Families almost always start with the country: "we're thinking of London", "she'd like Canada". I start somewhere else. A country tells you neither the language of teaching, nor the price, nor how students are selected, and those three things decide whether a student will thrive there. A strong student in terminale (the final year of the French lycée) who wants to study outside France faces systems that have almost nothing in common. One selects on paper in January, another admits widely and weeds out during the first year, a third sets its own test in March.
Each destination has its own detailed article on this site, and I link to them. This page is for choosing between them: a table that puts them side by side, the order in which I take decisions with a family, how to run several timetables without letting go of Parcoursup (the French national platform for university and prépa places), and what happens when the graduate wants to come back to France.
Erasmus is not a way in
This is the confusion I hear most often, and it costs a year. Erasmus+ is an exchange. The European Commission reserves it for students already registered at a higher-education institution that takes part in the programme, for a period of two to twelve months at a partner university. A school leaver does not "go on Erasmus" straight from the lycée. They enrol somewhere first, in France or abroad, and that enrolment is what opens the exchange.
The nuance is worth a great deal for a British plan, though. Erasmus students are exempt from the host university's tuition fees, and in December 2025 the UK agreed to rejoin the programme for the 2027-28 academic year, with later years still to be negotiated. For a student who dreams of England but whose family will not spend £150,000, a French degree with an exchange year at a British university becomes a real option again. Check it when choosing the French degree, since everything depends on each faculty's agreements.
The destinations side by side
The amounts are what a French student living in France pays, taken from university and government websites. They change every year; the order of magnitude, much less.
| Destination | Annual tuition for a French student | How students are selected | Language | Usual deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | From £25,500 (law at Bristol) to £48,600 (computer science at UCL), international rate | Predicted grades, required subjects, often a test | English | Mid-October for Oxbridge and medicine, mid-January elsewhere |
| United States | Over $90,000 a year all-in at Harvard in 2026-27, need-based aid at the wealthiest universities | Whole file, read over several years | English | Early November or early January |
| Quebec | About C$9,730 for 30 credits in 2026-27, a rate reserved for French citizens, before ancillary fees | Year 12 and Year 13 school reports | French, or English at McGill | 15 January at McGill, 1 February at the Université de Montréal |
| Switzerland, EPFL | CHF 4,480 a year for a foreign student since 2025 | 16/20 in maths, physics and overall, then ranking within a cap on places; heavy first-year attrition | French | End of April |
| Switzerland, ETH Zurich | CHF 2,190 per semester for a foreign student | Grade conditions, otherwise an entrance exam in January | German, C1 level required | 31 March |
| Netherlands | €2,694 in 2026-27, the statutory rate for EU students | Test for capped programmes such as those at TU Delft, first-year selection elsewhere | English | 15 January for capped programmes, 1 May for the rest |
| Italy, Bocconi | About €17,000 in 2026-27, depending on declared income | School reports and the university's own test | English or Italian | January |
Three rows of this table mislead families. Switzerland first: tuition is low, but EPFL itself puts living costs in Lausanne at around CHF 25,000 to 30,000 a year, and it guarantees nothing at entry. The conditions, dates and first semester are covered in EPFL admission with the French baccalaureate; for Zurich, the real barrier is German, explained in ETH Zurich with the French bac. Then the Netherlands, where an EU student pays the statutory fee but selection moves into the year itself, as I explain in TU Delft and Dutch universities. Finally Quebec, the best balance of price and quality for a French student thanks to the France-Quebec agreement, which I present in Studying in Canada with the French bac, with McGill's details in McGill with the French baccalaureate.
The UK and the US stand apart, because for a French student they cost several times more than the rest. Britain has charged international fees since Brexit with almost no aid; America shows higher prices but meets families' need at its richest universities. I compare the cost of a whole British degree, university by university, in Study in the UK with a French baccalaureate, and how Americans read a French file in US universities with the French baccalaureate. At Bocconi, the trap is financial and comes with the deposit; see Bocconi admission with the French bac.
The order in which I take decisions
Language and subject first. A student who cannot read an economics textbook comfortably in English by the start of Year 12 is not an LSE candidate, whatever the school report says. A student who wants engineering in French has EPFL, the Université de Montréal and the prépa. This first decision often narrows the list to two or three countries.
Next, the budget over the whole degree, not for one year. A Scottish degree takes four years, an American bachelor's too, an English one three. A family that sets its ceiling before visiting avoids letting their child fall for a campus they will not pay for.
Third, the mode of selection, which I look at most closely. The UK and the US select before entry, on a file and on grades the school predicts. EPFL and most Dutch universities admit more widely and select during the first year: the only success rate EPFL has released, 51.5%, comes from an internal interview in 2022. A student who shines on paper but tires under sustained pressure does better in a system that judges once, on the file, than in an eliminatory first semester. The reverse holds for the average Year 13 student who works hard when the stakes are real.
