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2023 Best Modern Languages Schools

65 Colleges in the United States
2,871 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded
If you plan on majoring in modern languages, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #234 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual reviewed 65 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of modern languages. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,871 degrees in modern languages during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Modern Languages School

Best Modern Languages Schools Your choice of modern languages school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Modern Languages School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.

In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.

Modern Languages Rankings by Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Modern Languages
Master's Degrees in Modern Languages
Doctor's Degrees in Modern Languages

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Modern Languages Schools list to help you make the college decision. You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

More information on how we come up with our rankings can be found here: College Factual's Data Methodology.

Best Schools for Modern Languages in the United States

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the modern languages degree levels they offer.

10 Top Schools in Modern Languages

1
Duke crest
Duke University
Durham, NC
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5th Most Popular In NC

It is hard to beat Duke University if you want to pursue a degree in modern languages. Duke is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Durham. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,241 schools nationwide means Duke is a great university overall.

There were about 16 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from Duke University

2
UF crest
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
3rd Most Popular In FL
38 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded

Any student pursuing a degree in modern languages has to take a look at University of Florida. UF is a very large public university located in the city of Gainesville. A Best Colleges rank of #65 out of 2,241 schools nationwide means UF is a great university overall.

There were approximately 38 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from University of Florida

3
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In NC

It's difficult to beat University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill if you wish to pursue a degree in modern languages. Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #43 out of 2,241 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.

There were about 20 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

4
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In DE

Any student pursuing a degree in modern languages has to check out University of Delaware. Located in the large suburb of Newark, UD is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,241 colleges nationwide means UD is a great university overall.

There were roughly 5 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at UD in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from University of Delaware

5
Virginia Tech crest
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In VA
96 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded

Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Blacksburg. A Best Colleges rank of #48 out of 2,241 schools nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.

There were about 96 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in modern languages from Virginia Tech

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MO
34 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded

Located in the midsize city of Columbia, Mizzou is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 4th out of 48 colleges for overall quality in the state of Missouri.

There were roughly 34 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at Mizzou in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from University of Missouri - Columbia

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In TN
62 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded

UT Knoxville is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Knoxville. This university ranks 3rd out of 45 schools for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.

There were approximately 62 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at UT Knoxville in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in modern languages from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
6th Most Popular In VA
15.4% Growth in Graduates

VMI is a small public school located in the town of Lexington. This school ranks 10th out of 65 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.

There were about 13 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at VMI in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in modern languages from Virginia Military Institute

9
JMU crest
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
2nd Most Popular In VA
57 Modern Languages Degrees Awarded

Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #134 out of 2,241 schools nationwide means JMU is a great university overall.

There were about 57 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at JMU in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in modern languages from James Madison University

10
U of U crest
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In UT

Located in the medium-sized city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 14 colleges for overall quality in the state of Utah.

There were roughly 13 modern languages students who graduated with this degree at U of U in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in modern languages from University of Utah

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Modern Languages Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
12 George Mason University Fairfax, VA
13 University of South Florida - Main Campus Tampa, FL
14 University of California - Riverside Riverside, CA
15 Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX
16 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV

Modern Languages by Region

View the Best Modern Languages Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Modern Languages is one of 5 different types of Linguistics & Comparative Literature programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Linguistics 3,247
Language Translation 971
Comparative Literature 964
Other Linguistic, Comparative, & Related Language Studies & Services 288
Applied Linguistics 198

View All Modern Languages Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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