Grenoble for a Non-French Speaker Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The international school I attended in France is very different than the typical American university. We had professors flown in from around the world to teach our classes, as we all earned a certificate in International Business at completion. Some weeks we would have one class for 2 hours, other weeks I'd have 6 days of classes for 40-50 hours. Two of the courses I took were taugh over a 2 week time span (so 40-50 hours each week) then we had about 2 weeks to write a paper or complete a project which we could submit online to the professor. Then, we had our finals at the very end of May. The classes were much more rigid than American classes, and attendance was taken regularly. They had very few assignments (usually one paper/project/presentation) and a final, and not a whole lot of filler work. The grading system is also very different, and on a scale of 20. CEA has a great breakdown of the grading system on their website.

On-site administration of your program

Can't say I really cared for our program provider. I felt he was unhelpful when you came to him with problems or concerns, and that he'd try to pass the buck to another student or the school to help out.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in a house with 8 other students on the program. It was co-ed. The first few weeks were great as it was just the business school students, but then 4 more students arrived on the language program and it was not a good mix. It was very hard to study at home because the language program had a completely different schedule than us, and they always wanted to party. Not living with a host family was one of my biggest regrets of the program

Awesome food. Great prices. Definitely take advantage of the fixed price lunch menus at local restaurants. Also, the student cafeterias around town were a great deal (although there were a few days the food was a bit questionable). But, for 2,80 euro you can't beat it!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I had a great time travelling with my roommates during breaks. The programs led by CEA were okay, nothing special though.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Grenoble was a fairly safe city, I never had any issues there.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

The courses were taught in English, but we were required to take a French course. At the beginning of the program, we met with a French instuctor for a verbal exam. We also had to complete a written placement test for the French class. I had no previous French classes, so the first month or so was a bit of a struggle. The other French students were very helpful with teaching survival French, so that certainly helped.

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• Apartment

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• International Students
• Americans