Link to Homepage

Graduate School and Other Options

Graduate School (in French and/or Francophone Studies or another field)

You will need to take the GRE exams. Contact Career Services for the dates of the exam and the date by which you must sign up for the exam (usually late August or very early September). Graduate school applications have deadlines from early December to February, if you are applying for funding. Talk to faculty members about the graduate programs they would recommend.

Rotary Scholarships

Please check with your local branch.

École Normale Supérieure

What is it?
The very prestigious teacher-training school in France (now located outside Lyon) with which we have an exchange agreement. You take classes at the ENS with top instructors. This award is for a graduating senior student with extremely strong language and analytical skills.

Consult the Department of French and Italian Studies website for details.

Application Process
You must indicate your interest by February 1. In support of your candidacy, you may be asked to submit written work or to write a statement about why you want to become a boursier of the ENS. The Department chooses the student, usually in April, at the same time that a French student is selected by the ENS to come to Colby.

How Difficult is it to Receive?
This award is highly competitive.

Other Options

You might want to think about applying for Teach for America, the Peace Corps, or private secondary school teaching (no teaching certificate is necessary for the latter). FYI:  In recent years, Colby French majors have become Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco, Guinea, and Cameroon.

Many of our French graduates go into business (international or domestic), some go after the MBA degree with an international emphasis, a number choose to go to law school, others have entered publishing (especially of foreign language textbooks).

Graduate School in French

Recent Colby graduates pursuing graduate school in French Studies:

Benjamin Lawlor, ’21 – Penn State French and Francophone Studies

Victoria Cheff, ’18 – Brown University Ph.D Program in French and Francophone Studies

General Advice

  • Talk to many people to get ideas.
  • Plan ahead.
  • Keep your options open.
  • Make a lot of applications.
  • Remain open-minded.