Ecole Centrale Paris

we neither know what school Madrigal goes to, what he does for his subjects in addition to the normal syllabus and how much work he has to put into Math A Level.

Just so you know, I'm not trying to discourage you or anything like that, just giving you a heads up as to what to expect over there. If you have the motivation and the work ethic for it, I would definitely recommend it if you want to do applied mathematics.

I'm not sure what you are referring to in your 2nd line... I went to a French high school in the US with the 2 people I previously mentioned (who are now at the ENS), and we all did the "scientific section" of the French Bacc, so yeah a lot of maths, physics, chemistry and biology.

I do remember about that happening, but all of the chinese students, including the "major de l'X" went to a French high school in Shangai, and as far as I can read: all of that stuff was "mis en place par l’Amabassade de France en Chine et coordonné par le Consulat Général de France" (quote)

From what I know, these students had extensive franch lesons in their last year and then proceed to normal prépas. They didn't go through the French Highschool system, but were chosen from high achieving chinese high schools. (There was an article about, some years ago.)

It is pretty nervwracking to search the Internet for forums and websites to find the foreigners. (In the Forum of LLG there was one Italien, not counting the ones from former french colonies, as I remember.)
It is no problem to apply as a foreigner, except that few lycèes as Stanislas only accept students, who took the French baccalaureat.

Okay, thanks for the tip.

If you went to/are at university (now), what did/are you studying? And where?

In the 2nd line, I was asking about your friends who did a-level. How much did your work overlap with theirs?

I'm just finishing my BEng in chemical engineering at McGill (Montreal) and I'll be starting my MSc (in advanced chemical engineering) at Imperial in October.

From the few conversations I had with the people who did A-level, the science stuff they had seen was very similar to what I had done in the French Bacc. But, as frfd000000 pointed out earlier, with the French Bacc you continue doing humanities courses (2 foreign languages, history/geography for example) all the way up to your last year whereas in A-level you concentrate only on a few subjects (if I understood correctly; I'm not too familiar with the UK system).

But if you go in engineering prepa, I think the only non-science course you would have is a foreign-language class, which is English 95% of the time; so you'd probably finish top of the class! Again, I'm not 100% sure but that's what I remember my friends saying.

Didn't quite get the last sentence?

Do you know anything about applying with predicted grades? Also, once one is done with the prépa, if they do not get a place in a Grande Ecole, where else can they go for further studies? Can one attempt to transfer into the 3rd year of a UK engineering program? Or something similar?

I justed wanted to say, that it is noc problem to apply through the same sheme as a french student, as a student outside the french school system. Only that there are some lycées refusing to take students without a french highschool record.

The French students apply as well before there final examinations are finished, so follow the instruction. As far as I remember the first step of the application procedure is around January, but the final confirmation are probably after the examination. To be safe, just study the link I gave you above.

Sometimes (or even allways?) you get an equivalency and can transfer into Universities in the second year or third year. The year probably depends on the University (but e.g. EPFL has some words on it on its website http://bachelor.epfl.ch/cms/site/bachelor/lang/fr/admission-cpge), and you have perhaps to redo some courses. Nevertheless the prepa drop outs are known to do very well at University, because you learn how to learn.

Good luck about going through the Admission post Bac process without sitting the baccalaureat exam...

Now, getting into prépa alone can't be as hard as you make it out to be, now can it? I do agree that I am basing the argument alone on what ICL think of as equivalent grades but with Imperial being Imperial, they should have a good idea of what they're on about. Honestly, achieving A*A*A is not unrealistic. It would require hard work yes, but it's definitely not impossible.

Are the grades they ask of French Bac students similar to what is required for entry into prépa?

McGill? Impressive. Were you expected to achieve really high grades to go there, or is it like with the IB, where they only ask for 28/45 (some members on TSR have had such offers!) points. (as opposed to the likes of Imperial, asking for at least 38/45!)

Good to know the science content is seemingly similar.

I was under the impression that they studied more, but hey, not that I should be complaining about that. Beyond literature, none of the subjects I've done have anything to do with humanities.

Thanks.

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Right, guys. I e-mailed INSA Lyon. The guy who replied was prompt in his reply (and nice) and said that I could apply with my predicted grades along with my AS-levels. Maths/Chem/Physics are fine, although Further Maths wouldn't go amiss. Minimum grades for considering an application is AAA.

YAY.

Not that I would die if I do not get any credit for it, but I think this process started with my INSA Lyon suggestion on April 29 (on another thread).^^

Good for you anyway! Hope it works out fine.