Location
  • France
    • Paris
Term
Academic Year, Fall, Spring, Summer

Program Details

Program Type
Provider
Degree Level
Bachelors
Housing
Apartment Host Family
Language
English

Pricing

Price Details
Contact IES Abroad or see website for details: www.IESabroad.org/paris
What's Included
Accommodation Classes Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Visa
May 09, 2021
Jul 03, 2023
49 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

You know what it’s like to fall in love—but Paris won’t break your heart.

You’ll want to spend all of your time admiring cultural icons like the Eiffel Tower and getting lost in the city’s exquisite art scene while studying abroad in Paris. On an average day you might savor the decadent French cuisine at a local restaurant and take a walk along the River Seine and wander aimlessly through the city streets for hours.

When you study abroad in Paris, every day is magnifique, and it’s all in the name of love. Je t’aime, Paris!

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Discover Paris as a resident rather than a tourist
  • Develop your French language proficiency inside and outside the classroom
  • Optional field-trips around the city will supplement the material learned in class sessions with hands-on experiences
  • Feel at home in IES Abroad-vetted housing, which may include homestays, residence halls with local university students, and/or apartments (often with a local resident assistant).

Popular Programs

group of students having a picnic on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower at sunset

The Business & International Affairs Program offers IES Abroad courses taught by faculty from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. You also have the option to take English-taught courses with French and international students at Novancia, the premier business school founded by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Enjoy field study trips within Paris, and excursions to important cities such as Geneva and Brussels. Or, gain valuable experience through a business-focused internship.

IES Abroad Paris – French Studies

This program combines rigorous study of the French language with a broad range of classes taught in French by accomplished faculty. Our courses use the city as an extension of the classroom, leading course-related excursions to monuments, museums, and neighborhoods as part of your academic study. You can also experience what life is like for French students by taking one or more courses at a local French university.

group of students sitting on and standing behind a bench in a park in Paris

Learn French while studying international marketing and brand management in Paris, one of the world’s great cities—home to Global Fortune 500 companies and luxurious brands. As an important international business center that boasts one of the highest GDPs of any city, Paris is an ideal city to study marketing and to begin your study of the French language. You'll also enjoy Parisian culture in the summer with festivals, sidewalk cafés, gardens, outdoor markets, and more.

Two students wearing sunglasses riding bikes across the Seine River with the Eiffel Tower behind them

In this summer program, you earn 6 credits through a combination of a French language course and area studies courses—depending on how much prior French experience you have. The courses are taught in French by native French speakers, and incorporate field study in Paris, including visits to art museums, and its architectural and historical landmarks. Paris becomes your classroom: see ballets at the opera, visit open-air markets, take tours of local neighborhoods, and more.

Group of students standing on a balcony with the Paris skyline and Eiffel Tower behind them

This seven-week summer program offers a unique opportunity to examine how art and architecture have affected urban development, life, and culture in three fascinating European capitals: Paris, Rome, and Madrid. Start your program in Paris, where you'll begin to appreciate how these cities have developed around the central idea of cultural heritage and patrimony. It's here you'll start your two cross-center courses that will then take you to Rome and Madrid for two weeks in each city.

Scholarships

IES Abroad Scholarships

IES Abroad Scholarships and Financial Aid

Financial limitations shouldn't prevent you from studying abroad with us. That's why IES Abroad offers more than $6 million in scholarships and aid. IES Abroad offers a number of diversity scholarships and grants to provide opportunities for traditionally underrepresented communities in study abroad.

Value
$500 - $5,000

Program Reviews

4.86 Rating
based on 98 reviews
  • 5 rating 87.76%
  • 4 rating 11.22%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 1.02%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Academics 4.2
  • Support 4.8
  • Fun 4.8
  • Housing 4.7
  • Safety 4.85
Showing 1 - 8 of 98 reviews
Default avatar
Mackenzie
2/5
No, I don't recommend this program

Save Your Money

This program made it abundantly clear that the students were not their first priority. Miscommunication after miscommunication, students looking for answers were met with hostility. The amount of money spent on this program is not shown in the quality of the school facilities or the experience. While some staff was incredible, others were clearly not interested in helping students, one even offering us their position "if we wanted it so badly". Safety concerns, cost discrepancies, and course registration issues all piled up into many of us feeling as though we were left to dry in a foreign country. Differing treatment was also visible between programs, with French speaking programs clearly being favored above our English speaking one. Overall, an unfortunate experience with poor administration to thank!

