Studying mathematics abroad - specifically France

I have tried to avoid asking a "soft question" on here because I'm not sure if they are appreciated or not. However, this is one that has been bothering me. I was recently talking to a few friends of mine about my desire to study in France. I have a B.S. in Math, and am working towards a Master's degree.

We poked our noses around and posted various threads on different websites. So far we have gotten a lot of advice such as "Don't waste your time." Or other things such as "French universities have terrible math programs." However, constructive advice has eluded our questions. We are just generally met with antagonism towards the idea of studying in France.

My question is specifically this: what is a reasonable French university at which I can study mathematics. I would like to study in France. I have a reasonably strong command of the language. However, I may be hamstrung by the fact that I had only had ok/good grades in my math courses. Lot's of B's and B+'s. Anyway, I'm not looking for the oppurtunity to study at the grande ecoles. At the same time, I would not want to go to their equivalent of some sort of third-rate state university. I'm just interested in trying to seek out an oppurtunity to be abroad while studying mathematics.

Solution 1:

The French system is a bit weird. The best places to go are not the university, but the so-called «grandes écoles». So if you want the best, you should go to either the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris, or the the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon, or the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cachan or the Ecole Polytechnique. Beware that the selection level is quite high.

Now the second best places to go are big universities, which are not so bad. I recommend Jussieu (Université Paris 7), or Chevaleret (Paris 6). The main difference is that there is almost no selection at the first year undergrad level, whereas for the «grandes écoles» the selection is a huge national exam 2 years after high school... (you have to be in the first 200 out of several thousands to be in the ones I mentioned).

Hope that helps ! You should come, France is a nice country to study in ! =)

Solution 2:

I came to France to study after my bachelor's (which I did in Iceland). So far I've done my master's here and am finishing my PhD. I've spent my time here at the university in Grenoble.

I mostly concur with Glougloubarbaki. If your main objective is to study math, then try to go to a grande école, or go directly to a "Master 2" in a public university. This is the second year of masters, where you start specializing. The difference in dedication and skills of the students in public universities vs. grands écoles levels out during the M2.

If you want to take some time to see more of the culture and the country, then do the first year of master's in a public university as well, but know that if your background is strong you won't profit much from it.

As was already said, it is non-trivial to get into a grand école, but I recommend you try. You have about a 90% chance to get into any public university you want. I suspect the 10% failure rate is mostly due to papers getting lost along the way.

With these caveats in place, the question of which university to go to starts to depend an awful lot on what field you want to study for your masters. Different universities have different research groups. Paris has the advantage of having a lot of maths departments, so there is choice there, but other cities have good groups as well. For example, Grenoble has active groups in topology and algebraic geometry, some good analysis is coming out of Toulouse, etc. We might be able to give you some more detailed pointers if you tell us what you're interested in.