MA in French
This free-standing program terminates at the Master’s degree. The requirements can be fulfilled in one academic year assuming full-time study. Students also have the option to pursue the degree part time. The MA in French provides students with a foundation in French literature, culture, and history.
Admissions requirements
Advanced skill in reading, writing, and speaking French; a general knowledge of the literature of the French speaking world; ability to write clear and literate English.
All international students whose native language is not English or whose undergraduate degree is from an institution in a country whose official language is not English must submit scores of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS.
An application comprises the following:
Statement of Academic Purpose
The statement should explain your motivations for applying to the MA program, connecting them to previous studies or other relevant life experience. You should try to identify a few questions/areas of study that are of interest to you.
Personal Statement
A wide diversity of experiences and perspectives in the graduate student body enhances Columbia’s academic life: Graduate students work closely with the faculty, constitute the classroom context for their peers, and make substantive contributions to the University's pedagogical and research enterprise.
We ask that you provide a statement of between 500-1,000 words that explains how your personal experiences and history will allow you to contribute to the wealth of perspectives in the entering class of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and in the Columbia community at large.
3 letters of evaluation, ideally all from academic sources
We prefer that your letters come from current or former professors who know your academic abilities well. It is also a firm requirement of Columbia’s Graduate school that at least two of your letters come from academic institutions.
CV or résumé
2 writing samples (one in English and one in French, 10 to 15 pages)
One of the samples should be in English, the other in French. Each submission should be 10-15 pages long. Please choose work that reflects your analytical and interpretative strengths. Work that is relevant to the MA in French is preferred, but we will also consider writing in other fields that demonstrates your ability to conduct research and present an argument. It is fine to send an excerpt from a longer piece of work, e.g. a section of a senior or master’s thesis. The samples should contain different content (i.e., one should not be a translated version of the other).
Apply on-line: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences