Hi All - I didn’t see a thread around this for the class of 2027 so I figured I would start one. Has else received an invite to the Paris Scholars Program? If so are you considering going? Do you have any information outside of the links they provided? Our biggest concern revolves around housing/food and also going back to GW after the first year in Paris. Anyone have experience with this from prior years that are willing to share their experiences?
This program will depend highly on your comfort zone and your child’s. College in America is not like in Paris where you have a dorm and cafeteria(s). French students live at home and eat at home. International students live in dorms that are NOT on campus and have to take public transportation to get to school and have to eat food locally or cook at dorm kitchen and do laundry at a the nearest laundromat. This is a true lesson in independence. My son, who is in the last couple of months of the Paris Program through GW was very comfortable with this idea and was dying to go. He was NOT a very independent person before he left and this has changed dramatically.
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Thank You for this thread.
Will the course credits and grade transfer to the final GW transcript or it will say TR? Also the course they take there it is some what aligned with the freshman at GW?
Thanks for the info! How many Paris scholar grab an are there this year?
Freshman!
The advisors at the American University in Paris are so good at helping them choose courses that can transfer directly to GW according to their major - and they constantly tell them to enjoy their life in Paris - that that in itself is considered a course - such a relaxed and happy mentality. I think they choose only around 100 kids to go and less than 20 normally actually go but this year was a record number that went (I honestly cannot remember if it was 30 or 50 and I know those are 2 very different numbers but it was a lot of kids). There are kids from USC (California) and Tulane that are also there on similar programs! We don’t regret it but it is not for everyone. My son was only 17 when he went but he grew up so quickly and learned so much about himself and the country as well as neighboring countries.
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Also, since it is a direct transfer to GW opportunity - the kids are not technically committed to GW as this is not a GW satellite - AUP is its own University with its own tuition. Many kids used the opportunity to prepare a new narrative and apply as a transfer to other universities this year with that GW guarantee in their back pocket as well - it is a win-win.
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hi @Durham1972 is there any way i can connect with you or your child through email or phone or social media? i’m a high school senior who got accepted through this program at GW and want to talk to anyone who’s been through this program recently. please let me know if so!
Did your son know any french or did he learn it there? I never learned french before and I am pretty worried about the language barrier. Are we required to learn the language there?
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Even if it’s not required, you’d likely need to (few people in the grocery store, at the cinema, etc, will speak English, just like few people at Walmart speak French well enough to help a French person who doesn’t speak English) and anyway you’d want to - you’ll probably want to watch French movies, French TV, participate in sports and understand the instructions/game play, etc., not to mention make friends with French students who may speak English with you but will revert to French with their friends… Plus, being immersed in it, you’ll learn very quickly and be able to capitalize on it by skipping levels and starting in Level 4 or 5 back when you return to GW.
You could try with Duolingo starting now, trying to progress every day. If you know Spanish, you’ll recognize a lot of words and rules, plus the conjugation is less difficult (you hardly need the subjunctive at all, there’s only one verb for “to be”, etc.) English speakers tend to get the gender of nouns wrong and French people find that cute 
Sure, message me and I will send you his information.
My son knew zero French and was not interested in learning - he did not take French before or after going to AUP either. I think his experience would have been even better if he spoke some French because the French do not like to speak English and are a bit snooty when Americans try to enforce our English on them. Many will refuse to respond in English and will continue in French - even people in service-type jobs (50-50)! But that does not bother my son at all he will just move on to the next person who speaks in English or use Google translate to figure out what he needs to say - there is even a google camera lens that translates what is written in French on subway, menus, etc. to English. He has picked up some basic French nonetheless through his months there.
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@Durham1972 your post has been so helpful, thank you for sharing, If you are okay I would like to talk to you. I am a parent (mother) and my daughter is a senior who got admitted into this program. I can post my email address and we can take it from there. Also anyone else currently studying or a parent willing to discuss please let me know. Thank You
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Please message me and we can chat over the phone or email! I remember when I was going through this I was frantically searching for someone to talk to and get information from and GW admissions, after some push and pull and after a few weeks, gave me a couple of students to chat with that were currently in the program. That was very very important to me and so helpful - but I was never given a parent contact and that part would have been so helpful as well if not more. In the end - if your child really really wants this - they will thrive and grow from this amazing experience.
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It’s not that many service people will refuse to answer in English, but rather that many don’t speak English, just like many service people in the US don’t speak French (or other world languages) to a level that allows them to interact with other people. Your cashier may have taken French 4 or AP French but you can’t really count on it. However, people who can will try and make an effort to speak English with English speakers or beginning French learners. Patient people willing to endure broken French or accepting the risk of being ridiculed for their poor English may also be more common if you travel away from Paris to Giverny for the impressionist gardens, Reims for the Cathedral, Tours for the Loire Valley castles, Angoulême for the Comic Book&Graphic Novel Festival, Bordeaux for the wines, etc. (People also say “Good morning” when they step into the bus in the provinces, something no one in Paris does.)
Some people working in Paris may not be native French speakers so speaking Arabic or Fulfulde or Bassa or Wolof would help but very few people speak those (if you and your child do speak any of those, it’ll be handy).
It’s generally more important to invest in learning French since it’s more versatile.
At places where management has invested in its employees, some people may have had special training to handle English and Spanish speaking tourists, but few supermarkets and mid range stores would do that.
It’d be more common at high-end stores, in cafes and restaurants in tourist areas, especially if the waiters went to lycée hotelier.
So, I wouldn’t go with zero French but by making a little effort beforehand and learning while there (being immersed, it’s almost effortless) it’s doable. In addition, there’s a GW representative on call 24/7. 
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I don’t know - when they start off in English for a couple fo sentences and then roll their eyes and then switch to complete French - it seems like a refusal. I speak some French (took 6 years between middle and high school and passed the AP exam) and sometimes some people did not have the patience for my slower French. But this is the exception, not the rule. We had a great time there and so has he and this has not been a deterrent for living a full and fantastic life in Paris. Of course, no one expects the entirety of France to be fluent in English anymore than anyone in America would be fluent in French - but you can tell the difference between refusal and inability. My son should have taken French classes, but has picked up a lot of basic French for his day to day. I think French people being either unable to or refusing to speak English is completely fair and normal and I wish he had taken French classes while he was there to take advantage of picking up more of the language than he has.
My son has been there for a year starting off with absolutely ZERO French and he is totally fine - so I would not let not knowing French be THE reason not to go. I second that speaking other languages could be an asset in France - he is fluent in Arabic and this has helped him get by on several occasions.
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Here is my email informanna55@gmail.com. You can email me then we can exchange the number there. This way will be more secure. Please in subject say “Paris Program” in case it goes to spam I can move it to inbox. Thank You!
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The program is good. My daughter had an amazing time at AUP. You can get by in Paris without French but the experience is better with it.
The biggest caution with the program in my eyes is comparing it financially with your other options. My daughter chose this program over a half dozen other schools all of which awarded her scholarships-- primarily because GW was her priority school choice. With this being a transfer program, we were disappointed that GWU did not award her one cent of scholarship or grant after she completed the AUP program. So, bear that in mind in your decision process if you think it should be a factor.
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