[diana.de.sousa]

I'm trying to apply to a culinary school in Paris, I know exactly which program I want to take which is the normal program they offer to residents. I neither have my carte de sejour nor my social security number. I asked what was required of me to register without these two things. This was pretty much their reply:

Avant toute chose, je vous rappelle que pour intégrer l'ESCF, nous demandons un BAC. Il faudrait par conséquent demander une équivalence de votre bac américain.

Now, I have my HS diploma. But how does it work really? It's just a piece of paper, 10 years ago. Do I have to include a trasncript showing which classes I took TEN years ago?? or do they just do a litteral translation of the diploma?

 

[Bevdeforges]

Be careful because in some European countries, it's illegal to ask to see your school transcripts or anything that indicates your actual grades. It's considered a violation of privacy laws. Not sure about France, but it certainly was the case in Germany when I lived there.

Officially, the US equivalent of a bac is supposed to be high school plus one year of college. (Don't get me started on whether or not this is "fair" - that's a whole different discussion.) If you have a college or junior college degree from the US, it would probably be easier to just use that to prove that you have "at least" a bac.

In any event, what you probably need to do is to read through this site: ENIC-NARIC.net - France and see if you can find how to get your US academic credentials evaluated. There is supposed to be a formal process for this.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[diana.de.sousa]

Thank You Bev!

 

[softouch115]

Thank You Bev!

Hello!
Would you mind filling me in on which culinary school you are attending? I am in the process of scouting some out for my son, he will be graduating from high school (hopefully) soon and has grandparents living in Paris.

Thanks!

 

[diana.de.sousa]

Hi Softouch115,

Sure, the school I really want to get into is called

Ecole Supérieure de Cuisine Française
École GRÉGOIRE-FERRANDI (EGF) : formation aux métiers de la restauration, alimentation, artisanat, décoration

28, Rue de l'Abbé Grégoire
75006 Paris
01 49 54 28 00

It's a professional school of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris, situated in the 6th arrondisement.

I looked at a good many schools, including, of course, Le Cordon Bleu, but I felt it was overpriced and not really what I was going for. They focus on really traditional techniques and cuisine, imo, and Ferrandi is more industrial and modern and you'd get real life experience working in a real restaurant environment. They have a real running restaurant on campus, where the students work. After culinary school, I want to cook...in a kitchen, a professional one.

Ferrandi offers a program for English speakers, but it's more costly -- about 15,000 Euros and that program is quite intense, i believe it can be completed in less than a year (5 months school, 6 months internship). The program I'm trying to get into is more affordable, 5500K for a 2 year program, 1 year of study, and 1 year of internship) but its strictly in french. This is a place where French people send their kids for a good culinary school.