No I am out of state but UCLA is still my top choice. That is a very good point, My UC Gpa will be different. I am having the same problem as your daughter, When I get back in the spring I am taking relatively easy classes and putting off a ton of Aps and APUSH to Senior year. APUSH is a class that only juniors take but my school is making an exception for me since US History is required to graduate. Which UC’s did your daughter apply to and did her study abroad grades have any affect?
Are there any opportunities for her to have simple conversations on a regular basis with a native French speaker this year? Also, encourage her to do as much supplemental French study outside of school as possible (i.e.Rosetta Stone online.)
I spent a summer in Spain as a teen with a host family after three years of high school Spanish and it was overwhelming and exhausting (but wonderful) even though I didn’t take any academic classes while there. Complete immersion in rapid-fire conversation is so different from slow-paced high school classes that there’s just no comparison. Some people do learn best “on their feet” but, in my experience, the more structured learning that occurs before she goes, the better. I have also volunteered with the exchange organization AFS for years in my community, and almost without exception, the students who are at least conversant upon arriving (along with very open and curious minds 
) tend to be most likely to adapt well.
Good luck to her…it’s a fantastic thing she’s embarking on!
Kitka, my daughter was a California resident and was accepted to UCSB, UCSC, and Berkeley – but ended up attending Barnard. She did not apply to any other UC campuses. Even with time abroad, my daughter’s GPA was high enough to qualify her for “eligibility in the local context” which provided an admissions advantage to in-state students. (The concept still exists but has changed somewhat over the years - but definitely is a factor that improves admission chances at the UC’s) But her study abroad courses would definitely have not been factored in. So I don’t think there is a comparison to be made with nonresident admission, where you are essentially at a disadvantage to start, especially if applying to one of the flagship campuses.
But I’d really encourage you to reconsider your college goals in any case. Personally, I think it is nuts for anyone to pay the cost of nonresident tuition to attend school at UCLA or Berkeley. Why would you pay $61K to attend a public university? (Probably several thousand more by the time you start).
I’m not discouraging you from applying – I just think that it probably shouldn’t occupy the spot of “dream” school in your mind.
I am virtually certain that my daughter’s semester abroad and her essay about her experiences was essentially the hook for admissions at competitive schools. (She was accepted to U of Chicago as well as Barnard). It did help that she was studying a less-common language (Russian) – I think that your time in Spain will definitely be valued by many colleges, but Spanish may not have the same level of pull in college admissions.
My daughter did have her counselor write an explanatory comment as to the scheduling conflicts that prevented her from taking more math & lab science-- she had a very lopsided academic profile, strong in arts & languages, some gaping holes on the STEM side. She wasn’t able to take APUSH but she took honors US History her senior year taught by the same teacher and did take the APUSH exam, so she ended up with the AP credit - but because of the timing that is not something that would have factored into college admissions.
I’d note that when my daughter was abroad she had no idea where she wanted to apply to college. As California residents, applying in state is a given – just about every college-bound high school senior does it. My daughter completely revised her college list after college visits in the fall of her senior year. So keep an open mind and don’t just limit your college goals to big name universities.
I’d be careful about French transcripts; I studied there and elsewhere abroad and the grading scale is much lower than in the US; if I recall correctly, a 17/20 is excellent even though that is 85%–so the lower grades might convert into lower US grades.
We were expats in France and had kids enrolled in French public school, so I know a thing or two about French grading systems and translating to get credits for the high school. First, prepare your daughter that high school and grading systems in France are extremely different than they are in the US. (You might want to Google, “They shoot school kids, dont they?” by Gumbel for the worst of it.) They use a 20 point grading scale, and most teachers do not believe a 20 is even possible. (Even in math - my D once got all problems correct, but the teacher took off points because she didn’t like the way she made her "4"s.) A 10/20 might be a good grade - and she’ll know, because teachers usually tell everyone’s grades out loud. My D was top of her class and had an average of about 17, which was considered amazing. One thing that can throw a kid is that math is just “math” every year in high school; they don’t do Geometry, Algebra, etc. It’s a mix every year and won’t match up with what’s taught in the US, so don’t fret about placement.
Also - find out if your D will be going to Lycée, or Collège. The French have a tendency to put foreigners down a year when they arrive, and if so, your D may end up in Collège for 9th grade. There are pros and cons to this.
I would not pay someone to translate the grades. Your daughter’s French will be good enough by the end that she can do it herself using a generic online format, and then just get the secretary at the school to stamp it. We did this and our high school accepted it. We also had an agreement with the high school to just accept the class we needed credit for as P/F and then they reported them on her high school transcript - which gets sent to colleges. This, IMO, is the best way to handle this situation. They can report classes as P/F without awarding credit for them also. (Because French public schools aren’t accredited in the US, we had to fight tooth and nail to get credit for Algebra, which was the only one my D was going to need towards graduation)
PM me if you want to discuss more.