French student going in a US university

[Soeters]

As I think you've understood, I'm french and the next year I'll have exams like the graduate exams.

So I need to choose a school for the next years, and study in the US or in the Canada interest me a lot. I'm very interested in engineering, chemisty or informatic studies.
I've watched College Board to see if there are interesting universities (I'm sure there are but I d'ont know where).

First of all do you think that a french student can go to the US straight the to university or I should do a year in an high school before to do graduate exams.
Then do you know some affordables universities which looks good for what I want to do ?
That would be easier to go to the New England or California as I've some family there and I know Boston a little bit (I've been a member of an exchange between my city and Lexington, MA so I spent two weeks there and I know some people).


Thanks for reading my post and maybe (I wish) for the help you could bring

[Yhor]

The schools in the locations you mentioned are not going to be as "affordable" as equal schools in other states, without some kind of financial aid. Mass., NY, California, and Southern Florida will generally be higher tuition due to a number of factors, cost of living being one. There are a number of good schools across the country that would be a lot more affordable than one in the states mentioned. I'd narrow down what application you want to specifically study for and see what relative projects some of the schools are working on. A school name may be enough for some people, but to be able to say "I worked on "X" at "Y" University" gives motivation and inspiration you can't get from just a name.

Of coarse, I'm not sure about the high school thing you mention, but I assume you mean for transitional purposes? Maybe a Junior College or tutoring may be more appropriate, as most public high schools have age restrictions and other obstacles (I'm not sure if any apply to your case, just offering alternative suggestions).

I don't know if any of this helps, but I hope it didn't hurt.
Good luck.

[Soeters]

Originally Posted by Yhor The schools in the locations you mentioned are not going to be as "affordable" as equal schools in other states, without some kind of financial aid. Mass., NY, California, and Southern Florida will generally be higher tuition due to a number of factors, cost of living being one. There are a number of good schools across the country that would be a lot more affordable than one in the states mentioned. I'd narrow down what application you want to specifically study for and see what relative projects some of the schools are working on. A school name may be enough for some people, but to be able to say "I worked on "X" at "Y" University" gives motivation and inspiration you can't get from just a name.

I only gave those states because I know people there, but I'd be happy to go in almost every state, that was more an exemple than a wish, I would be happy to go to Oregon or Colorado too

Originally Posted by Yhor Of coarse, I'm not sure about the high school thing you mention, but I assume you mean for transitional purposes? Maybe a Junior College or tutoring may be more appropriate, as most public high schools have age restrictions and other obstacles (I'm not sure if any apply to your case, just offering alternative suggestions).

Going to a high school is for transitional purpose, to be more fluent in english and to know the american system more that now (I know most of the system but not everything).

Originally Posted by Yhor I don't know if any of this helps, but I hope it didn't hurt. Good luck.

Thanks you for your help

[Zyonin]

You might want to look at first completing your first year or two at either a Junior College or a Community College located in the state where you chosen university is located. The reasons why:

• CC/JCs are much cheaper in cost compared to 4 year private/public universities.
• The threshold of entry to a CC/JC is much lower compared to many universities in particular to schools with excellent Engineering schools
• Most of your First and Second year classes in a four year university will be the same or similar to courses you will take in a CC/JC. It's not until your third year (called your Junior year in US schools) that you really start working toward your Major and thus start taking the specialized classes. If you goto a JC/CC that is aligned with your chosen universitie's system (this applies to mostly public universities), it will much easier to transfer the credits you earned to the university.
• CC/JCs are often more flexible when it comes to class times so you can often choose your class schedule around your work schedule. Yes you will need to work even if it's just to get some beer money. However higher education in the US is not cheap.

When choosing your Universities, be aware that typically public universities are generally cheaper (even with out of state tuition factored in) than private schools. In addition the threshold of entry to a public school is usually much lower (except for some "high end" universities such as Cal Tech or MIT).

