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Applying to a UK uni with a French bac - lots of questions!

30 replies

Mistigri · 31/08/2015 09:58

My daughter is considering applying for UK universities in due course. She is currently at a French lycée in the first year of her baccalaureat course (this will be the French bac, NOT the international baccalaureat). She has been educated entirely in the French system, but is completely bilingual with a high standard of written English. She has dual citizenship.

At this stage I'm looking for advice about whether it is a sensible and realistic to consider UK universities, from a practical and financial point of view, and also whether there is any preparation we need to do or any pitfalls to avoid for eg in choosing her baccalaureat specialisation and obtaining "home student" status.

She is a good all-round student expected to get a top grade. She is following a special bilingual (French-Spanish) course which will result in her being awarded the Spanish bachillerato simultaneously with the French bac. Her bac "series" will be science (Bac S) and she wants to take biology as her specialist option - but this isn't set in stone.

She is very unsure about what she wants to do - she is thinking about life sciences/medicine but I wouldn't say this is a vocation or passion (her passion is music, but she will not consider a music related course). She might also consider a language course especially a more unusual language like Russian. In terms of ability, languages are probably her strongest point - she speaks and writes English, French and Spanish, and is learning German - but her grades are very even across all her subjects.

It seems to me that the English HE system may not be a good choice for an undecided all-rounder, though a Scottish university might be an alternative worth considering. Does anyone have any views on this?

If she were to consider applying for medicine (and yes, I know how difficult this would be), how would a (very) good bac be regarded versus A levels?

What evidence of a good standard of English will be required/ accepted?

Finally, she is one year ahead of her UK peers and will be 16 turning 17 when she takes her bac. Will UK universites consider taking students under 18? Is it even possible for a 17 year old to organise student finance and contract a loan? Or would she need to take a year out?

OP posts:
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fussychica · 01/09/2015 11:32

Not much Mistigri as he wasnt interested. He went to the local uni for an open day but that was it. There was no student accommodation, most students either travel to their nearest one, live in a flat or lodge in a private home. I believe there are becas available but not sure what the eligibilty is for those. Fees are far cheaper though. Ds didnt even bother with taking Selectividad as by that time he had already met his offers and had an unconditional place, a fortunate bonus of the exam/results timetable in Spain! He did go to Open Days/interviews at several uk universities to ensure he knew what to expect. Money well spent.

Def do IGCSE in English first language as it saves so much hassle. It still came into play for his post grad studies and I suspect your Dd, who sound very bright, will get an A* or A without much effort.

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RandomSocks · 01/09/2015 13:17

pastaofplenty thank you for the explanation!

DD applied to Edinburgh and received a long questionnaire that they said would enable them to determine fee status. She didn't get an offer, but I assume that they had determined that she was EU for fee status.

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JellicleCat · 01/09/2015 17:24

A fair number of Scottish students start uni aged 17 because of the way the school year works, so in Scotland at least she would not be unusual age wise.

For many degree courses, Scottish degrees have the requirement to study more than one subject, so keeping your options more open until second or third year which might suit your dd. Though sometimes there are course requirements which means your option choices are not as broad eg for a Physics degree you would have to take Maths as one of the options.

If she is interested in medicine, maybe something like Biomedical Sciences might be an alternative? No idea how easy/difficult it is to get onto.

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Needmoresleep · 07/09/2015 17:30

I just wanted to add that all is not lost as far as an application to medical school is concerned. I have just spotted Plymouth accept the French Bac, with an "Overall average score of 15, including 15 in Biology and Chemistry". However their UKCAT score requirements seem exceptionally high, or at least the Decision Analysis bit.

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sashh · 08/09/2015 09:02

I am wondering if there is any merit in considering a post-bac year doing some A levels in the UK.

Some universities are starting to offer foundation years to medicine applicants who don't have the qualifications to start the course but do have potential.

If she doesn't want to do medicine afterwards she could still apply for a different course.

www.medschools.ac.uk/Students/Courses/Pages/FoundationPre-clinicalyear.aspx

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