I just graduated from the French school of Rio, Brazil. Basically, my dream has always been to attend an American university. However, as I prepared for the Baccalaureate during two years, I basically blew my SAT scores.
I got accepted to quite a few great universities in France, including Sciences Po, Sorbonne and Dauphine. My main goal is to spend a year in a French university so I can transfer to an American one as a sophomore. Is this a complicated process? Do French credits transfer well into American universities? Do I stand a chance against many American candidates?
You’d be much better off taking a year off, studying for the SATs and applying as a freshman. For one, very little from France would transfer, yet you’d be applying as a transfer student. Most universities take fewer transfer students then freshmen, and you’re unlikely to get any financial aid as a transfer.
This is only a viable plan if your parents can pay full costs (40-65,000 per year). Otherwise, being a transfer means no financial aid. In addition, while classes transfer, many would only count as elective credit. Sciences Po would count more, because it’s less specialized and you take a variety of classes, but Dauphine and Sorbonne are too specialized, you wouldn’t get more than a few elective credits toward your major.
Typically, students are better off working on their SAT’s/ACT’s, volunteering, and applying as a freshman.
Thanks! Luckily my parents are willing to pay full tuition. I understand that my chances are higher by taking a year off, but the problem is that I already got rejected by my top-choice university, NYU, and I can’t apply as a freshman again. I’m considering more Sciences Po for the exact reason that it’s more interdisciplinary than other French universities.
What do you mean, you’ve been rejected so you can’t apply as a freshman again?
You can apply, be rejected, attend nowhere, volunteer/work/travel, and apply as a freshman.
“You can certainly re-apply for admission as a transfer candidate to our campus in New York, should you matriculate elsewhere next fall, but we cannot reconsider your application for any programs or campuses until then and we cannot evaluate any new credentials or materials at this time.”
That sentence means that you cannot send them any new information now that would change their decision about admission for this fall.
If you do not enroll in college anywhere, you can reapply as a freshman applicant. If you enroll in college somewhere, then you will need to apply as a transfer.
Considering how difficult it is for international students (even students who are full-pay) to get admitted as transfers, if you really want to study in the US take a gap year and apply as a freshman for fall 2016 admissions. If you can be happy studying in France, pick the university there that you like best. Don’t pick one that you think is most likely to get you into a university here. If you aren’t admitted anywhere here as a transfer, you want to be able to finish your degree someplace that will give you a good future.