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Hi everyone,

I wanted to seek some advice from French people or expats who have been through something similar to what I want to do. I'm an American and I lived in Paris for the past year as an au pair, and I absolutely fell in love with Paris, France, and Europe. I much prefer it to where I am from (though I'm proud to be an American), and ever since moving back to the US a little over a month ago, I've realized that the thing I am most passionate about in life is living in Europe. The culture is a much better fit for me and my personality, I just click there. I'm like a square peg in a round hole back in America, and I had always felt like something wasn't right but didn't realize exactly what it was until I lived in France!

But, of course, I'm not French or even an EU citizen, so getting a job would be difficult or next to impossible. Work visas are notoriously difficult to get, and I only just graduated from college about a year ago and have only been working for a month (since I was an au pair for a year after graduating). I don't have marketable special skills yet to get a job besides being a native English speaker and a competent French speaker. I know I don't want to teach English or be an au pair again.

Since I'm currently working in global business and am highly interested in working in international business or consulting, I thought it would be a good idea to apply to Grandes Ecoles in Paris. What I want to know is this: how likely is it that I will get into business school, and if I do get into a masters in international management program, how likely is it that I will be able to find a job in France afterwards? I have a bachelors degree in art history from a respected research university in America, and I was involved in many academic excellence programs (officer in the art history club, humanities honors program, senior honors thesis, research presenter at a symposium, received research grants, cum laude graduate, art history honors graduate, developed and taught my own official class at my university). I also have international experience already (lived in France for a year) and am currently in a business operations position with a global clothing company, dealing with territory accounts in Quebec. I speak, read, and write French well, and use it for my job. I took a practice GMAT and got a 630, and I know that I can get a score of around 700 if I start studying, since I got a 2320 on the SAT. Is this profile good enough to get into schools that participate in the SAI program? I'm looking at HEC, ESCP, and Skema in particular. I also am applying to ESSEC and Paris-Dauphine.

I also thought about applying to programs in law and art history to become a commissaire-priseur, since I have connections through friends that would enable me to get well-placed internships and have a background in art history already. I know this field can be tough to break into, though, and I'm not sure if an American has ever successfully done this before. Can anyone in the art business world give me more information on this?

I could also get a CDD visa through the French-American Chamber of Commerce, since they sponsor these visas for young Americans. The only problem with this is that CDD visas are short term, maximum a year and a half in length, and I want to be in France long-term. If I found a job through this program and had help through my connections in France, would it be possible to find better employment once my job term expires? Or is getting an MIM or commissaire-priseur certification a better bet?

What are your thoughts? Is there a better option for an American who wants to move to France but still have something of a career? Do I have to resort to marrying a French man off of craigslist? (Just kidding!) If you read through all of this, thank you so much and please tell me what you think! All I want in life is to be back in France and building my life there, and I don't want to waste a second more of my time not being somewhere I am so passionate about.