Which French university to choose?

Discover all the wonders that France hides!

To  study abroad , you will have to choose three universities in your application for the Erasmus program.
There are many prestigious universities in France, but the popularity of a university should not be your only selection criteria.

Step 1: choose your French city: Which French university to choose?

Before choosing a French university, it is important to  choose a city in France  where you would like to live. You will spend from a semester to a year away from your home, in an unfamiliar environment, so you should feel comfortable in it and choose the city that you like the most.
You can  choose a student city , a city with a coast or that is close to Spain. As there are so many cities in France, you can use different search criteria to select one or more:
The price of accommodation,
Quality of life,
Cultural dynamism,
The cost of living,
The quality of university infrastructures.
The three most popular cities are Paris, Montpellier, and Marseille.
Step 2: select your university
To  choose your university , you can base yourself on the  criteria of popularity,  but also on the  excellence of the institutions . There are 29 French universities in the 2018 Shanghai ranking of the world’s top 500 universities. Is about:
The Sorbonne
University of Paris-Sud (Paris 11)
École Normale Supérieure – Paris
Aix Marseille University
University of Strasbourg
Paris Diderot University – Paris 7
Grenoble Alpes University
University of Paris Descartes (Paris 5)
Claude Bernard Lyon University 1
Paul Sabatier University (Toulouse 3)
Bordeaux University
Lorraine University
Montpellier University
University of Toulouse 1
École Normale Supérieure – Lyon
ESPCI ParisTech
Paris Dauphine University (Paris 9)
École Polytechnique
MINES ParisTech
On the other hand, who says better university, says more competition , so prepare your documents well and do not neglect your grades.
There are other, less popular universities that also offer a rewarding living environment: the University of Amiens, the University of Angers, the University of Avignon, the University of Lille or the University of Nantes.
Step 3: visit the city
The best way to be sure of choosing the city and the university well is to go there if you have the opportunity.
This way, you will see right away if you have made the right decision and you will have time to change your mind.