French Studies MFS

The Master of French Studies (MFS) is a professional degree earned in the Professional French Masters Program (PFMP). The PFMP is separate from the graduate program in French and Francophone literature. It is an interdisciplinary program combining advanced graduate-level course work in French language and Francophone culture with concentration-area course work in one of six professional concentration areas: French and business, French and education, French and international education, French and European Union affairs, French and international development, and French and media/arts/cultural production. The PFMP prepares graduate students for careers in business, government, nonprofit organizations, media, advertising, and the arts. All PFMP students do a professional internship in their field in a French-speaking country, and present a professional portfolio at the end of their studies.

1. Speak, read, listen and write in French at a level sufficient to work successfully among native French speakers in the student's concentration area.
2. Identify, select and retrieve primary and secondary sources in research projects, using techniques expected by professionals working in the student's concentration area.
3. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the relationship between practices and perspectives in the cultures of the world's major French-speaking regions.
4. Articulate, critique, and elaborate the major professional approaches and best practices in the student's concentration area.
5. Demonstrate understanding of the student's concentration area in its historical and cultural context.
6. Successfully apply major professional approaches and best practices to professional projects in a French-speaking organizational setting outside the United States, in the student's concentration area.
7. Use the most appropriate methodologies for success when beginning or returning to work in the student's concentration area.

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution is required. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree. You must have completed your undergraduate degree, or similar, before starting graduate school.

A minimum undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 on the equivalent of the last 60 semester hours (approximately two years of work) or a master’s degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 is required. Applicants from an international institution must demonstrate strong academic achievement comparable to a 3.00 for an undergraduate or master’s degree. The Graduate School will use your institution’s grading scale. Do not convert your grades to a 4.00 scale.

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide an English proficiency test score. TOEFL scores must be submitted electronically via ETS. IELTS scores can be submitted electronically or by paper.  Our office address is: UW-Madison Graduate School, Office of Admissions, 232 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706.  Your score will not be accepted if it is more than two years old from the start of your admission term. Country of citizenship does not exempt applicants from this requirement. Language of instruction at the college or university level and how recent the language instruction was taken are the determining factors in meeting this requirement.

Applicants are exempt if: