University Destinations from Paris

The multi-track default

Paris is one of the few European capitals where every cohort runs two or three university applications in parallel. A Year 13 at BSP sits A-Levels for UCAS and homologates for Sciences Po. A senior at Jeannine Manuel holds the French Bac with BFI, the IB Diploma, and a Common App account. Multi-track is the default.

The French track carries the largest volume. Public tuition runs around EUR 200 to 600 a year for EU passport holders. The strongest Bac graduates rarely go straight to university: they enter a classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles at one of the elite Paris lycées (Louis-le-Grand, Henri-IV, Sainte-Geneviève, Saint-Louis), spend two years in intensive prep, and sit the concours for Polytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, ESCP, Centrale, Mines, ENS and Ponts.

The UK track is the prestige pipeline for British-curriculum graduates and a strong second route for IB and Bac students. Russell Group admissions read A-Levels as native, the IB Diploma at 38-plus as equivalent, and the Baccalauréat with mention très bien (16+/20) as competitive at Oxford and Cambridge.

The US track is narrower at most schools and broader at ASP, where the American transcript, AP scores and SAT make the path most direct. The German track runs through Deutsche Schule Paris and the AbiBac sections; the Abitur reads as native in Germany, where public tuition is around EUR 300 a semester.

Where Paris graduates go

France: grandes écoles and public flagships. Prépa feeds Polytechnique, HEC Paris, ESSEC, ESCP, Centrale, Mines ParisTech, ENS Ulm and Ponts ParisTech. Direct admission runs into Sciences Po Paris (Bachelor and dual degrees with Columbia, LSE, UCL, Berkeley, Sydney), PSL (Dauphine, Mines, ENS), Sorbonne Université, Paris-Saclay and Paris Cité, plus the post-Bac engineering and business networks (INSA, UTC, IÉSEG, EM Lyon).

UK Russell Group and Oxbridge. Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, LSE, KCL, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Bristol, Manchester, Warwick and Durham appear repeatedly. Oxbridge offers land most years at Jeannine Manuel, BSP, ISP, the Lycée International British Section and Ermitage.

United States. Ivies, NESCAC and the top liberal arts colleges (Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin, Middlebury); city-tier (NYU, BU, Tufts, Georgetown); public flagships (Michigan, UCLA, Berkeley). ASP is the dominant source; ISP, Marymount, Notre Dame and Jeannine Manuel contribute smaller volumes.

Continental Europe and rest of world. Bocconi, IE Madrid, ETH Zurich, EPFL, TU Delft, Erasmus Rotterdam, McGill, Toronto, Melbourne. German universities (Munich, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Humboldt, RWTH Aachen) take the Deutsche Schule and AbiBac cohorts.

Which schools place strongly where

Ecole Jeannine Manuel runs the strongest French elite plus UK Oxbridge combined pipeline. IB Diploma average 38.1 in 2025, ranked first French IB lycée ten years running. Bac, BFI, IB Diploma and IGCSE. Feeds prépa at Louis-le-Grand and Henri-IV in volume, alongside regular Oxbridge, Imperial, UCL, LSE and Ivy placements.

British School of Paris (BSP) is the most direct A-Level to UCAS route. *28% A\/A at A-Level and 67% 9-7 at GCSE in 2025**. COBIS Patrons. Destinations include Oxbridge, the wider Russell Group, and selected US privates.

International School of Paris (ISP) is the strongest full IB continuum pipeline and the only three-programme IB World School in France. IB Diploma average 32 in 2025, pass rates 90 to 92%. Around 900 students across three sites in the 16th. Destinations spread across UCL, KCL, LSE, Imperial, McGill, Bocconi, NYU and the US selectives.

American School of Paris (ASP) is the strongest US track. AP plus IB overlay, MSA-CESS and CIS accredited. IB average 34.6 with 100% pass; AP pass rate (3+) 86%. Regular Ivy, NESCAC and US flagship placements alongside UK and French homologation.

Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye runs the strongest OIB plus French Bac route for families willing to commute west. *IB Diploma average 38, A\/A at A-Level 52% in 2024**. State-lycée core fees EUR 2,500 to 4,400; British Section adds EUR 3,750 to 9,100. Graduates feed prépa, Sciences Po, Oxbridge and the Russell Group in parallel.

Ermitage International School runs IB plus French Bac with boarding in Maisons-Laffitte. IB Diploma average 34 with 100% Bac pass in 2025, ranked third IB school in France.

ICS Paris runs the English-medium IB continuum in the 15th. IB Diploma top 41 in 2025, average 32.7 (35.5 in 2021). Globeducate-owned, around 600 pupils. Stronger flow into UK, US and Dutch destinations than into the French system.

Deutsche Schule Paris runs the Abitur and AbiBac route at 100% pass. Abitur graduates enter German public universities tuition-free; AbiBac holders keep both German and French routes open. EIB Paris and Collège Sévigné are the strongest French-private-with-English-overlay routes, with EIB at 98% Bac with honours and 100% brevet across the group. Marymount runs an American curriculum through middle school with seniors typically continuing to ASP, ISP or US boarding; Notre Dame International High School runs US Common Core plus AP through graduation and feeds US universities directly.

At a glance

BFI = Bac Français International (formerly OIB). AbiBac = joint German Abitur and French Bac. n/p = not published.

How to read these destinations

A published destination list is not a ranking. It is a marketing document with two purposes: showing that the school's qualification is recognised at strong universities, and reassuring parents that the counselling team has live relationships with admissions offices.

Headcount per university. A list naming Cambridge, Stanford and Polytechnique might mean one student to each, or twelve to one and a handful across the others. The shape of the cohort matters more than the highlight names.

Direct admission versus prépa. A school listing "Polytechnique" or "HEC" is rarely sending students there straight from the Bac. The route runs through two years of classes prépa at a separate Paris lycée first. The international school's role ends at the Bac with mention très bien; the prépa lycée does the rest.

Counselling effort versus intake. Top results from a selective school like Jeannine Manuel reflect the intake as much as the teaching. Top results from a non-selective school like BSP reflect the counselling, the teaching, and the cohort culture.

Related reading

• Best international schools in Paris
• Best British schools in Paris
• Best IB schools in Paris
• Best American schools in Paris
• IB results in Paris

FAQs

What are the grandes écoles, and which Paris schools feed them? The grandes écoles are France's elite engineering and business schools, admitted via concours after two years of classes préparatoires. Top names: Polytechnique, HEC, ESSEC, ESCP, Centrale, Mines ParisTech, ENS Ulm, Ponts ParisTech. Jeannine Manuel, the Lycée International, Ermitage, EIB and Collège Sévigné are the most active feeders.

Can my child get into a UK Russell Group university from a French Bac school? Yes. The Baccalauréat with mention très bien (16+/20) reads via UCAS as equivalent to A-Level A\A\A or above; the IB Diploma at 38-plus is also competitive. Jeannine Manuel, the Lycée International, Ermitage and EIB all run families through UCAS every year.

Is the French Bac good enough for US universities? Yes, but US admissions still want the SAT or ACT, three or four AP scores or an IB Diploma at 38-plus, and a counsellor who knows the US system. ASP, ISP and Notre Dame are the strongest US-routed pipelines.

Does Sciences Po Paris admit international school graduates directly? Yes. The Bachelor of Arts and Sciences runs in English on seven regional campuses and admits on a portfolio basis. The dual degrees with Columbia, UCL, LSE, Berkeley and Sydney are competitive. Bac, IB, A-Level and AP students apply through the same procedure.

How important is the school's counselling team? Very. Schools with the deepest grandes écoles, Oxbridge and Ivy track records keep specialist French, UK and US admissions counsellors on staff, run mock interviews, and hold current relationships with the relevant admissions offices.

Sources

French Ministry of Education établissements homologués registry; school-published exam results and destination pages 2023, 2024 and 2025; Sciences Po, Polytechnique, HEC Paris, Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université and Paris Cité admissions pages; UCAS and Common App international application guidance; L'Étudiant and Le Figaro published lycée rankings.