Hi, I’m a junior in HS and am considering taking a gap year between high school and college. I would really love to live abroad for a year in Europe, especially France but don’t know how. I don’t have the money to just vacation so I am wondering if there are any volunteer/work opportunities I could do? Or I wanted to apply to a French university/program there and just study language/culture for a year? Can I do this, and can I live on campus? Any help would be great!
You could go with a lycee program.
Not sure how it’s done when you’re not part of an exchange program like nacel or rotary.
You should not enroll in university as you’d lose freshman status and the scholarships that go with it. Only exception is if you enroll in a non credit language program but for a year it may be a bit much. You’re allowed to work 20 hours with your student visa bit work is scarce, so don’t expect to make any money.
I know a program you could enroll in but I need to check how to proceed.
What’s your current level of French - AP, IB SL, IB HL…?
If you’re interested in France, check out the American University of Paris! I attended a 6 week language immersion program there last summer and loved it.
Thank you! What is a lycee program @MYOS1634
@catbird1 That sounds like something I might want to do. What did you pay for the program?
A lycée Is an academic high school. If you go after junior or senior year you would enroll in ‘terminale’, and you would always have what the French consider core classes to be an educated citizen: philosophy, contemporary world history, issues in globalization, a foreign language taking from Spanish to Latin to Chinese, and English, at different levels depending on your 'filiere ’ (filiere = sorta pre-major.) Then your filiere would include advanced classes depending on your ‘filiere’ such as English or Spanish literature, comparative literature, lots of philosophy and history classes, art history (L for Letters), statistics and applied calculus, economics, labor relations, sociology, political thought (es for social science), or proof based calculus, statistics, intro to discrete math and linear algebra, physics 1, chemistry 2, geoscience, biology (s for stem), or easier academics for applied filieres such as st2s (public health : physics, biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology) or stmg (management, business, business law, business math, HR or accounting). All of these filieres prepare for 4-year colleges, may carry college credits if you pass the baccalaureate exams in June, and do not jeopardize your freshman status.
I paid about $1800 USD per 3 week session, plus housing, meals, personal expenses. AUP doesn’t have a cafeteria/associated meal plans, so meals are your responsibility. I stayed in university housing for the first of the two sessions, then moved into an Airbnb for the second session. The housing through the university is slightly cheaper, but you have 1-3 roommates and the apartments aren’t as nice as what you can get for a monthly rental on Airbnb. My Airbnb was about $3000 USD (for a studio apartment in a good neighborhood), but it was last minute, so I’m sure you could get something cheaper if you looked farther in advance.
Here’s the program: https://www.aup.edu/academics/summer/french-immersion
You don’t need to be fluent in French to get a job there, since almost everyone speaks English, so a work opportunity wouldn’t be impossible to find. (You learn quickly anyway 
)
I took 2 years off from school after graduating and am going to college this fall. I didn’t use any specific gap year program, just figured out what I wanted to do and how to make it happen. However, there are pre-planned programs out there if you want to go that route!
The American Gap Association is a helpful resource, especially if you’re looking for a work/volunteer opportunity.
http://www.americangap.org/
OP, there are much cheaper programs than AUP… the Sorbonne, for example.
http://www.ccfs-sorbonne.fr/Registration-Fees-for-courses.html?lang=fr
Thank you guys! This information is so helpful
^ would you want to go for an immersion Other French or to attend classes with other internationals? For a long summer or a year?
What’s your current level of French?
I would rather be with other French people because I think that it is a better way to learn the culture and language especially. I’d prefer a year long option because I really want to get to know the place, make friends and understand how everything works. This is my only my first year of French but I really enjoy it.
Oooohh wow you’ve only had one year of French?
Okay, if you’re serious about your plan you need to accelerate to a level of basic proficiency in two years.
It means, if you’ve got good grades, apply to the Middlebury highschool language program over the summer and start French 4 or AP Fall 2017.
You can also apply to the Penn state intensive French language or the Ole Miss Intensive language summer programs and take levels 1-2-3 to start in French 4 Fall 2017. Those two programs aren’t as selective as Middlebury 's.
You can also enroll in Concordia language programs, either Voyageur or one of the villages or the village+ abroad program. That would allow you to start French 3 Fall 2017.
Another solution would be to do Concordia language camp then take College French 2 and 3 through dual enrollment.
Last, most intensive option : If you took Middlebury 's or Penn State or Ole Miss programs you could start straight in college French 3 or 4 (200-level classes) Fall 2017 and complete one 300 level class in the Spring.
It’s doable but hard and you have to measure how invested you are in the idea if spending a year in France.
Yeah I know, I really need to practice more of my French. Thanks for all of the incite!
Have you looked into these programs? Are you ready to apply to one this weekend? Because deadlines are coming up and the Middlebury program is quite selective so the application is not easy. Also, have you talked to your parents about costs? There are scholarships for some of these programs but there are deadlines and they toobare coming up fast.