<p>International admission is not something you can pick 
You are an international student because you would need a visa to attend a college in the US (I assume) and as an international student you can apply for international freshman or international transfer admission. The admission process is almost identical for international and domestic students except for some additional paperwork for the visa and the unavailability or scarcity of financial aid. (Would finances be an issue?)</p>
<p>Yes, unfortunately most colleges donât allow you to start over once you have started college - but a few do. Itâs just really hard to find those few 
I would suggest you contact the colleges you want to apply to and ask if they would allow you to start as a freshman. </p>
<p>The problem is that a lot of colleges keep track of communication with prospective applicants. You need to mention your full name because if a college says âyesâ you want them to remember it when they read your application. On the other hand when they say ânoâ you cannot just go ahead and lie because they might notice once they read your application. </p>
<p>I really donât endorse lying⊠but it would make things a lot easier for you. And since you are international it is extremely unlikely that colleges would find out (there is a central American database that keeps track of who attended college where and when but you are not in that database yet; and since international students are not eligible for federal financial aid, colleges wonât discover it through your financial aid records either).</p>
<p>If you start as a freshman, most colleges will give you one year of âtransferâ credit for your French high school diploma if you wish so (âadvanced standingâ). That would in particular take care of your general education requirements at most places if you donât really want to take literature, history, lab sciences, a foreign language etc again.</p>
<p>If you end up applying as a âregularâ freshman you will have to take the SAT or the ACT. The SAT is offered on January 26 and the next time after that in March - too late if you want to start college this upcoming fall. Unfortunately the registration deadline for the January test date has already passed.
The ACT is offered the next time on February 9 with a registration deadline on January 4. I would strongly recommend that you sign up for that test if you think you might apply as a freshman ([ACT</a>, Inc. : A Student Site for ACT Test Takers](<a href=âhttp://www.actstudent.org%5DACTâ>http://www.actstudent.org)). You would also have to sign up for the TOEFL asap.</p>
<p>The next thing to keep in mind are application deadlines. Application deadlines for freshman admission are earlier than for transfer admission - usually in January and February for freshman and a few weeks later for transfer applicants.</p>