This is going to sound facetious but the vast majority of American students are not going to have the “linguistic talent” to be mistaken for French after one year and three months of study. I think it’s irresponsible to suggest that it can be done, especially today when these students are going to be Skyping/Social Media’ing in English every day. When I was 19 and fully-immersed in Italian life (working and living with in-laws), not speaking English for months on end unless I made the trek to the post office to call home, it took me years to reach a level at which people were “confused” about whether or not I was Italian. Now I’ve spoken French for over twenty years (married to a Frenchman and with two bilingual daughters at home) and still wouldn’t be mistaken for French, though I’ve translated a number of books from French to English.
I really don’t mean to deny your experience. I just find it odd to tell kids they can get “mistaken for French” that quickly. Honestly, it sounds exactly like something I would have said back when I was 19.
I’d like to hear more about the quality of the facilities, the size of lectures, the teaching quality and the regularity of courses (even my middle schooler’s classes are constantly cancelled; I can’t imagine at uni). My dd18, who is French, won’t even consider uni in France.