lecorbeau

Well I found out today and am needless to say pretty excited....however

here is my dilemma:

Pros:
PARIS
Would be 100% bilingual (am currently fluent due to a year abroad in France but would love to be annoyingly verbose)
College is 3 years in Europe
Worldwide name recognition
No GEs
The degree is called "Langues Etrangères Appliquées, Mention Commerce" which basically is international business with a concentration in two languages (one of which would be English most likely and perhaps Italian or Arabic...)
-PRICE (only 300-400 dollars a year but I'd have to also factor in living expenses in an exorbitantly expensive city and international flights to and from) this is especially good given my desire to obtain an MBA
-School starts in October (which is good because I was nominated to go to Egypt this summer to learn Arabic on a full scholarship and would need some time to recoop most likely)


Cons:
-Do I really want to commit my college years to French?
-I want to ultimately work for an American firm (media conglomerate hopefully) overseas and am wondering if a European degree would hinder me in terms of American recruitment or employment overseas?
-Large university, large classes but as with all large universities the more major-specific classes are less crowded
-High-brow, pedagogical French...enough said...
- Had dreams of attending INSEAD for grad school but if I went to Europe for undergrad I'd most likely go to the US for grad...
-Riots? Hahaha

I called Berkeley Haas School of Business today and they said the only difference in terms of admission to their MBA program in this case would be a necessary TOEFL...regardless of my nationality and mother tongue (which are American and English, respectively)

As an aside, I really do plan on spending the rest of my life in Europe...more specifically in Paris but I can't stress enough---I want to work for an AMERICAN firm abroad! (like Viacom, AOL Time Warner, News Corp., etc)

My other alternatives:

UCSB (too 'OC Bro/Chanel Fashionista') for my taste
UCSD (where I'll most likely send my deposit)
UCSC (eh....nah)
Bowdoin College (only possible if admitted off the waitlist and given a good financial aid package which is highly unlikely, alas...it is my dream school)

I have until July 31st so I think I'll send my deposit to UCSD for good measure and mull everything over for a bit and decide...

Any input is appreciated

brassmonkey

sorbonne has an incredible worldwide reputation (maybe thanks to Jackie O) if you think you can handle it (i get the vibe that you can) it will definitly be an amazing experience for you.

gonzo lux

taking risks is much easier now than it will be with graduate school
congrats though (i'll contain my jealously at french fluency)

imiracle911

frankly france is really going downhill with all those riots. That's a serious problem and i'm not sure if u would like protester/rioters blockign ur entry to schools(which they r doing right now) for like months.

Alexandre

Imiracle, the French have been rioting since the late 18th century! LOL Don't worry dude, France is the heart of Europe and will remain so for the foreseeable future. France's riots do not weaken that country. France has always had to deal with revolution and even then, it has managed to remain one of the World's 4 or 5 most important nations for over half a milenium.

Demographers were saying that France's population (like most Western European countries) would be a problem because of a decline in French birth and a surge in imigrant births. That overall, France's population would decline from 58 million in 1995 to 54 million in 2050 and that over 30% of people living in France would be immigrants. Well, the demographers were shocked when last year, the 10-year census revealed the complete opposite. France's population isn't declining, it is surging. France's population grew from 58 million in 1995 to 62 (second to only Germany) million in 2005 and fewer than 10% of people living in France are imigrants. Most of the growth was due to French births, not imigrant births. It is now estimated that France will have the largest population in Europe by 2050, exceeding 75 million.

France's economy needs some serious reform to be sure, but it is still a very wealthy country with a very innovative population. Its companies are among the most profitable and its workers among the most productive.

Lecorbeau, the opportunity to study in Paris is unique...and more so if it is at La Sorbonne. One thing you need to remember is that French universities, including la Sorbonne, aren't well funded, so you won't have the same beautifully maintained facilities and tiny classes that you would have at a school like Bwodoin. Furthermore, campus life in European universities is not nearly as cohesive and well-defined as it is in the US. But otherwise, you cannot beat the opportunity of studying at La Sorbonne.

lecorbeau

Alexandre---did you know the Sorbonne opened up a satellite campus in Dubai? An advertisement for it was included in the letter...

Ivy_Grad

La Sorbonne and INSEAD.

