UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS
Finding the Right Fit– and Getting In
-Catherine Boalch
(catherine.boalch@americansection.org)
Website: boalchcounseling.pbworks.com
Student Destinations 2014- All Lycée
Destinations 2012 - 2014 – US Section
Subjects to Study
• Most popular subjects, in roughly descending order:
• Engineering & Computing
20-30
• Management
• Economics-Politics-International Relations
10-20
• Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
• Sciences (including prepas scientifique)
• Law
• Languages-Literature-History
• Art, Drama, Architecture, Music
5-10
The United States
Why Students Go
Why They Don’t
• Desire to re-connect with US roots
• Cost – up to $65, 000 per year.
• Unique flexibility and breadth of studies-
• Distance from home
don’t need to choose right away
• Smaller classes, individual attention,
stronger sense of community
• Opportunity to pursue sports at high level
• Richness of extra-curricular life
• Appeal of US campus experience:
supposed to be the ‘time of your life’
• Time: four years instead of three for BA
• Lack of connection to US culture, values
• Not sure degree will be valued overseas
• Complexity of the admissions process
• Did we mention the cost?
Where They Go in the US
Liberal Arts Colleges
• Smith, Wellesley, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Pomona,
Skidmore, Wesleyan, Mt. Holyoke, Macalaster,
Claremont McKenna, Bard
Private Universities
Duke, Tufts, UPenn, Northwestern, Brown, Cornell,
Dartmouth, Yale, Wake Forest, UChicago, University of
San Diego, Northeastern, Rice, New York University
Public Universities
University of California-Berkeley, University of Virginia,
University of Michigan, University of Oregon HC
What Our Students Say: USA
«I wanted to go to the US because I’m American and had never lived there; I wanted an urban
environment coupled with a campus feel. What I love about this school is that one can do
anything. But you have to go out and grab it.» -Boston University, MA
«Classes are very engaging due to the excellent professors and small size. Assignments have more
depth than at the lycée but I have more free time and I’m concentrating on subjects I really love. »
--Vassar, NY
« I have about 18 hours a week of class, which is above average. Not only have my teachers been
very fun and interesting people, they have also been extremely available. I can also shoot them an
email late at night and they tend to respond straight away.” –Wake Forest, N.C.
“First semester I took Italian, Math, Russian literature, and Writing. This semester I’m taking history,
economics, Italian again, and more math.” –Wellesley, MA
« The social life is very different, but I tend to think that you make it what you want it to be. For
example, the frat parties were never something I enjoyed... so I figured out other ways to have fun
on the weekends. It's all about meeting the people you feel comfortable with, and I think it's
possible here. On the other hand, this led me to spend more time with international students, and
my best friends are from France, Turkey, India, Israel, Russia ..” –Tufts, MA
The U.K.
Why Students Go
Why They Don’t
• English-language plus proximity
• Don’t know what they want to study
• Universities’ reputations
• Desire to study multiple subjects
• Focused courses in their area of interest
• Desire to explore new ones
• International campuses, appeal of London
• Lack of connection to UK culture
• Price compared to US: £9,000 per year
• Lack of individual attention
• Time – Master’s in 4 years
• Few class hours in some subjects
• Easy application process
• Price compared to everywhere else
• Well, everyone else is doing it …
• Stress of conditional-offer admissions
Where They Go: UK
London
•
•
•
•
•
•
Imperial College (civil engineering, computing,
electronic engineering, biomedical engineering)
King’s College (biotechnology, biomedical science,
liberal arts, international politics)
University College London (human sciences, civil engineering, electronic engineering)
LSE (law, accounting-finance)
England
Oxford (human sciences, Cambridge(law, HSPS, Spanish & Russian, )Bristol (neuroscience,
medicine, economics, biochemistry), Manchester (life science), Surrey (electronic
engineering/computing), Kent (biomedical science) Sussex (medicine), Exeter (flexible honours),
Southampton (computing), Essex (dual law degree w. Nanterre)
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Aberdeen (biomedical science), Dundee (biomedical science), Queens University Belfast (biology)
What Our Students Say: UK
«Bristol is one of the top ten universities and has a very good economics program. It’s quite
demanding but it’s what I wanted. A lot of students are international.»
«The environment at Exeter is very friendly! I am overall very pleased. My course is not
challenging at all compared to the Lycée. I find myself with a lot of free time and I’ve joined
many clubs and societies. It does take people a while to get used to you if you’re foreign but
English people are very nice.»
