Options & Sequences

The program offers two basic options: the Simple Option, leading to an ordinary BA in French and an MA in French, and the Honors Option, leading to an Honors BA in French and an MA in French. The Simple Option will be recommended to students who do not plan (but may subsequently decide) to pursue graduate studies at the doctoral level. The Honors Option will be recommended to students who do plan to pursue graduate studies at the doctoral level. In either case, the department鈥檚 decision to recommend that a student go on to doctoral research will depend on performance at the graduate level in both coursework and the MA Comprehensive Examination.

The sequence of courses and year-by-year course loads for each of the two options is as follows:

Simple Option

First Year

FREN 3010 and 3050 plus two semesters of a second language (if necessary)
19 or 17 credits*

Second Year

FREN 3100, 3110, 3120 plus two semesters of a second language (if necessary)
15 or 17 credits*

Third Year

One course at FREN 3000 level plus two courses at FREN 4100 level (or three courses at FREN 4100 level or above) plus two courses in a 鈥渞elated field鈥 at the 4000-level or above
15 credits

Forth Year

FREN 4990 (Senior Seminar and Essay), three courses at FREN 5000 level
12 credits

Fifth Year

Five courses at FREN 5000 level (three in fall, two in spring) plus MA Comprehensive Examination
15 credits

Total credit hours (including 6 in 鈥渞elated field鈥 and 16 in a second language) = 76 credits

*听狈辞迟别:听The exact number of first- and second-year hours depends on the organization of first- and second-year language courses in different departments. Thus, in French, first-year courses carry 5 credit hours each while second-year courses carry only 3. By contrast, in German, both first- and second-year courses carry 4 credit hours each.

General Distribution of Credit Hours听

YearHours/MajorOther HoursTotal
1st92130
2nd92130
3rd15*1530
4th121830
5th15621
听60*81141

*Note: includes 6 hours in a 鈥渞elated field鈥 other than French

First Year

FREN 3010 and 3050 plus two semesters of a second language (if necessary)
19 or 17 credits*

Second Year

FREN 3100, 3110, 3120, 3200 plus two semesters of a second language (if necessary)
22 or 20 credits*

Third Year

One course at FREN 3000 level plus two courses at FREN 4100 level (or three courses at FREN 4100 level or above) plus two courses in a 鈥渞elated field鈥 at the 4000-level or above
15 credits

Forth Year

FREN 4840 (Independent Study if only two 4100 level courses were taken), 4980 (Senior Honors Thesis), three courses at FREN 5000 level
15 credits

Fifth Year

Five courses at FREN 5000 level (three in fall, two in spring) plus MA Comprehensive Examination
15 credits

Total credit hours (including 6 in 鈥渞elated field鈥 and 16 in a second language) = 82

General Distribution of Credit Hours听

YearHours/MajorOther HoursTotal
1st92130
2nd121830
3rd15*1530
4th151530
5th15621
听66*75141

*Note: includes 6 hours in a 鈥渞elated field鈥 other than French.