Academic Year in Paris

Paris offers valuable intellectual and artistic opportunities for graduate students in French. The program offers enough flexibility to allow students to prepare for admission to Ph.D. programs and for teaching careers in the U.S., as well as careers in the private and non-profit sectors.

Founded in 1949, the School in France is Middlebury's oldest school abroad. Our academic center in Paris, the Centre Madeleine, is located in one of the city's most famous historic districts, within walking distance of the Palais Garnier, the Louvre, and the Champs-Elysées. After spending a summer of candidacy on the Middlebury campus in Vermont, students take courses in history and literature at the Middlebury Center, as well as courses at the Sorbonne (Panthéon-Sorbonne or Sorbonne-Nouvelle) alongside French students in mainstream university classes. The program also offers workshops in topics such as phonetics and teaching methods, as well as optional field trips and excursions to enhance language and cultural learning.

Each student writes an M.A. research project in French on a topic covered in one of the graduate courses taken during fall semester in Paris. Students choose their research topic under the guidance of a faculty member with whom they then work regularly and closely throughout the year. The program ends after research project defenses around the middle of June.

As an alternative to the traditional M.A. program, students may decide to pursue an M.A. with a specialized focus in Literature, in Civilization, Culture, and Society; or in Linguistics and/or Pedagogy. More details are provided here.

For all questions on the MA program in France, please e-mail: schoolinfrance@middlebury.edu.