authors of the French and Francophone literary traditions. (See requirements, below.) Option B carries no course credit, but candidates may elect a unit of FREN 350 in the fall of senior year as part of their preparation for the examination.
To be admitted to either program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100 level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. For more information,
please see our webpage "Honors".
Graduate Study
Students planning graduate work in French or comparative literature are encouraged to write an honors thesis and study a second modern language and/or Latin.
Teacher Certification
Students interested in obtaining certification to teach French in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should consult the chair of the Wellesley College Education department.
Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement in the French Major
A student entering Wellesley must have an Advanced Placement score of 5 or an SAT II score of 690 to satisfy the foreign language requirement. The Wellesley College language requirement can be met with the completion of either the FREN 201-FREN 202 sequence or FREN 203. Students who place higher than FREN 202, can satisfy the requirement by taking one course above FREN 202. All incoming students who have taken French are required to take the department's placement test prior to registering for French department courses. Any student who takes a language course at another institution and would like college credit must obtain permission in advance and take the French placement test upon her return to verify she has attained the required level.
Study Abroad Major
All our students, majors and non-majors alike, are encouraged to spend a year or semester abroad in France or a francophone country as a way of deepening their academic learning with real-time experience. A student who has mastered enough French to enter sympathetically into the language’s many cultures is likely to be more complexly underst anding, more subtly perceptive, more keenly articulate and more expansively communicative than her neighbor who has not. To move within more than one frame of cultural reference and to have French sounds and songs and bilingual jokes in one’s head are deep intellectual pleasures. They are also highly useful tools in the real world because they foster the ability to see reality from the standpoint of others as well as from one’s own. In an age of globalization this is a valuable skill—in diplomacy, business, politics, and of course in human relations. The department also has funds to support a limited number of summer internships in France or francophone countries. The department encourages those students who cannot spend a semester abroad to participate in the department’s Wintersession course in Paris.
Maison Francaise
Qualified students are highly encouraged to live at the Maison Française which is also sometimes referred to as the French House. The Maison Française is a French-speaking private residence and a cultural center for the Wellesley College community. It houses fourteen students and two French assistants from the Université de Provence. It is a place where majors and non-majors who have demonstrated a significant competence in French live and can exchange ideas. During the academic year, students are highly encouraged to attend the Maison Française seminars, talks and collaquia. It is located at 33 Dover Road, Wellesley, MA 02481 and also welcomes visitors to our public lectures.