Pros
  • Transferrable class credits
  • Extracurriculars offered
Cons
  • Housing issues
  • Rude staff
  • Deceptive administration
18 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Thais
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Seriously Life Changing

My time in Paris can be described as nothing short than life changing. I am a studio art major and a french minor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and I knew that I wanted a program that encapsulated all of my interests in one, so when I came across IES's Paris studio art program, I knew I had found the perfect match. To say I was nervous to begin is an understatement. I was worried about the language immersion, making friends, if I would get along with my host mom, etc... however, after a week in my new home, my worries began to settle. I took painting and drawing classes in the most quaint Parisian studio with mainly native Parisians, my host mom was one of the coolest people I've ever met (the picture is the view from my bedroom window), and I made so many friends with whom I still keep in touch. On top of all of that, my French improved by leaps and bounds. I was no where near fluency, and I was barely proficient at the very beginning of the program, and even though my program was in half because of the global pandemic, I can now say that I feel beyond comfortable carrying out an intense conversation in French (of course I still mess up, but I have vastly improved.) The cultural trips were structured and a lot of fun, and we saw some truly amazing places that I never would have been able to go it had it not been because of IES, including a few wine and champagne tastings. I definitely recommend this program to anyone and everyone. Something that I would recommend you to do is to do some research beforehand to learn about non-touristy things that are going on while you're in Paris. Also, start saving your money NOW. Seriously. There are so many things to do, and a lot of them do cost money (but some of my favorite things to do didn't, like wandering the streets and going to 59 Rivoli.) Another tid-bit is that Paris (maybe all of France, but I don't know) has seriously low price concerts, even for mega-famous musicians, there's some law prohibiting overpricing the tickets. And! On your IES student id if it says "histoire de l'art" aka "art history" you can get into most museums (including the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay) for free!

What was your funniest moment?
I threw up in front of the Louvre. I had some food poisoning from a sketchy restaurant from the night before and I was walking around the next morning, and I just threw up. Really an iconic moment.
94 people found this review helpful.
Read my full story
Default avatar
David
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Good reason to go to Paris

Overall experience was good. My homestay mom was awesome, and Paris is such a cool city. As for academics, there were lots of marketing classes as well as other assorted business and history classes. Take an art history class if you can - mine was my favorite. Grading was a joke in general, hard to get lower than a B. The program is small; when I attended, it was just over 150 students. The social scene cliqued up really fast, but that's usually good for making lifelong friends. Which I did make.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
There's a metro line called the 6. In the spring, around midday, get on near the Sèvres-Lecourbe station (which relatively close to the IES station) and head towards Etoile (the Arc de Triomphe). Be sure to have a window seat.
92 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Kamille
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Paris truly is the city of love!

When I say that this program is the best thing that has ever happened to me, that would be an understatement. Paris, first of all, is the most beautiful city in the world. With such a depth of culture at your very fingertips and an incredible variety of food, how can you not fall in love? The program I participated in was so much fun and I was very lucky to be able to meet many other students from across the United States. I still talk to my abroad friends every day! I stayed with a host family which really helped my language skills and I am almost fluent in French now. I was so lucky to be able to have this experience and I highly recommend it!

What would you improve about this program?
I would add more mental health resources for students.
88 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Fiqir
5/5
No, I don't recommend this program

IES-BIA - All I could have asked for in a Study Abroad program!!!

I was absolutely in love with this program. Each member of the faculty was continuously super helpful and helped us get through any practical or personal issues we faced when there. They also made a clear effort to get to know each of the students and do all that they could to make sure we were comfortable, well-informed, and happy. I loved each class I took. Studying international relations, I feel as if these classes I took at IES honestly gave me a deeper engagement in many ways my own home university's classes lack at times. The faculty and staff also organized more than enough activities to help us get acquainted with Paris and experience the city in a way we most likely would not have been able to do otherwise. From my French classes to my personal conversations with the faculty, as well as my homestay placement, my proficiency and comfort in the French language grew immensely. I can honestly say that my months with IES were the happiest months I have experienced in university and the only regret I have is not being able to stay for the full year.

