University Guidance: A World of Choice
Welcome to the Guidance Office!
Graduating from the American Section, our students are fully bilingual and ready to navigate Anglophone curricula around the globe. They also benefit from the worldwide respect accorded to the BFI and French baccalaureate, whose rigor and breadth equip students with a formidable work ethic, along with a rare level of scientific and humanistic culture.
I have been working as the college guidance counselor in the American Section for the past eleven years, handling applications to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, continental Europe, and as far afield as Australia and Japan. Given their multicultural backgrounds, our students’ qualifications and pathways are unique, so it’s important for families to start reflecting early on their plans.
While 50% of our graduates matriculate abroad, those who stay in France are regularly admitted to the top prépas, medical and law programs, and other elite schools such as the Institut des Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po). And whether they begin their post-bac studies here or abroad, many later attend the prestigious grandes écoles for engineering and management.
I meet individually with American Section families starting as early as tenth grade (Seconde), and am always available earlier for students who would like to begin planning earlier. I schedule regular workshops on the admission processes in various countries and liaise with universities around the world to stay on top of current trends. In twelfth grade (Terminale), I work closely with students to advise on testing, prepare applications, edit their application essays, and conduct mock interviews.
Some applications are straightforward, others highly complex; but by year-end, we all feel as if we’ve been on a memorable journey. For students, it’s a moment of self-discovery, where they make their own decisions and test their limits. By June, with a little luck and after a lot of hard work, they’re back in my office to choose among their many options. Our graduates matriculate at top universities around the world (for more on this, visit our University Destinations page). But we’re most proud not of where they go but what they accomplish when they get there, thanks in part to the extraordinary education they have received at the Lycée International and the American Section.
– Catherine Boalch, University Counselor