Summer Study in France for the Pre-Med Student

May 20 - June 24, 2012

This intensive summer program is designed for students interested in French language and cultural studies as well as pre-medical studies. The program aims at total immersion into life in France, while providing students with the opportunity to experience first-hand the French medical system. Going into its nineteenth season, France for the Pre-Med can accommodate students in a broad spectrum of health-related fields and special interests. Aside from Washington University in St. Louis, participating universities have included Brandeis, Binghamton, Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Hope College,  Johns Hopkins, Oberlin, California-Berkeley, MIT, Michigan-Ann Arbor, Virginia, Wisconsin and Yale. Students who meet course prerequisites (two years of college level French or the equivalent and enrollment in a French course during the semester prior to departure) can register for classes and live with a French Family in Nice, France near the Italian border. Geographically, historically and culturally, this dynamic city has much to offer the summer student.  According to the World Health Organization's official rankings, the French healthcare system ranked number one among the 191 member countries surveyed and Nice Medical School is ranked 5th in France.

The Academic Curriculum

I. Physicians, Patients, and Illness in Today’s France (3 credit hours, mandatory)

How does one become a physician in France? How did medical studies change when France joined the European Union? This course focuses on French medicine as seen from a theoretical and  a practical perspective. It  examines in detail the specificity of the French public health system, its development, the problems it faces today and introduces students to current medical issues and various aspects of the medical profession through a series of lectures by professors from the Nice medical school and other selected physicians. Students also have the opportunity to learn the "gestes médicaux" during two classes held at the Simulation Center at Nice Medical School, observe hospital routine, and follow cases in the department of their choice at one of the major hospitals of Nice  (Lenval Children's Hospital, L'Archet, Saint Roch, Pasteur). Other possibilities may include a veterinary clinic, a nursing school, a bioanalysis laboratory or a large pharmacy.

II.  Choice of one of the following academic courses (students choose only one)

1) Culture and Public Health in Today's France

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.  How are we to understand these ideals in the context of contemporary France?  To what extent do they apply to immigrants, to the underprivileged, to the dependant elderly?  How are these traditional French values reflected in public health policy? In order for students to better understand French values and how they are transposed into public policy, this course examines a certain number of fundamental tenets : the Republic, citizenship, secularity, taking examples from key episodes in French history.  It also calls upon health specialists to explore what is being done to improve public health for all, and especially for an aging population which constitutes, in today's France, the most important challenge.  Following are some of the themes which will be discussed : the loss of autonomy of the elderly,  handicapped people, the attitude in France toward alternative medicine, how the French deal with emergencies, measures of prevention and basic health education.

2) Literature and Medicine

This course examines the changing image of medicine and its practitioners through a vast spectrum of literary texts including: Rabelais, Marguerite de Navarre, Montaigne, Pascal, Molière, Balzac, Camus, Bazin, Pagnol, etc. Class format: lecture, discussion, explication de texte. Grades will be based on class performance, oral presentations, and two short research papers.

3) Independent study:

Students may choose a topic of personal interest such as perspectives on medicine and physicians in various historical periods, midwifery and the conflict of midwives and doctors (XVIth-XVIIth centuries), Hôtel-Dieu (the Museum of Public Health), the Musée d'histoire de la Médecine, and l'Institut Pasteur. Independent study is intended for the advanced student who would like to pursue a special interest, possibly in preparation for an Honors' thesis.

Cultural Experience

• Students are fully immersed into French life and have the opportunity to experience a variety of cultural activities. Organized trips to art museums and plays or films are a welcome break from routine studies. Students live and have meals with French families in or around Nice. On the weekends, they may choose to stay with their French family to experience a family event such as an evening out, a wedding or baptism, a sightseeing trip to the mountains or the beach, or travel on their own to other parts of France or Europe.  Paris and Rome are popular destinations.  Most students will plan a couple trips with fellow students having similar interests.  Weekends are also good opportunities to check out the active night life in Nice.  Evening walks along the Promenade des Anglais, or early morning shopping at the marché in Old Nice are favorite activities.

  One student said it best, “My summer in Nice gave me the international experience I always wanted but was unable to have because of the rigorous, structured Pre-med requirements at my university.”

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Credits and Grades:

Upon arrival in Nice, a placement test will be given to confirm students' choice of courses, and the Program Director will meet with students individually. Students will receive a total of 6 credit hours for two courses (3 credits each).  They may request a professor's evaluation for each of the courses taken to be sent to their major advisor.

Faculty:

The program is organized and taught either by Washington University faculty or highly qualified instructors. The on-site director will always be available to advise students on an individual basis and help solve academic or housing problems.

Living accommodations:

As the authentic way to discover a foreign culture is to share the daily life of the native inhabitants, each student is housed with a French family. Total immersion in French life enhances the student's knowledge of French language and social customs. Particular attention is given to the association between the students and his/her host family, based on a housing questionnaire filled out by the student.

Accommodation in a French home includes a private room and all weekday meals. Students are free from Friday at 1:00 p.m. until Sunday evening. They may choose to travel to another country (Italy, Spain, and Switzerland) or remain with their host family and discover famous sites of historical and cultural interest in the surrounding area. 

 

Program cost: $4,900.00 (when enrolled by 12/15/11), $5,100 (enrollment after 12/15/11)

• This includes tuition and administrative fees as well as room and board. Students make their own travel arrangements.
• $900 non-refundable within two weeks after acceptance for admission.  This payment should be made payable to Washington University and sent to Washington University, Department of International Studies, Attn: Kathy Daniel, (Campus Box 1088), 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130.  Reference the student's name, student I.D. number or SSN, and France Pre-Med on the check.
• The balance of $4,000 will be charged to your WU student account. All students will be enrolled at WU for the length of the France for the Pre-Med Program.  For the purposes of billing and registration, a WU student account will be created for each student who does not normally attend WU.  A WU invoice for the balance of $4,000 will be issued at the end of April and mailed to your parents' address.  Final payment is to be mailed to the address indicated on the invoice and is due by 5/25/2012.

click here--->Student References and Evaluations <--- click here

See, hear and speak to past students in this program

Actual comments from past year's student evaluations

Email addresses so you can ask them questions directly

See student photos from the previous programs.

See classroom photos from the previous programs.

Applications for 2013:

 

Entrance into this program is very competitive.  Applicants greatly outnumber available openings.  Summer 2013 applications will be opened on August 1^st 2012. The application deadline is November 1^st 2012.  Skype interviews will be scheduled between November 5th and November 15th and only applicants with completed applications will be considered and interviewed.  Washington University applicants should meet with Professor Winn between September 1 and Novermber 1.

Questions concerning the application process should be addressed to Kathy Daniel, email: Kdaniel@artsci.wustl.edu, phone 314-935-5085.

Questions concerning the program should be addressed to the program director, Professor Colette H. Winn.  email: chwinn@aol.com, phone 314-935-5477.

 

	Recherche - a French Medical Journal	Map of Nice
	Beyond the Riviera	Practical travel information
	The Riviera Magazine	Nice-Matin (newspaper)

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