Two of Europe's best institutions - and both have incredible worldwide reputations.

The main thing you need to ask yourself is simply this:

"Do I plan on living, working and staying in the US for the rest of my life?"

If you're pretty certain the answer to that is "yes", then the marginal benefits of going to France will be small (in fact could possibly be slightly negative in the short run to be honest).

But, if you plan on spending at least some time living or working abroad, having La Sorbonne on your resume will serve you well - bear in mind that globalization / internationalization will become even more important in the future than it is now.

Lastly, spending time in Europe can be an incredible opportunity if you make the most of it.

SebmaFSX_53

Coming from a french school I can tell you that la Sorbonne is not particularly impressive (prestigious). French Universities accept anyone who passes the french baccalaureate exam and I think the national passing rate last year was 79.7%. The way it works typically is that most (sometimes nearly 90%) people don't finish their intended program either because they chose a different one, or they fail which is most often the case (over 50% fail their 1st year).

I can tell you first hand the french education system is great and if you work hard at a UNI you can do very well, but I think UCSD is a better option.

I don't think it will cost you $400-500. The University tuition is free but you still have to live there (food/house) and the cost of living in Paris is amazingly high.

Also I don't think you will have opportunities to intern, which is really what prospective MBAs need. France is not an ideal place to get a job and recruiters usually go for students in the more selective preparatory system.

I would suggest you go to UCSD and maybe spend a semester abroad at Sorbonne. Of course it's up to you if you like it then go for it, the experience will be very different from an American uni.

lecorbeau

Actually, within my desired program there is a mandatory 3 month internship obligatorily in a foreign country (other than France)

Ivy_Grad

How can you say that?

La Sorbonne is probably THE most famous university in France not to mention one of Europe's most well regarded:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sorbonne

SebmaFSX_53

Ivy_Grad

Have you every hear of Ecole polytechnique? Thats something that has always amazed me NO one has heard of this school, the French consider it to be their Harvard. How does a place like Sorbonne get more of a reputation? It's only because of the size.

Sorbonne IS a great school but its not hard to get into. I don't like the attention it gets, people overrate it because it's the only school they've heard of in France.

lecorbeau

As mentioned before, I do indeed plan on spending significant time overseas...

Sebma- mais toi t'as déjà la chance d'être complètement (ou bien presque) bilingue et en ce qui concerne mon français 'y a du boulot quoi et vu que je veux passer plusieurs années (peut–être même pour la vie) en Europe...ne serait-il pas une bonne idée de mieux comprendre cette région du monde et de s'adapter et à une culture européenne?

Ivy_Grad

Yes I have. My understanding is that it was originally established as France's military academy (though no longer so) and that it has a formidable program in the sciences.

Perhaps its due to the fact that it's one of the oldest, most well regarded universities of the world, not to mention the fact that it has produced some pretty impressive people:

* St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Roman Catholic theolgian
* Joaquín Balaguer (1906-2002), President of the Dominican Republic
* John Calvin (1509-1564), founder of Calvinism
* Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada
* Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867-1934), physicist, Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre Curie, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.
* Pierre Curie (1859-1906), physicist, Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 with his wife Marie Skłodowska-Curie
* Habib Bourguiba (1903?-2000), first President of Tunisia (1957-1987)
* Jean-Luc Godard (b. 1930), film director
* Benoit Mandelbrot (b. 1923), mathematician
* Victor Hugo, writer
* Mahmoud Hessaby (1903-1992) Iranian scientist and politician
* Irène Joliot-Curie, (1897-1956), French scientist, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935 with her husband Frédéric Joliot
* Norman Mailer (b. 1923), American writer
* Pope Alexander V

That's a pretty impressive partial list of alums...

lecorbeau

do you mean sciences-po? I thought that was primarily a poli sci GRADUATE school...?

SebmaFSX_53

By "impressive" I mean impressive on a job resume. Of course they've graduate all these people it's a huge school. Research in France is conducted mostly in the universities, the preparatory school get no money, all of it goes to the universities. France is one of the top 6-7 world powers so they do a lot of research but its not like in the US were it happens all over the country. In France its concentrated in Paris and particularly in la Sorbonne.

Also it's been around forever so things add up.