What would you improve about this program?
Have some of the classes finish earlier in the day because some run until 6.
93 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Gisela
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Best Time Of My Life

My experience studying abroad in Paris was absolutely amazing. Right from the start, my roommate and I bonded and made other friends at orientation. I got to visit many great countries and learned so much about their different cultures. I really am blessed to have met so many amazing people, not only in my friends but also in the staff at the IES Center. Someone was always there to answer my questions, whether it was about where to eat, how to use the metro, how to buy medicine, or academic questions, they always got answered.
My classes were really interesting, they offered a variety. My favorite one was my digital marketing class, my professor was a marketing manager at Chloé so I got to learn a lot about the real world of marketing.
IES also offered many free field trips and museum visits. One of my favorite parts was that every week they did a raffle where you answered a couple of questions about Paris and the winners got tickets for the Opera, macaroon classes, wine tastings, or cheese tastings. Leaving Paris was honestly super devastating.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would definitely try harder to meet local students
91 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Sarah
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

One of the Best Experiences of My Life

I was in Paris this past semester and absolutely fell in love with this city. Leaving Paris was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced because I gained a new perspective and met so many amazing people during my time there. Through the IES Business & International Affairs program I was able to meet new friends, go see a French ballet, take a trip to Normandy, have interesting classes, meet my language partner, be able to live with an amazing host mom; just some to say the least. These are experiences and relationships that I still carry with me now and have fond memories of.

Going abroad everyone is worried about making friends, but honestly on the first day talk to as many people as you can. You are all in the same boat but you all have different stories that you can share to get to know each other more. The people I met in this program were the ones who I went on adventures with; like taking random trips to Notre Dame, eating sushi on Boulevard de Sébastopol, going out to experience Paris day/night life, or just hanging out on the Seine. Find people who will encourage you to go out and have fun because it is impossible to see all of Paris but you have to try and experience the most you can.

The IES program has a raffle every month that you can sign up for and go to different events. I did this and ended up winning tickets to go see a French ballet. It was so beautiful and was unique to me because I had never seen a ballet before. Also, IES provided an opportunity for students to go to Normandy, here I was able to learn more not only about French history, but British and US history as well.

Now moving on to IES classes they were great and the professors are so interesting and intelligent. They were so friendly and loved talking to their students not just about classes but about their lives in France. One thing to note is that the program was mostly made up of US students so it made it harder to meet people from France. This is why I would recommend choosing to live with a host family and signing up for the Epitech language exchange program.

I was nervous to live with a family that I did not know at all, but I have no regrets because in my opinion I got the most amazing host mom in the world. She was so patient with my awful French and helped me in finding new things to do in Paris. Also, she made great food and don’t believe what people say about France having smaller portions because my host mom always fed me so much, and honestly not complaining about that. I was comfortable asking her anything and she let me look at her photo albums, her husband’s music collection, etc. She is such a great person and I learned so much from her.

The language program was another great opportunity for me to meet people in France. I contacted representatives from Epitech through IES and they assigned me a language partner. I met my partner and he was so easy to talk to and really showed me Paris through a different lens. He showed me parts of Paris I didn’t even know existed and introduced me to his friends. Through this program I was able to meet incredible people who I love to talk to and experiences that I will never forget.

What was your funniest moment?
The funniest moment I had was when I saw Owen Wilson in the streets of Paris and was literally so starstruck that I couldn't speak or think and completely forgot to take a picture, so I'm putting that here so people will believe me.
83 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Patricia
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

I would highly recommend this program!

This past spring I participated in the IES Business & International Affairs program in Paris, France and it was one of the best experiences ever! My classes were interesting and related directly to my majors, Marketing and Business Administration. I met many new people (French and American) through programs hosted by IES, and IES paired me up with an internship during my time in Paris. At first I wasn't sure about accepting the internship, but it was my favorite part of my time abroad. I didn’t have as much free time as other classmates, but I don’t regret a single thing because it was very beneficial. I gained new skills, practiced my French with locals, and I experienced firsthand what the French work environment is like. I would highly recommend this program and the internship option to anyone who wants to explore the French culture all while staying on top of your academics and growing as a person.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I'm a very "go with the flow" kind of person, but the one thing I would change about my time abroad is that I would create a list with all the different things I would like to do and places I'd like to visit in Paris. I didn't plan ahead and missed out on a few things.
80 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers

IES Abroad Paris has two different schools/programs: French Studies and Business. If you enroll in the French Studies Program all of your classes will be in French, and you will have the choice to take classes at French universities (I only took classes at the IES center). Each student takes a placement test to assess his/her language skills before going abroad - the test doesn't count toward a...