<p>mention assez bien.</p>
<p>And the University of Montreal teaches in French.</p>
<p>Do you think it changes anything in my application if I say biracial (caucasian and arabic) instead of only caucasian, knowing that I'm already an international student.</p>
<p>Logically, it would help but given the current political situation, I'd say it might backfire on ya, I don't know.</p>
<p>Yah, I'm a freshman at the University of Chicago. It's ok here, there's a lot of work but all in all, it is very interesting. :)
Oh and for the bac, i got the f?licitations du jury.</p>
<p>I was wondering what made you guys decide to apply to american colleges?
We do have great schools in France, don't we? X, normale, HEC, etc...</p>
<p>Well I wanted to have some international experience and I don't really like the prepa + grandes ecoles system...</p>
<p>The Grandes Ecoles are practically inaccessible no non-native French speakers... so I heard.</p>
<p>And I believe I have much greater chances to get accepted to, say, Yale than Sciences-Po... go figure.</p>
<p>For those who need a french-US grade conversion scale: cda.morris.umn.edu/~buchansb/Grade%20Conversion%20Scales.pdf</p>
<p>Thanks that's very helpful.
However I find the scale a little strange, I used to be a 13-15 student (except in Physics and Maths where I always got above 16) and this year, in the US, I'm taking a very hard courseload (IB and AP classes except for english) I only got As and I have a 4.0 GPA. I guess it's because I work a little harder here, I don't know...
Anyway, you think colleges will look at my year-abroad grades? I'm not sure my "lycee" grades will be high enough to get in a very good college. I'm kinda worried about that.... I didn't take the Sats yet, I'm still practicing to get above 700 in the english sections (tough!).</p>
<p>I don't know. I really wasn't doing anything last year (besides newspaper) and I ended up with a 3.5 GPA or something. Again, don't apply for undergrad, that's such a waste of money.</p>
<p>Why?
I mean, we have good schools in engineering and medical school is OK but it's way better, when you're looking for a job, to say "I studied at "some good american college" that I studied at Paris 4 or I don't know what schools ( exceptions faites pour Polytechnique, les MInes, Normale Sup, etc that are Ivy League Level).
Moreover, I'm not sure about what job I want to do. In France you have to decide just after the Bac, in the US you have much more time before deciding your major.</p>
<p>You don't have to be America's saleswoman, I'm fully aware of the benefits. Those schools aren't even close to the Ivy League level but a US undergrad degree means that you have money before everything. Getting in at an undergrad level is relatively easy.</p>
<p>so you mean getting in Harvard or Yale is easy? hmm i doubt it...</p>
<p>It is easier than getting into Polytechnique, yes..
It's why I'm still hesitating between going in a prepas for 2 years without being sure, at the end, of getting into a good school or going to the US now and lose money (if no financial aid).
And by the way, if you compare Harvard students and Poly students, I'm sure the most qualified are not the one you think, zules01.
yt660, could you tell me what were your stats when you applied? And how is Uchicago?</p>
<p>Getting into Harvard and Yale is way easier than getting into Polytechnique, yes. In France, polytechnicians are admitted the minute they're born, obviously. I've never seen a minority person get into X while social evolution is possible (and stimulated) in the US. Harvard students are probably way more "qualified" than X students because X doesn't require an "all-around excellence" like Harvard probably does. It's not like I'm going to get into any of them anyway so... :)</p>
<p>Not to mention that X is a "grade whore" only while you can get into Harvard from the back channels.</p>
<p>I find you very bitter about the french educational system.</p>
<p>"In France, polytechnicians are admitted the minute they're born, obviously. I've never seen a minority person get into X while social evolution is possible (and stimulated) in the US."
Actually, it's false. I'm from 93, and in my high school's prepa last year, 2 people got into Poly, and they weren't white or legacy (Polytechnique doesn't care about legacy at all).</p>
<p>"Harvard students are probably way more "qualified" than X students because X doesn't require an "all-around excellence" like Harvard probably does. "
Yes, Poly doesn't care about extracurricular. But it does care about results in Literature (not only in maths and physics). I don't think you can really compare both schools because like you said, one is undergraduate and one is weird-french-system-semi-graduate. But I would say that people who get into Poly 2 years after Bac could easily get into Harvard directly after bac.</p>
<p>Well if your finances are stable enough to handle the cost of an exchange year, and ever more for college, I'd say your situation isn't too pitiful and you're definitely not concerned by social evolution since you seem pretty high enough as it is.</p>
<p>Ok so stop assuming that if I want to go the US, I have money.
I'm not exactly the rich spoilt little girl that can go wherever she wants because of money. I paid half the price of my year in the US (Yes, I worked even though it's quite tough when you're a french high schooler) and if I apply next year, I will ask for financial aid.
And my roots are arabic so no, I'm definitely not concerned by social evolution. It makes sense...
Hum....</p>
<p>For starters, I assumed you had the money to pay for college because exchange students who say, during the first months, that they want to go to college there and seem serious enough know that they won't get any financial aid whatsoever because they're foreign. Point 1.
Also, if they indeed had the grades to go to private colleges that do give away aid for intl's (i.e. Yale and others), they wouldn't have gone through high school again but would have directly applied to the colleges in question. Going to high school as an exchange is more a proof of financial capability than extraordinary talent. Point 2.
Finally, if you get financial aid from any American college, it means you're probably smart. But the problem is smart people would refuse that financial aid that you might be getting from hellhole's state university (even Virginia State), come back to France and work their asses off to become serious grad students applicants. So there. Don't hide what you really want - not coming back to France and having to go to crappy college/prepa because you're living such an extraordinary experience.
I'm sure you know you need a letter from the bank saying you can pay college tuition before applying (that means at least €10,000, which I'm sure you don't have if you had to pay half this year's tuition by yourself), and that financial aid deadline is way passed. The time frame is just too short. Becoming a college student US after being an HS exchange student is nearly impossible.</p>