Some Universities with noted or well known schools of Engineering (IT is usually a part of the Schools of Engineering)

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) - Cambridge, Mass (suburb of Boston)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Troy, New York
Case Western University - Cleveland, Ohio
Georgia Tech - Atlanta Georgia
University of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT
Cal Tech (California Institute of Technology) - Pasadena, California
Stanford University - Staford California

As Yhor has stated, both California and New England are not cheap places to live. Housing, food, and the various fees you will need to pay (like a driver's license) will be expensive. Also, American health care is extremely expensive. Some schools will offer health insurance and low cost clinics for students enrolled in that university but don't count on it.

Unless you are totally wedded to the idea of the New England or Califonia, I would strongly look at the University of Utah. It has an excellent reputation, Salt Lake City is fairly inexpensive to live in compared to New York or California and the Salt Lake Community College system ties into the University of Utah system. The U of U has a beautiful campus (it overlooks the Salt Lake valley) and it's easy to get around with the campus transit system and the recent light rail line. Salt Lake is also much easier to navigate around in and there is a metric ton of things to do during your off time.

[PerfectH]

I never went to college, but if you're interested in a University within the New England area, I would look into the University of Vermont (UVM).

http://www.uvm.edu/

[Cralor]

Many colleges have an internship program. Even for those living in America. Most colleges let you do schooling at their college and then later on you can then go to any other college you want - still with the tuition and payments to the same school.

For example: A person wants to do Marine Biology. They can attend UMass and then later on, through the internship, they can go to a college in Hawaii while still paying the same tuition for UMass.

I'm still in high school myself, but I am currently looking at WPI. I live in Massachusetts so I'm also looking for a good IT/Computer Science school.

[Soeters]

First thanks for all of you for our answers.

I didn't know JC/CC and it watched Salt Lake Community College and it seems very interesting, especially with the ESL (English as Second Language).
From what I saw of the University of Utah and SLCC it seems that international student are well supervised.

Intership is a good thing too because even with international programs between french and american schools it works. We have 12 schools which are the best in engineering in France that are called Paristech and they have agreements with the best schools of USA like the MIT and Stanford to do a year abroad at the end of the five years studies (they last five years and not four in France).

All of you gave me better view of the american system of schools and gave me few ideas for my choices I'll have to do next year.

[Zyonin]

Originally Posted by Soeters First thanks for all of you for our answers. I didn't know JC/CC and it watched Salt Lake Community College and it seems very interesting, especially with the ESL (English as Second Language). From what I saw of the University of Utah and SLCC it seems that international student are well supervised.

Yes, SLCC and the U of U have a fairly large population of international students. Couple that with the LDS church (Note: I am not a member of the LDS church) with it's returned missionaries who receive extensive foreign language training when they go on their missions. The combination creates a scenario that is very good for international students.

The other advantage is the Utah dialect/accent is easy to understand. If you go to school in places like Boston or the Deep South, the locals can be difficult to understand as their accent or dialect is quite pronounced and thus their words are likely not like what you expect. I know with Bostonians (my housemate is from the Boston area), they have a tendency to drop the letter R from words and add extra Rs in other words. The result can be something like "I paaked the caa in Haavad Yaad" (yes, when my housemate is tired, she talks like that) which can be hard for an ESL student to understand. It's kind of like me (whose poor Italian is of the Tuscan dialect which is considered to be "standard" Italian to international Italian speakers/students) trying understand the local Piedmontese dialect or Sicilian. If the speaker uses "standard" Italian (and speaks slowly), I have a chance, but if they wander into dialect, I don't have a chance of understanding what the speaker is trying to say.

[Pester]

Well I am 41 years old, and have gone back to school to get a degree in education. I would follow the advice others have given and seriously look into taking your first 2 years at a Community/Junior college. Where I am in Las Vegas, the community college costs ~300 dollars for a three credit class, while the university will cost over 550. The education you receive is the same, and the classes transfer easily.

As far as taking classes to help with your english, any college will have ELL/ESL (english as learned language/english as a second language) classes which you can take along with your regular classes.

America is currently in a recession and costs and services are being slashed across the country. California is in dire straits, so their public system is goi9ng to be stressed for the next several years. Private universities may not be as affected as the public ones. Nevada is slashing 20% from its higher education funding for the next 2 years, and the effect is already being felt with higher fees, and less classes being available. Just another think to keep in mind when choosing your school.