Sarah Lawrence College in Paris offers students exceptional opportunities for exploring the arts, the humanities, and a number of disciplines in the social sciences. Even more unique, the program enables students to concentrate up to a half of their studies in the visual and performing arts. This broad choice and curricular flexibility, combined with the resources of a city known for its cultural vitality, make for an academic experience that is both highly personalized and intellectually rewarding.

Students take four courses each semester, all conducted exclusively in French: an intensive French language course, and if you choose, one or two courses at such institutions as the University of Paris IV -- Sorbonne, Sciences Po, and the Institut Catholique or in visual and performing arts studios, and one or two Sarah Lawrence seminars, for a total of 15 credits per semester. In conjunction with the Sarah Lawrence seminars, students meet with their French faculty members in individual tutorials every other week; in the University courses every week. These conference sessions ensure understanding, facilitate research and allow for the pursuit of individual projects—just as they do on the Sarah Lawrence campus.

Academic options

By the time you structure your academic program, the possibilities for study in Paris will be considerably more informed by your orientation experiences, conversations and the city itself. You will begin to see yourself as part of the quest for knowledge and creation that made medieval Paris the setting of one of the world's first universities—and that has made it a compelling destination for many writers, artists and philosophers ever since.

Through the Sarah Lawrence program, students have access to France's most prestigious academic institutions. You may choose to enroll at the universities of Paris—the Sorbonne (University of Paris IV), Jussieu (University of Paris VII), and Nanterre (University of Paris X)—or at Sciences Po and the Institut Catholique.

In addition to courses at these French institutions, Sarah Lawrence seminars (also taught exclusively in French) offer opportunities for specialized study of artistic, cultural and political topics of particular interest. All courses at French institutions and Sarah Lawrence seminars are supplemented by tutorials. Each student takes a French language class at the advanced level as well.

Finally, students interested in the visual and performing arts have an enormous—and unique—opportunity: to study in some of the finest artists—ateliers, photography studios, theatre schools, music conservatories and dance studios in Paris, and to concentrate up to half of their program in these studies.

The Tutorial System

Sarah Lawrence tutorials are based on the idea that the highest comprehension and the most complete development of each student's potential occur during—and as a result of—one-on-one or small-group meetings between students and faculty members. In these conversations (weekly for university courses, every other week for seminars), you'll not only have the opportunity to review the material from your class or lecture but also engage your professor in a discussion of the topic. And in Paris, the tutorials can also provide a helpful window on cultural differences. The opportunity for each student to work independently with his or her professor is an essential component of all courses at Sarah Lawrence College and the program in Paris.

"My experience with the Sarah Lawrence College program has been so positive -- I do not feel that I am at an American college which happens to be in Paris. My experience has been a very French one, and I'm glad."
—Participant, Middlebury College