<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>So I'm a Brazilian and I live in the US. I also happen to be a EU citizen (Italian heritage). I'm in my last year of high school and I've been looking at colleges. Learning French in school, I've fallen in love with it and I've realized that I'm pretty good at it, so I was considering studying in France. </p>
<p>Truthfully, I do not plan on living in the US and want to live in Europe (my father lives there and I've already lived there so it's not a completely foreign place). In the future I'd like to work in a Brazilian consulate in Europe (probably France), and so I'm looking at a career in International Relations. </p>
<p>However, I've been considering studying in France because the universities are cheaper (if you take out SciencesPo and all the Grandes Ecoles). I've noticed that many French universities don't offer International Relations for Undergrad so I was thinking of studying Applied Foreign Languages at La Sorbonne before doing a masters for International Relations. Now I've heard that La Sorbonne is overrated, but that their languages program is very good. I could probably even learn a fourth language. </p>
<p>Anywho, I was just wondering if this is a smart choice for someone who plans on working in an embassy in Europe. I'm sure they would prefer a SciencesPo student with an Undergrad in International Relations, but who knows. </p>
<p>I hope I made myself clear on this subject. I'd like to hear your opinions! Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>You can start at la Sorbonne and then to SciencesPo, a lot of people do that !</p>
<p>There’s also the dual degree program with SciencesPo and Columbia (here in NYC). You do 2 years at SciencesPo, then 2 at Columbia and you graduate with two separate degrees. It’s a really good option for someone interested in IR (although of course finances are expensive-though look into Columbia’s policies…some Ivies meet all demonstrated financial need even for internationals).</p>
<p>@ethelrachel you mean like going to SciencesPo for a masters afternoon getting a licence front Sorbonne right?</p>
<p>@uscamstudent yeah that sounds like an amazing program! however, I’m looking for something a little more affordable haha. But I will look into it.</p>
<p>Also, could someone enlighten me on Applied Foreign Languages? On Sorbonne’s website under the LEA course description it says we should choose two languages for the course and I wonder if that means we should choose languages we already have a basic understanding of, or if we can pick any language that we have never studied before. The website does not seem to explain much and I can’t find many resources on the internet that would help me understand this better.</p>
<p>"I was just wondering if this is a smart choice for someone who plans on working in an embassy in Europe. "</p>
<p>Whose embassy? Brazil’s? If so, you need to sit down with someone who is in the diplomatic service of Brazil, and find out where they were educated, and how they began their career. If you are serious about this career field, you may learn that it is necessary for you to complete your university-level education in your home country.</p>
<p>I didn’t think that might be necessary… I will speak to various people from now until college. I may change my mind down the road in regards to where I want to work specifically, it’s possible. But I at least have a good idea of what area I want to work in. Thank you for input, however. I will highly consider it!</p>
<p>No you can do 2 years at la Sorbonne like a prepa there and then Doing the contests to get into SciencesPo.</p>
<p>Oh… but I would have to take only the prepa there, just so I can get prepared to enter the real thing which would be sciences po?</p>
<p>You can do prepa at any classes prepas(CPGE); usually they are in high schools. Then you take the exam to be recruited to the grandes ecoles. If you fail the exam, you have the choice of retaking the second year of prepa and taking the exam again the next year or transferring to university.
But, admissions to CPGEs alone is very competitive:only around 8% of french baccalaureate holders get in. And the course is very intensive and demands a really high workload; basically all you do there is cramming.
Already for the french, it’s that difficult. I can only imagine how hard it is for international students(almost impossible to get in, I heard).
If you think you’re up to the challenge and you’re proficient in French(you need to MASTER it), feel free to do it.
What I would suggest is to go to a college in the States and apply to grandes ecoles as an international? What do you think?</p>
<p>LEA is not well considered; essentially for students who couldn’t get into post-bac business schools or who like two languages but don’t know what they want to do. It’s only useful if you can get into a school later on. For LEA you must have English plus either a language you already know (for you, Portuguese) or a “new” language, although the recommendation is to have English, second foreign language, AND new (less commonly taught) language.
You CANNOT do 2 years at Sorbonne then Sciences Po. The Sciences Po entrance exam begins with an application typically due Jan 1 of your senior year, followed by a series of 4-hour essay exams. Admit rate is about 10% but if you go the International route it may be as high as 30-40%. You’d start for 2 years on the branch campus related to your language specialty (yours would be Poitiers), one year abroad, then 2 years in Paris. This is what you’d need to do to work in European Diplomacy if going to a school in France.</p>