<p>I did not realize I correlated the Bac with the SAT. I was making a comparision by trying to find a common frame of reference.</p>
<p>There is no fair comparision possible. Of course, someone who aces the Bac will tend to have a higher SAT, but it goes without saying...</p>
<p>Let me rephrase Zules. Somebody who gets a mention bien or mention tres bien on the Bac is a great student, worthy of admission into most elite universities.</p>
<p>I get that. Lots of them are frauds though, believe me. Not only am I one of them--well, was, I'm a dedicated student now, but sometimes people who graduate with a mention (like I did) didn't deserve to.
Anyone who doesn't raise a finger all three years of high school and starts studying like a month before taking the Bac, with a somewhat expensive and efficient 'tutoring company' like we have over here can graduate with a mention bien. That's the truth, my friend.
Of course, many students with a mention deserve it, but a significant part--growing every year, doesn't! Hope that makes sense to you. The French system is very, very particular... and confusing. I get that.</p>
<p>i've sent 100 e-mails to the embassy and to the university office - how can i apply there as an international student? what do i need? - im doing the IB now, and i want to apply there as a freshman, undergraduate. the thing is, i would like to do it part-time or to take the classes through mail or online (i heard you can do that) because i want to do Amer. Uni. Paris in the same time.</p>
<p>Ok. Write me PMs if you want info because the application changes according to your major.</p>
<p>"I want to ultimately work for an American firm (media conglomerate hopefully) overseas and am wondering if a European degree would hinder me in terms of American recruitment or employment overseas?"</p>
<p>I doubt it. They tend to like diverse, well-rounded people.</p>
<p>Paris is pretty amazing. It's a city unlike any other. Ok, the people are unfriendly, but the city is pretty amazing, and the food :D
And come on, La Sorbonne (!!!!!!)
Congrats!</p>
<p>I'm friendly :). But I have to agree, unfortunately. People here are very cocky and believe they are France's elite... Well, historically, this tends to be true but it's not an excuse to be asses to other people.</p>
<p>I disagree, Parisians are no more "unfriendly" than the residents of any other citiy with 5+ million inhabitants. I just think that the French, Parisians in particular, are misunderstood. I have been to Paris as a tourist several times annually for the last 20+ years and I have never had a negative experience. Yes, the French are direct and no-nonesense people, but they are definitely not unfriendly. </p>
<p>But I agree that Paris has awesome architecture, great food and one of the richest culture and history.</p>
<p>I am an American/French student from New York, and I am going to apply to La Sorbonne in 2007 to get a Master in gestion/marketing. What do you think of the school? Are the diplomas recognized internationally?
I would also love to live in France and work there. My mom is French and I also speak French fluently. Tell me more about your experience. Merci!</p>
<p>Gestion is... ew! But as far as I know, masters from the sorbonne are pretty worthy, and the good thing is that they're free! Moreover, you'd avoid Tolbiac and go to the real Sorbonne directly. What are your other options?</p>
<p>Hi Zules,
What do you mean by "Tolbiac" and also by the "real" Sorbonne?
I know there is Sorbonne 1, Assas, CElsa, Dauphine, etc.
Which one is best for a Master in marketing/commerce international/communication?
As i am going to get my bachelor in May (4 years after high school), i am wondering if I will need 1 year or 2 years to get a Master in France??
Thanks</p>
<p>I go to Paris I (which is what you mean by Sorbonne 1, I guess) and the "real" Sorbonne is what we call the famous Pantheon, where upper-class students (from junior year) get their lectures.
Freshmen and sophomores get their lectures at delocalized "teaching centers", often noticeable by their uglyness. I go to Tolbiac, known for being the most awful one.
For graduate studies, the Sorbonne is the best university. The Grandes Ecoles are supposedly better but it's almost impossible for foreigners to attend one.
If you come after your undergrad studies, I'm sure you'll need only one year if you manage to transfer enough credits... Well, good luck to you anyway, you're making the right choice.</p>
<p>Thats amazing! congratulations on getting accepted!
La Sorbonne is well known around the world and surely the best University in France,
In my opinion the French System (Lycee-Uni) is much more demanding than any other system, if not, equal. Pretty sure you’d get great recognition ^^
I also wish to attend La Sorbonne, but im having troubles as to what they require, can somebody please send over some feedback? 
anything would be much appreciated.
My apologies in general for being forum ■■■■■■■■, I’m new.</p>
<p>Haha, Miss.Skellington: this thread is 3 years old. The person is probably finishing up college already :)</p>
<p>sorry to continue an old thread. I’m not sure if there’s any others. </p>
<p>I’m currently looking at applying to some Paris university (VII, VIII, or IV). For philo or preferably some interdisciplinary degree (so VII seems to be my preference). It seems maybe one only applies to one university? I got that impression. The different ones also seem to have different french test requirements (TCF for IV, TEF or DALF/DELF for VIII, …). Maybe others have gone thru all of that? :)</p>
<p>Having “done” an engineering “Grande Ecole” in France and then a MSEE at Stanford U, and now having my eldest son finishing his junior year in the US, I find myself in the same situation as “cellardweller” with similar background and the same views. I wouldn’t be as blunt as cellardwellar, but I fully agree with 99% of what he says on the french system.
