PCLS is running a summer session in June and July of 2024, for intensive courses in selected languages. Each course aims to provide graduate students from a variety of disciplines enough reading proficiency in the target language to be able to read journal articles or conduct archival work. PCLS will issue a Certificate of Completion to each student that successfully completes a course.

Ours are intensive classes that have a high workload, fast pace, and heavy time commitment. Interested graduate students must be prepared to eliminate all conflicts that could interfere with their learning during the six-week period.  Anyone that drops their enrollment after April 26, 2024 will have to consider their fee payment forfeited.

Courses Offered

Two (2) sections of French and one (1) section of German will be offered.

Modality

All classes are fully virtual, requiring live synchronous participation. Students can thus be physically located anywhere for the duration of the six weeks, as there will be no in-person components to the course, provided they can ensure a stable enough connection to use Zoom and access Canvas.

Schedule

Classes will meet during the six-week period of June 10 – July 23. All meeting times listed are Princeton local time (Eastern Daylight Time).

There will no be classes held on Wednesday, June 19th and Tuesday, July 4th.

Intended Audience

Our classes are open to graduate students from any accredited university, or those that will matriculate into a graduate program in the fall of 2024.  Courses are not intended to serve the needs of undergraduates or non-students.  Postdocs/researchers at Princeton may be admitted into a section, pending open seats.

No prerequisite knowledge is required for any of these courses.

Those seeking speaking proficiency in a language are not the appropriate audience for the Summer Language Reading Knowledge Courses.

Grading

Instructors will assess students on a Pass/Fail basis.  Students that receive a Pass will be issued a Certificate of Completion, signed by the Director of PCLS.  Students that receive a Fail will not be issued a Certificate of Completion.  The Registrar's Office will not be issuing transcripts.

Selection and Enrollment

Enrollment will be limited to 12 students per section.  If enrollments of any section are too low after the registration deadline has passed, PCLS reserves the right to cancel the section.

Priority enrollment goes first to Princeton University graduate students, followed by Princeton Theological Seminary students, then graduate students from all other institutions, and lastly to faculty, postdocs, and advanced undergraduates at Princeton University.

A waiting list will be kept for each section that fills before the application closes.

Fees

The course fee for 2024 is $1000, due within 5 days of receiving confirmation of acceptance into a class.

Payment

Princeton University graduate students whose departments are paying PCLS directly must confirm with their department manager in advance that the department agrees to execute a Prime journal to move money to PCLS to fully cover the student's fees.

For all other students enrolling (those who are non-Princeton students, or Princeton students who are not automatically paid for by their department, the payment should be made by the student by credit card or debit card.  PCLS will send the student a payment link once the registration form is processed and accepted.

Enrollment cannot be finalized until full fee payment has been received.  Fee payments must be executed within 5 business days of receiving confirmation of being granted a spot in a section.

Refunds

If an enrolled student drops out from their class by 5pm ET on April 26, they will receive a refund of their fees.  No refunds will be granted under any circumstances if a student drops a course after April 26.  This also means that students withdrawing after classes have commenced will not be granted a refund, regardless of the reason.

If a course section gets canceled, students on the roster will be notified and their fees refunded.

Application and Deadline

The application deadline for the 2024 program is Friday, April 19, 2024 at 12pm ET.

After receiving your application, our office will confirm by email whether you are granted a spot in a section.  If so, we will also include directions about how to initiate your electronic payment of the class fee, depending on whether your department is paying PCLS directly on your behalf, or you are personally paying us out of pocket.

Students wanting to sign up for more than one language should fill out the application multiple times (once for each language class).

Contact

For further information or any questions, please contact Vandana Bajaj.