I also kind of feel like I am being criticized for my decision rather than getting answers to my specific question. I was asking more about the curriculum than the decision to study in France.
b@r!um gave you a link to Universite Paris-Sud with available information. For more detailed curriculum descriptions you will need to contact the department. She explained this already. If Paris-Sud program isn’t what you want, you will need to research other universities, perhaps also contacting them directly for detailed course descriptions.
No one is criticizing you. They are pointing out the negatives, and aspects of your French studies idea you may not have considered. For example, that as an undergraduate you won’t be doing much research at all.
And what do you mean by saying “If I study in France or another European country then I have the opportunity for scholarships at several universities.” ? What universities give scholarships based on whether you studied overseas?
If your goal is to emigrate to France or somewhere else in Europe, then it makes a lot of sense to pursue your graduate education there!
I am sorry that we made you feel criticized. We are just trying to help. I am confused why an American would want to go overseas for a graduate science education, when the rest of the world is coming to the US for that purpose.
Since you mentioned financial concerns, I wanted to emphasize that PhD students in the US are typically fully funded through a combination of teaching assistantships, research grants and fellowships, covering tuition, health insurance and a stipend for living expenses. Science students would typically apply to PhD programs straight out of college, without doing a stand-alone Master’s first.
And would study-abroad cost more than what it currently costs you to attend your current school? I’ve heard that, though I have also heard of study-abroad programs that cost the same or less than home tuition.
^^ depends on the tuition. If you’re paying $60K at home, study abroad can be a lot less. But many of these programs are still very costly: CU Boulder’s year-long program in Aix-En-Provence is over $44K… quite a bit more than its COA of $25K/year… Paris is 36K… which makes Bordeaux a veritable bargain at “just” $30K.
I realize that none of you likely intended to criticize my possible decision to study in France. I just felt that most of the comments at the beginning were a bit more negative than I expected. Def not trying to be rude. Thanks to all commenters. I feel like this provided a lot of perspective.