When my wife is asking me: “Why shouldn’t we send Cedric to a french university”. I respond: " Not a good idea !“. My son is an excellent student with superb notes in class as a junior and SAT/SAT2/AP tests. He will probably end up in one of the very top US universities, so I know that sending him to a french university would not be a good thing as the US path would be much easier with a more valuable degree at the end. Then why not a “Grande Ecole” to even out the learning level, would you say ? Well he could, academically speaking , no doubt, except that american kids are not well prepared for the french system, and it would be tough psychologically for him to go in a system where you don’t really talk to the professors, and you feel isolated if you are not used to it and you have been all your life in a cocoon ( He is very lucky to be in an excellent public HighSchool in California , which is a perfect preparation to a top US university, not for the french preparatory schools. A “cocoon” US high school doesn’t prepare you too well to the shock of arriving to a preparatory school like I went to , surrounded by top science High School graduates, and then being told by the Math teacher on the very first day " Hang to the branches, the tree is going to shake… I expect a good 10% of this class not to survive the first month ! " and he was talking to a class of very good students ! How far from the Stanford president a few years later welcoming the new foreign students, telling us: Look to your right , look to your left and you’ll see 2 students who will succeed at Stanford” Even if all this happened about 30 years ago, I believe that the french system today is still significantly harsher than the US one). I believe it is much more difficult for an american student to adapt to the “grim” french system, than for a french student to adapt to the US system which is “much friendlier”.
Does it mean that an american student should be discouraged from experiencing the french system, and the chance of experiencing the french culture ? Not at all. I actually started looking into it for my son when I heard about these new exchange programs. For example, a limited number of Universities ( Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Columbia, McGill, Northwestern ) offer the possibility to their sciences students to spend a year at “l’Ecole Polytechnique” ( after warning them that they should have a very strong theoretical math background before applying. Caltech for example requires a minimum GPA of 3.5 before being considered ). What a great opportunity for a very good student in sciences, who knows enough french, to experience the french culture… Even if that wouldn’t be cheap at all: Not as “cellardweller” says that a “Grande Ecole” is expensive… Studying there is very cheap … for french people ! ( in fact the Polytechnique students get some money from the french government to study there ! ). For exchange students it can be quite expensive as the originating university still makes you pay the US fees, I believe !</p>
<p>I read , in some of the earlier comments that " La Sorbonne is the most prestigious university in France. THAT IS IT ! " Well maybe if you exclude all the “Grandes Ecoles” were most of the best french students go ! The general public might not know that fact, but the people in the uS who need to know like the deans of admission in US universities, or some of the top recruiters certainly know.
You come to the US with a diploma from Ecole Polytechnique or the ENS and I bet you that the doors of the top US universities open to you at the graduate and post graduate levels… After all , the ENS in Paris in spite of his tiny class in math studies ( what is it ? 50 students per year ? ) can boast having more Fields Medal winners, arguably the highest award in mathematics in its alumni ranks ( 8 , I believe, out of the 50 or so ever given ! ) , than any other university in the world. I remember,20 years ago I was at a job fair , recruiting for my company (as a Stanford Alumnus), when during a break I talked to my neighbor, a recruiter for a research company somewhere North of San Francisco: " You are french? Are you from Polytechnique? " He asked. " No, I wish, I was that good…" I responded. Then he said " We love Polytechnique graduates, this is the only institution in the world from which we consistantly got very high level recruits… Other universities also have outstanding graduates, but there is always a few cases where the person is not that great. In fact, we now make a point to reserve one position per year for a Polytechnician , if we can get one ! "
Note, that due to my background, I am talking mainly about sciences studies… Somebody who wants to study medecine, business, law, or humanities, wouldn’t consider places like Polytechnique, which are exclusively teaching to science students.
For humanities, La Sorbonne is probably a good place but as “Cellardweller” also mentions , the ENS would be the superlative place to be in that case in France, except that the selection process is brutal, with a few seats opened per year. Brutal for the french kids who spend 2 years after High School just preparing for the national competitive exam, and probably next to impossible for the foreigners, even though with the new policies of openess towards the foreign students , of the last few years , it is possible that things have changed.</p>
<p>Just wondering now that the thread’s been sort of revived again… in European comparison, would you consider the Sorbonne (Paris IV) a better choice than a university in Switzerland or Germany for example? I’m talking about undergraduate philosophy.</p>
<p>Unlike in France, universities in Germany and Switzerland are the first choice for the top students and are very selective unlike in France where they are more of a fall-back if you can’t get admitted to the more selective Grandes Ecoles. (Unless you want to study law or medicine). Admission in Switzerland for an American student would generally require passing a difficult entrance examination (like the one that Einstein actually failed!) and in Germany you may have to take a “bridge” year to compensate for the fact German students have 13 years of schooling prior to entering university.</p>
<p>I have a question, I come from a partially french family(way back), many of our family friends speak french, and I was wondering what my chaces are to geting into Sorbonne(PARIS 4) after college.</p>
<ul>
<li>I am a Junior in HS right now, my GPA from my first two years was 2.85 and this year it will be around 3.5-3.7 (almost guarenteed)</li>
<li>I come from hardworking, respectable, semi-wealthy parents in the Kansas City, Missouri Area of the US.</li>
<li>My schools average ACT score was 26(mine is 25), but my SAT is near 1820(of 2400)</li>
<li>I am a very good writer</li>
<li>I will have completed 8 AP classes and have taken four years of both Latin, and Marching Band by completion</li>
<li>I have six good recomendations</li>
<li>I have not taken French yet, I am enrolled this summer at a local community college for french 1, and have it planned also for senior year(I have talked to the teacher in previous years but scheduling is difficult for me, she likes me and knows my intrest in it also) and I plan on taking it in college.</li>
<li>I am planning on going to either GWU, UMASS, bennington, emerson, Penn state, or Ohio State for my undergraduate study.
Those are my credentials, I have been trying to find admissions numbers but I can’t for Paris 4, I know there is a lot of procrastonation but I really enjoy the culture, and any info you have about admissions to this school in general, or my chances at this school and my other undegrad schools would be nice. Thank You very much.</li>
</ul>