Spring Paris Program
HUMANITIES IN PARIS

Please note: Study abroad programs sponsored by the undergraduate College of the University of Chicago are open to University of Chicago students only. Applications from outside the University are not accepted.

General Description:
      


Excursion to Versailles
The College's Spring Humanities program in Paris provides undergraduate students with an opportunity to devote themselves intensively to the humanities at the University of Chicago's Center in Paris. This is a broadly conceived program, designed not for students from specific majors, but for all students, regardless of major, with an interest in the humanities and a desire to pursue this interest in the capital of France, a city rich in cultural resources and artistic traditions.

Program participants will also take a French language course, which runs at a normal pace through the quarter and is designed to help students connect with French (and Parisian) culture. Apart from classroom work, the Spring Humanities program offers a series of excursions to sites of artistic and historic interest within and in the vicinity of Paris. Indeed Paris itself, with its wealth of museums, libraries and theaters, its lively art and literary scene, its rich traditions of creation and critique, plays a central role in the program and students will be expected to make full use of its cultural resources. For a virtual tour of Paris, visit http://paris.arounder.com/.

Center in Paris:
Headquarters for all of the College's programs in Paris is the University of Chicago's Center in Paris. The Center in Paris builds upon the University's long association with various Parisian institutions, as well as its eminence, recognized by the French government, in interdisciplinary scholarship related to France. It acts as a gathering place for undergraduates, graduate researchers and alumni as well as a site for lectures, conferences and receptions. For participants in the various programs sponsored by the College in Paris, the Center, with its classrooms, offices, computers, language lab and (modest) library, provides an administrative and instructional home as well as a supportive environment. Its location, in a "new," academically-oriented neighborhood in the thirteenth arrondissement, places it within easy walking distance of the relocated Bibliothèque Nationale de France, François Mitterand and just across the street from the new home of the Université Denis Diderot.


Daniel Fischer, '09
Parisian Architecture on the Champs Elysées

     

Housing:
Participants in the Spring Paris Humanities program will live in one of the residence halls of the Cité Internationale Universitaire, a campus-like assemblage of houses for international students. In addition to its various national residences, the Cité comprises a library, restaurant (with adjoining cafeteria) and several sports and exercise facilities. Located at the southern edge of Paris (in the fourteenth arrondissement), the Cité offers easy access, by metro and bus, to all of Paris.

Credits:
Students receive one credit for each of the four courses offered through this program. If one of the humanities courses falls within a student's major subject, he or she may use this course in their major without special petition. The use of these courses in related or interdisciplinary majors is also frequently possible, though for this students will have to submit a specific petition to the appropriate program chair. Certainly they may use any of these courses, including the French language course, as a free elective. Course titles, units of credit and grades are placed on the student's Chicago transcript.

Registration and Tuition:
Students remain registered full-time in the College and pay regular College tuition, the Spring Paris program fee and the non-refundable study abroad administrative fee required of all participants in Chicago's programs abroad. For precise figures, see Study Abroad Program Fees.

Financial Aid:
Students retain their financial aid eligibility while abroad. However, two expenses--the study abroad administrative fee and the round-trip airfare--are not underwritten by College financial aid. On the other hand, since students cannot be expected to work part-time while in Paris, the self-help component of their financial aid package does not include a term-time employment factor.

Eligibility and Application:
The Paris Humanities program is open to University of Chicago undergraduate students only. Applications from outside the University are not accepted.

The program is designed for undergraduates in good standing who are beyond their first year in the College. While the program stipulates no minimum grade-point average, an applicant’s transcript should demonstrate that they are a serious student who will make the most of this opportunity. Because the humanities courses are taught in English, there is no language prerequisite, although students are encouraged to take French on campus before the program begins.

Each application is examined on the basis of the student's scholastic record, personal statement and academic recommendation.

A student accepting an offer of admission is expected to secure his or her place with a non-refundable study abroad administrative fee.

Application for Spring 2010:
To apply to the Spring 2010 Humanities in Paris program, a student submits a general study abroad application electronically, then downloads the supplementary application specific to this program and submits it on paper, normally in mid-winter quarter of the previous academic year. To begin the application process, please click here.

Application for Spring 2011:
For the Spring 2011 Humanities in Paris program, please click here to apply through our new online application system.

Further Information:
If you would like to discuss the Paris Humanities program and the possibility of participating in it, you are invited to contact Sarah Walter (Harper 207A; 834-3753).

Statements contained on this site are subject to change without notice.