French
Undergraduate Success Stories
Daren Nicholson, B.A. 1997
Currently a health care informatics consultant, with a master's degree in biomedical informatics at Oregon Health and Science University and a doctorate of medicine from the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Québec
"My interest in French began in high school when I was forced to take a language course. At the time this seemed to me to be a punishment. Nevertheless, I decided that if I were to endure a sentence of four years of French class, I was not going to throw away all my work after graduation. Thus, I made it a goal to spend one year of my university studies in France. In fact, one of the main reasons that I chose Notre Dame was for its strong French program and for the Angers program.
"It seemed crazy considering my heavy work-load Freshman year, but I took Professor Patrick Martin's intensive French class (French every day for an entire school year), and it sure paid off. After our first month in Angers, I felt very at ease in my new language, and like many of my confrères I began dreaming in French. I do not want this to sound cliché, but my experience in Angers was life changing. I mark this year as the turning point in my life. It was a year of discovering not only a new culture and language but also my own identity.
"Eventually, I graduated from Notre Dame with a combined French and economics degree. My knowledge of French helped me land a job with Ernst & Young in their international economic consulting group. After a few years in the work world, however, I decided to take a new career path: medicine. Fortunately, I was accepted at my top choice, McGill University in Montréal, Québec. Both of the doctors who interviewed me at McGill were very impressed with my French major and my studies in Angers. I am certain that my French proficiency helped sway the admissions committee to accept me at McGill. Wile in Montréal, I continued to improve my French (or should I say my Québecois). I used French every day both in my personal and professional lives.
Now I live in San Mateo, CA and rarely have the chance to converse in French, but I do my best to read in French and to watch French films.
I have been incredibly fortunate over the past few years, and I owe a great deal of my happiness to my decision to study French."
