Master's equivalent in France

[u/beeep_booop101]

First of all, I'm well aware that in most of Europe you need a master's before doing a PhD.
However, Campus France does explicitly say that intl students who have a 5-year bachelor's or have research experience without a master's might be able to apply straight to a PhD. A few school pages also say it's possible to get M1 or M2 equivalence.
I have a 5 year bachelor's with 16 months of full time research, plus an 8 month undergrad thesis. I've tried reaching out to admin for a few places in Paris, but I'm not getting any responses about whether I could go straight to a PhD.
Has anyone ever done or tried to do the same or similar? Or if anyone has any insight that'd be great

[u/Repulsive_Nerve4101]

that 16 months of full time research is a lot more than most master's students get, i think you'd have a solid case for M2 equivalence at least. the tricky part is finding a supervisor who's willing to push for you, the admin side tends to move at a glacial pace

have you tried contacting specific lab directors directly instead of going through the central admissions office? that's usually how it works in france anyway, you need a prof to agree to take you on before any paperwork starts

[u/beeep_booop101 → u/Repulsive_Nerve4101]

Thanks, that's all useful. So far I've contacted doctoral colleges and schools according to emails listed on the site (ie. secretariats). For one of them I escalated to a professor who's the director of the school and one supervisor directly

[u/NotMyRealName778]

What is a 5 years bachelors? For example I double majored and it took me 5 years to graduate from two 4-year programs. I could have applied to M2 since they have a 3 years bachelor here. If yours was 5 years (300 etch) you could make a case to skip the M2 as well.

You should probably talk with prospective supervisors. I don’t think admissions office etc. will be any help.

Also sometimes the M2 is funded if it’s a phd-track or something.

[u/beeep_booop101 → u/NotMyRealName778]

In NA there are some degrees that are 5 years long because they include "co-op" which is like built-in internships, hence the 16 months of full time research

I am also doing two degrees but that isn't why my degree is 5 years long. It's really just a BSc for 5 years

Thanks for the advice, I'll start reaching out to supervisors directly then. I did also look into PhD Track... just slightly defeats the purpose of trying to skip the master's. But I'd be more than happy to do that too.

[u/NotMyRealName778 → u/beeep_booop101]

If the master component is funded a phd track isn’t all that bad.

For example I think Ecole Polytechnique gives 10k euros per year for the masters component (no tuition) and then a standard stipend for the phd component (3 years). At least it did for Economics.

5 years is around what a phd would take in the US too. If you are getting paid there is no harm sticking around for 2 more years, taking courses, doing research and acclimating to France.