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Admission Requirements

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers a graduate program leading to the M.A. degree in French according to Plan B (non-thesis) only.

Admission Requirements

Applicants for admission must first be approved by the Graduate School. They are then reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures, who consults with the French graduate faculty before returning recommendations to the Graduate School.

An applicant may be provisionally admitted without meeting all of the minimum standards if other factors, including letters of recommendation, the writing sample, and the digital-format recording indicate an ability to perform satisfactorily in graduate-level work. Presentation of a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) does not, however, automatically guarantee admission to the program, as the final decision depends on an evaluation of all materials submitted and the faculty's assessment of the applicant's potential for successful graduate study. 

In addition to ensuring that the applicant has met the admission requirements of the Graduate School, the Department carefully evaluates the following materials:

  1. Evidence of completion of the equivalent of the University of Kentucky's undergraduate major in French. Applicants who fail to meet this standard may be admitted provisionally to the Master's program, but may be required to take additional undergraduate work in French. Graduate credit will not be awarded for undergraduate courses, but graduate courses taken simultaneously count in the degree program.
  2. A minimum 3.25 undergraduate GPA in French on a four-point scale.
  3. A statement of purpose for seeking the Master of Arts degree in French and Francophone Studies.
  4. Three letters of recommendation addressing the applicant's qualifications for graduate work in French.
  5. A writing sample in French by the applicant (analytical prose, typically a graded term paper; not a creative work).
  6. Non-native speakers of French must submit a digital-format recording (3-4 minutes) of themselves reading a contemporary prose passage in French (a newspaper or magazine article, not a literary work). Because there is no way to upload this recording directly into the UK Applyyourself application system, applicants should send the recording as an email attachment directly to the Director of Graduate Studies (Dr. Milena Minkova: mmink2@uky.edu).
  7. Non-native speakers of English must submit a digital-format recording of themselves reading a similar passage in English. In addition, they must fulfill the Graduate School's Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) requirement. Because there is no way to upload this recording directly into the UK Applyyourself application system, applicants should send the recording as an email attachment directly to the Director of Graduate Studies (Dr. Milena Minkova: mmink2@uky.edu).
  8. Students in post-baccalaureate programs in French or other areas at the University of Kentucky who wish to transfer to the French Master's program will be evaluated also on their post-baccalaureate course work and on recommendations from their instructors, even though admission may be delayed until the end of the semester in which they are enrolled. A maximum of six hours in post- baccalaureate course work may be transferred to the Master's program.

All application materials should be uploaded directly to the UK Graduate School’s Apply Yourself program on the application website.

For admission in the fall semester with a Teaching Assistantship award, all materials should be received by the Department no later than February 1.