French Universities

Hey, I'm curious as to what the prépa actually entails regarding workload. My French assistant did 2 years of the literary prépa but didn't get in to a Grandé école. She did mention how tough it was =S However she started at l'Université Paris III in the third year (convenient).

If a person doing the prépa does end up at a normal university, how do they find the workload? Really easy?

Also, can you do a transfer year to Oxbridge as a prépa student? or do you have to be at a Grande Ecole? I know several french students who applied to Oxford while doing their Prépa (Maths based subjects) and didn't get in. Which confuses me considering how tough is its, it seems like the perfect preparation for an application - and they can obviously cope with the workload.

Haha yes I realize that isn't racist at all. To be honest with you I'm not very big on Islam though my parents and all are. I was more worried people would take offence to my skin tone. Stereotyping and all that you know. But your post's got me feeling better
Sigh there's no getting around accommodation issues I see
I think Norway and Sweden have introduced tuition for non-EUs this year on. Haha bad timing. If I'd only been applying a year ago.
Oh I'll wait for Marilyn then.

It's nicknamed "the convent" in France because you virtually have no social life during two years. Generally, it's 8am-8pm 5 days a week, and you have "khôles" (exams) on Saturdays, or at least, that's how my school did it. You have three strands, the Literary one (Hypokhâgne + Khâgne), the Economics one (Prépa HEC) and the science one. They've all got substrands, so you can focus on Physics or Maths in the science one, or you can go for a half science-half lit kind of thing (I forgot the name). It's extremely intensive, and you have a wide range of subjects you need to work on, you don't just do maths or just languages, it's a mix. I've met some people on their year abroad at Oxbridge, or students who'd moved to the UK after a prépa, and they all said it was far easier. There isn't as much pressure, you've got more freedom, not as much is asked of you, you don't end up with exams every week, it's a lot more chilled out.

As far as I'm aware, Oxbridge does not allow transfers whatsoever, so even the prestige associated with prépas (assuming you even get the grades to benefit from it) wouldn't ease your way into Oxford of Cambridge, you'd have to apply the usual way, especially as you can only get the Senior/Affiliated student status after doing a whole degree. In France, unis know prépas are definitely worth two years of university, but if you want my opinion, it's not worth going through the hassle of it to then not get into a GE. I'm sure you know that Oxbridge want students who, they believe, will suit the tutorial system, and although prépas are intense, competitive and hard-work, it doesn't mean that everyone is suitable for the Oxbridge teaching, and they may not have shown enough passion for their subject. Being good at it is one thing, having the passion for it is another.

The Baccalauréat system generally teaches us to put up with all kind of crap we don't really give a damn about, I did 13 subjects, of which I was only really interested in one, but I didn't have the choice of not doing that many. We learnt to work by ourselves and not give up, but we also know that it's because it'll get us a job at the end of the path. A vast majority of people do the Scientific strand of the Bac because it's seen as the most prestigious, and an idiotic number of them end up deciding that actually, they'd rather do humanities at uni, but thought the literary strand wouldn't be good enough. I'm not sure French students really care about their subjects, we pick the job and do the studying after, whereas in the UK, you tend to go for what you like and see what you can get after. And this could mean that we don't have as much as a passion for a subject as Bris would.

All in all, you're better off going to Oxford this autumn if it's your aim, trying the prépas system to improve your French is a bit masochistic, if you ask me



I don't really understand why you got negged for your post, but oh well…
I don't think your skin colour would be a problem, you just need to be careful as you would everywhere else in the world! French seem to have a problem with Islam at the moment, so keep an eye on what's going on, because with the recent niqab ban, there may be more stupid laws to come…

Would rep but have run out

Thanks for a detailed answer - the prépa system does seem crazy. I would never consider trying it to improve my French - if it's that torturous for French students I doubt my level of French could cope :P

I was just very interested about the differences between the two systems. My friend who didn't get into Oxford to do PPE is now starting Hypokhâgne after his bac. I guess some would thrive under such intense pressure, while a more relaxed approach would suit others who would like to explore own interests without being examined every week =S

I'll be sure to lend my support to my poor friend...