Last, coming back to France, which I cover below, and which should weigh from the start for a student who expects to return for a master's or a grande école.
Leaving straight after the bac
- A full foreign degree, with network and language acquired early.
- The file is built in Year 12 and Year 13, on top of the bac.
- Full cost from the first year, with no aid in the UK.
- Return to France through a statement of comparability.
Leaving after a French licence, prépa or bachelor
- A French degree in hand, then a master's or exchange abroad.
- Erasmus exchange with no host fees, the UK included in 2027-28.
- Less immersion in the early years.
- A dual degree such as HEC-Bocconi combines both.
Between the two columns, partnership bachelor's degrees build a bridge: part of the studies in France, part abroad, two diplomas. I compare the most sought-after in the HEC-Bocconi, ESSEC-CentraleSupélec and other bachelor's programmes.
Can you keep Parcoursup open to the end?
Yes, and I ask every family to do so. Foreign universities do not see Parcoursup choices, Parcoursup does not see foreign applications, and entering choices costs nothing. The timetable forces it anyway: Parcoursup choices close in mid-March, before most foreign answers arrive.
What jams are the points of no return, which fall at different times in each country. Bocconi asks for a €3,400 non-refundable deposit within three weeks of admission, before the family knows how much aid it will get. McGill asks international students for a C$1,000 deposit, lost if they do not enrol. EPFL forbids double enrolment and requires proof of withdrawal elsewhere by 30 September. And a British offer stays conditional until the bac results in early July.
My rule: never let go of a Parcoursup place until the foreign place is both final and paid for. A student holding a conditional offer from Edinburgh keeps the licence or prépa accepted on Parcoursup until the bac, then withdraws. The French programme gets the place back a few weeks later, and the student has bet nothing.
Example: the overlapping dates for September 2027 entry.
UCAS: 15 October 2026 for Oxford, Cambridge and medicine, 13 January 2027 for other courses. McGill: application by 15 January 2027, documents by 1 March. TU Delft, capped programmes: Studielink by 15 January 2027, aerospace selection test on 11 March. Université de Montréal: 1 February 2027. ETH Zurich: 1 December 2026 to 31 March 2027, German certificate included. Parcoursup publishes its 2027 calendar at the end of 2026; in 2026, choices ran from 19 January to 12 March and answers began on 2 June.
Coming back to France with a foreign degree
France grants no automatic equivalence to a foreign degree. The ENIC-NARIC France centre issues a statement of comparability that places the degree against French qualifications. In its answer to a written question from a member of the National Assembly, published in 2026, the ministry reported almost 62,000 applications received in 2023 and an average processing target of three months. The same question noted that some 100,000 French students were studying abroad in 2021, and that many run into these delays when they return. I advise requesting the statement during the final year of study, not after graduation.
For the grandes écoles, the door exists and is well signposted. HEC's Grande École programme, for instance, is open to holders of a bachelor's degree of at least three years and 180 ECTS credits, in any field, with a compulsory management test: GMAT, GRE or Tage Mage. A three-year British degree qualifies, as does an American bachelor's. For a university master's, the Mon Master platform centralises applications, and I would check the eligibility page for graduates of foreign universities during the final year.
What is lost on leaving is the prépa. A student who goes abroad for a first degree gives up the classic route into the engineering and business school competitive exams; they can come back through admission on qualifications, a narrower door. For a student who hesitates, a gap year granted through Parcoursup can hold a place in France while they try abroad the following year, as I explain in the gap year after the bac.
What those who left report
On The Student Room, students and parents talk about housing first, tuition rarely. In St Andrews they describe a small town where rents run above other university towns; one parent puts a shared house at about £150 a week per student, plus bills. Imperial applicants discover that its halls include double rooms in every building. In Lausanne, EPFL itself warns that a rent deposit of several months is usually required on top. The second topic among those who come home is the paperwork of returning, the recognition delays described in the written question above.
What I take from this for families: a project abroad holds when it was chosen for the student, for their subject and the language they work best in, and not to escape Parcoursup. The average age of 23 that the French family-allowance agency (Caf) gives for the 90,500 students who leave each year is a reminder that most French students go abroad after a first degree, not straight from school. Leaving right after the bac is therefore decided early, when spécialités (the major subjects of the last two years) are chosen at the end of Year 11.
Building a multi-country plan
A student aiming at two or three countries runs files in parallel that share neither format, nor tests, nor dates, on top of Parcoursup and the bac. At Carmine, we build the list with the family in the order described above, prepare the tests and the essays with the student, and hold the timetable until the final choice. Our admissions support page explains how we work.