applying for graduate school in france

Graduate School
1

<p>hi im a current undergrad at washington university in st. louis double majoring in biochemistry and french.
i have taken general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics (mechanics, relativity, E&M and quantum) in addition to my major which consists of a variety of courses in biochemistry and molecular biology.
i have about a 3.5 gpa right now (at a top 20 school) and by the time i graduate i will have 3 years of research experience in a pharmacogenomics lab (studying prostate cancer) at washington university in st. louis school of medicine. I will also hopefully have 1 (possibly 2) publications.</p>

<p>i am interested in going to graduate school in france starting with my masters and eventually getting a phD but right now i'm trying to figure out where are the best places to go in france to do your M1+M2 in molecular biology/biochemistry. (i am fluent in french so i'm considering programs that are taught in french or english it doesn't matter to me)</p>

<p>the only program i currently know of is at Universite pierre marie curie, but i don't even know if my stats are good enough to apply to this program.</p>

<p>so if anyone knows any information about these sorts of programs/what stats you need to get into them it would be very much appreciated</p>

<p>thank you!!</p>

2

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I don’t know if you’re familiar with the French system, I guess so. It’s difficult to understand how it works for us, french folks, but it’s quite impossible for foreign people. There is a dichotomy between universities and “Grande Ecoles”, which are like “Top universities” (but it’s not that simple). It depends of your field (i.e. law, business, economics, management, engineering, etc.) and your objectives (getting a job after a master degree, getting a PhD, something in-between). </p>

<p>I don’t know much about biochemistry, or chemistry for that matter, but I know that’s not going to be simple to find out what to do. It’s a scientific field, and you can study in universities or in Grande Ecoles. My guess is that you shouldn’t be away from Paris, whatever you decide. If I was you, I would check if I find a program in Paris 5, Paris 6, Paris 7, Polytechnique and ENS (Ulm or Cachan), the latter being what we call Grandes Ecoles (the most selective most of the time, but in chemistry I guess it’s not easy anyway to get in). </p>

<p>I can’t tell you what to do, but at least I can tell you that’s a difficult choice. Remember that you would be living abroad a long time, far from your familiy, friends, in a foreign country, a different culture… probably nothing like what you would have dreamed of. To be fully honest, it’s quite a mess in France right now, and I’m not trying to get into politics, but the government has made it harder for foreign students (because, you know, we have kinda the same problem as the US with immigration, and, my opinion, our government is stupid).</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck ! I have a (French) friend studying in Mizzou and she seems fine !</p>