If you even manage to get hold of them!
For when you get to Oxford: do go to Hassan, the kebab van in front of Blackwell Music, it's right in front of Trinity and try the chocolate brownie dessert at The Mitre, the restaurant at the end of Turl Street. Om nom nom nom nom. (And send some of it to your friend so they can cheer up while you secretly laugh at them because you're not buried under as much work as them. )

Haha I have actually heard of this Hassan - he must be really good. I'll be sure to pay him a visit.

Do you know Oxford well?

Do you think this holds for international students too? I hope to get 3-4 A level A grades.

Since you don't pay (well, except for the frais d'inscription that Anatheme mentioned, but tbh €150 doesn't really count when you compare it to £10,000) unis expect you to be far more independent and sort everything out for yourself. For acommodation, some students (like me) find a 'logement contre services' deal, where you babysit or give free English lessons in return for a free room/appartment. Otherwise you'll have to look at renting in the private sector, which can be expensive but since jobs are far better paid here (around €10 an hour for waitressing, babysitting etc, compared to like £5 in the UK) it doesn't work out too badly if you're careful with your money. Most students get their rent down by 'colocation' where they share with their friends, and you can find coloc deals and people to share with on French student websites. There are uni halls, but there are far more students than places, so if you're an international student outside of an exchange like Erasmus, you're on your own and don't qualify.

On the same 'independent' theme, Anatheme's right about the lack of student organisations. There are some, but with the exception of a couple of universities like Strasbourg all you'll really find is political stuff. My advice would be to crash the
Erasmus parties and make friends with people from the Grandes Ecoles (ESCP parties are beyond crazy! ).

In general, universities here just expect you to be far more grown up about the whole thing, you find everything for yourself, they're not going to spoonfeed you. That suits me fine but it's not for everyone and it's definitely not the typical student experience, so think about what you want before deciding.



Here in Paris there are a lot of internationals and it's great. I've met quite a lot of Asians here and have yet to hear of a bad experience. As far as I know France in general is pretty welcoming to internationals.

For universities you'll need to provide your A Level certificates plus a translation by a traducteur assermenté, CV, lettre de motivation,
photocopy of your passport and a French language test (TCF, DELF or DALF) with a level of at least B2. Some French universities (eg Dauphine) particularly for some subjects (Law, LEA) are more competitive than people in this thread are admitting. It's true that for the most part French people need passing grades in the Bac, but that's already a tough exam, it's not like accepting Ds and Es at A Level Also French unis are more selective once you get there, so people that aren't putting the work in and getting the grades get kicked out.



French immersion was my main motivation too, and the lack of tuition fees sure is a bonus

I don't really understand why you got negged for your post, but oh well…
I don't think your skin colour would be a problem, you just need to be careful as you would everywhere else in the world! French seem to have a problem with Islam at the moment, so keep an eye on what's going on, because with the recent niqab ban, there may be more stupid laws to come…

Yes, the same with international students minus you need to apply for student visa etc, (the normal routine for any international student).

Thank youuuu <3

I almost forgot, you need to pass DELF B2 in order to be admitted, since the lecturing language will be French.

I'm almost a B2 right now. Will try and bring it up to at least C1 by the time I take the test.
Thanks again

Would be better, buy finishing a B2 is more than enough, since C1 is a whole different league, not something you'd use everyday or in scientific and business majors.

A C1 is definitely the level you should aim for, were you to write academically in any language. B2 is not enough, that's the minimum they want, but if you aim at being the best, you'll definitely need to up your game.

Coordonnées (address, phone number), état civil (age, nationality, marital status) formation (GCSEs, A Levels, any other relevant education), expérience professionelle (any jobs or work experience you've done), connaissances linguistiques/informatiques (languages you speak and what you can do on a computer) centres d'intêret (hobbies) and a photo in the top right corner is the standard formula.