« I liked Warwick’s openness and campus atmosphere, and that there is a significant amount
of international students. The lecture halls have several hundred students so contact is
limited and there’s very little supervision. The incredibly high number of French students
makes me feel like I never left the lycée»
« I'm very pleased with the course so far. It is fast-paced and A LOT of reading is expected. I
have 13-14 hours of lectures/seminars per week, which is above the norm. The professors
are excellent, extremely knowledgeable and generous with their time. You are really left on
your own in the British system, which surprised me after coming out of such a structured
and disciplined education at the Lycée. Overall, King's is a great place. The academics and
atmosphere are wonderful. London, though expensive, is always abuzz!»
Where Else They Go
• Canada
• McGill (engineering, management,
•
•
•
•
sciences, arts)
Concordia (engineering,
management, liberal arts)
U of Montreal (architecture)
U of Toronto?
U of British Columbia?
• Switzerland
• EPFLausanne (science)
• EHLausanne (hospitality)
• The Netherlands
University of Maastricht (liberl arts,
business, medicine
Erasmus University Rotterdam
(management, liberal arts-sciences,
communication-media
Hotel School the Hague
• Ireland
• Trinity College Dublin (medicine, history
of art-Spanish)
• Royal College of Surgeons (medicine)
What Our Students Say: Canada
• «I chose to come to Canada because it was a place I had visited and I liked that I can
keep up both my French and my English. I am very happy with the engineering
department at Carleton and with my social life here; making friends was easy. Ottawa
is a nice city that is not too busy. One may not be used to walking in 20 cm of snow
or eating dinner at 5 p.m. but one quickly gets used to that. »
« I really like that McGill has a campus in the city. McGill was also appealing because
you have more flexibility in your studies than in France. The professors and classes
in the management program are interesting and challenging. Classes are large but
professors are accessible. The social life is fun. It is very competitive and thus a lot of
pressure on students. You have to work hard and be motivated and interested. »
« The cold was hard to adapt to and living so far away from home. The coursework is
challenging-- I have become addicted to coffee since starting at McGill. »
How To Research Your Choices
• Vist our Wiki! boalchcounseling.pbworks.com for background information, news
articles, world rankings lists, application deadlines, admission requirements
• Talk! To former students, to me, to your family and friends, on social media– with
caution
• Travel! Go to Open Days, plan trips over vacations– ideally not their vacations, meet
with admissions officers, attend College Fair in Paris, other presentations.
• Read! College guides, alumni surveys, articles, websites to get a ‘feel’ for campus
ambiance. Rankings give an idea of reputation but often based on graduate-level
research, not quality of undergraduate experience.
• Read more! Study courses carefully and think hard about what is the right fit for you.
Talk to professionals in various fields. Explore summer/online courses/stages
• Choose! Limit your choices to 8 non-French schools; be realistic yet aspirational.
Your profile is unlikely to be an equally good fit everywhere and you’re unlikely to
prepare an equally competitive application to the US and UK. Don’t wait until April
and hope the schools will make the decision for you. This rarely occurs.
How to Apply
USA:
‘Early Decision/Action’ Deadlines
Regular Deadline
Nov. 1 or 15, 2015
Jan. 1 or 15, 2016
Required: Transcript, school report, two teacher references, SAT/ACT test
results and possibly SAT subject tests, essays and supplements
UK:
Oxbridge, medicine
All other courses
Oct.15, 2015
Jan. 15, 2016
Required: statement of motivation, predicted grades and school report
(includes relevant teacher comments). LNAT, TSA, UKCAT. Offers conditional
Canada:
Required: Online application, last 4 bulletins
Jan. 15 or Feb. 1, 2016 (will vary)
Application Timeline for 1eres
March-April 2015
Prepare SATs
Meet with counselor
Decide summer plans
May-June 2015
Ask teachers for references, comments
Bring bulletins to counselor for translation, predicted grades
Take SATs and Subject Tests
Submit preliminary list of college choices
Application Timeline for Terminale
Sept-Oct 2015
Submit rough drafts of personal statements, college essays
Take or re-take SATS as needed
Submit Oxbridge, EA/ED applications
Edit preliminary list of college choices
Nov-Dec 2015
Last chance to take SATs, Subject tests
Complete personal statements, essays
Oxbridge interviews, ED/EA alumni interviews.
Submit final list of college choices
Jan-Feb 2015
Submit Canada, Netherlands, Ireland applications
Alumni interviews for US applications, Imperial-medicine interviews for UK