1. Please read and bookmark this FAQ. It is updated regularly.

2. Please attend a virtual Graduate Information Session if you have not already done so - Wednesday's from 10-11am EST. This will answer many of your questions. The link for these sessions can be found on right side of the main menu bar of our website - "Virtual Info Sessions."

3. Attend a Visa Information Session as soon as possible if you have not already done so. The link for the Visa Information sessions can be found on right side of the main menu bar of our website - "Virtual Info Sessions."

4. Be patient in waiting for your "official" acceptance through the portal and your official acceptance letter. It could take several weeks before you receive this. We do understand that you need this to complete the visa process; please don't worry.

5. Please monitor your email and the portal for further instructions.

6. If you have any questions about the visa process, please email us at visa@europe.gatech.edu

1. Please carefully read and bookmark this FAQ. It is updated regularly.

2. There are no further actions to take right now; we will reach out to you with next steps.

4. Please email us at Info@europe.gatech.edu if you are no longer interested in attending Georgia Tech-Europe.

No. If you received an email stating the you will be admitted to Georgia Tech, spending the first two semesters on the Europe campus, this decision is final and valid for one academic year. The schools will not reconsider your request to start on the Atlanta campus. Admission to Georgia Tech is competitive and it is an achievement to be accepted. We are one Georgia Tech, with campuses in Atlanta, Metz, France, and Shenzhen, China. The quality of education received on each campus is the same, and at the end, the degree is conferred by Georgia Tech. Please consider the wonderful opportunity you have been given to begin your studies on the Europe campus. Many students quickly discover that they can receive a Georgia Tech degree at half the cost of Atlanta by studying on the Europe campus, and they remain in France for their entire degree! The choice is yours - stay in France for your entire degree, or come to Atlanta in your third semester.

No. We will not reconsider you for the Atlanta campus. The decision is final and valid for one year. See the answer to the question above. With careful planning, you can pursue your specialization once you arrive on the Atlanta campus.

We have been successfully and safely teaching classes live at Georgia Tech-Europe. In the past several years, all students have been able to obtain long-stay visas with guidance from our office.

Please see our Calendar for all program dates.

Georgia Tech continues to monitor the situation with the French government and CampusFrance and at this time there are no restrictions due to the pandemic. If you are accepted to the program, please do not begin the visa process on your own. Shortly after accepting the offer to study at Georgia Tech-Europe, you will be contacted by the Georgia Tech-Europe office in Atlanta who will advise on when to start the the visa process.

All students have been able to obtain a French visa for the past several years. We will advise in ample time if there are issues with obtaining visas. Please do not worry about this. Students who will arrive after the start of the semester due to visa issues will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. We are not offering the option to do the semester online.

IMPORTANT: Please let us know as soon as possible at Info@europe.gatech.edu if you will are having trouble arriving in France in time for the start of the semester. 

No. You have been admitted to begin the first two semesters of study towards your master’s degree on the Europe campus. You will not have the option to begin your studies on the Atlanta campus, but you will have the option of transferring to the Atlanta campus in your 3rd semester. Please understand that the decisions made by the respective schools are final and cannot be changed.

For example, if you are admitted for Fall 2023 and defer until Fall 2024, you will not be reconsidered to start your studies on the Atlanta campus in Fall 2024; you would still need to first spend two semesters on the Europe campus before asking to transfer to the Atlanta campus. Remember, this is what is stated in the offer letter you received, and the decision holds for one year, through Fall 2024.

Reapplying is not a recommended strategy as there is no guarantee that you will be admitted to begin your studies on the Atlanta campus the second time you apply. The result could very well be the same, or worse, you could not be admitted to Georgia Tech at all depending on the size and qualifications of the applicant pool.

No. The Fall 2023 semester will be taught live in France. If for some reason due to the pandemic students are asked to complete a semester online, they will still pay the regular Georgia Tech-Europe tuition and program fees, which is equivalent to resident/in-state tuition at Georgia Tech. Mandatory Student Fees will remain the same.

Yes. Students can apply to transfer to the Atlanta campus after two semesters in the Georgia Tech-Europe program, whether instruction is offered online or live.

Correct. You can defer your matriculation for up to one year and do not need to reapply. To clarify, you can defer to either Spring or Fall 2024 if you were accepted for Fall 2023. If you wish to reapply for the Atlanta campus, you will need to wait until Spring 2025. Please do not defer in the hopes we will reconsider you for Atlanta - we will not; the decision is final and valid for one year, through Fall 2024.

No. Your degree will always be conferred by the Georgia Institute of Technology. If you are an ECE major, you can study on our Shenzhen China campus as well. If ECE majors study on all 3 campuses, they will receive a special designation, but again the degree will still be granted by Georgia Tech! Our GEIP program, the "Global Engineering Immersion Program," is for ECE students who study on all three of our campuses - Atlanta, Metz, and Shenzhen! Please email us at Info@europe.gatech.edu for details.

 You may take only the courses listed on our website. Here is link to the course offerings on the Europe campus. You may not take any online/distance learning courses that are not listed on the Georgia Tech-Europe course schedule. This means that if courses in your specialization are only offered on the Atlanta campus, you will need to save those courses for semester three, and take them in Atlanta. 

No. The language of instruction is English. You do not need to know any French. We offer a free French class for masters students if you are interested, but this is not mandatory.

You may only take the courses that are listed on the Georgia Tech-Europe course schedules. We are a small campus and do not offer the breadth of courses found at the Atlanta campus. Should you need to take specialized courses that are only offered on the Atlanta campus, please consider studying on the Atlanta campus in your third semester. 

Most courses are taught "live." Courses listed on the schedule as "DL" (Distance Learning) or "OMSCS" (Online Master of Science in Computer Science) are taught remotely via distance-learning.

No. You may only take courses that are listed on the Georgia Tech-Europe course schedule.

Yes. You can take courses outside of your department from other engineering disciplines, so long as they are related to your course of study. Each program specifies how many outside credits count towards the degree. Review the MS curriculum on your department’s website and reach out to graduate advisors in your respective department for guidance in your selection of courses.

30 hours of coursework is required for both the thesis and the non-thesis master's degree. 33 hours of coursework are required to complete the MS in the School of Aerospace Engineering. Since you will be studying in a new culture, we recommend that you take 9 semester hours of coursework each of the two semesters you are in Metz. To be clear, 9 hours is the minimum number of semesters you may take while you are at Georgia Tech-Europe, each semester, and you should most definitely not take any more than 9 hours each semester if you wish to spend your third semester in Atlanta. You will need to take 12 hours of coursework in your third semester to complete your degree. Should you decide to spend your third semester on the Atlanta campus, you will need to take a minimum of 12 semester hours of coursework in order to maintain full-time student standing as required by the F-1 visa.

The thesis option also requires 30 hours of study -- 18 hours of coursework and 12 thesis hours. You can complete the thesis option in three semesters with some planning. You will be assigned an advisor at the Lorraine campus and can complete the thesis hours during the first two semesters on the Lorraine campus, or you can opt to start the thesis portion of your degree on the Atlanta campus in your third semester. Many students opt to take an extra semester for the thesis option, completing two semesters on the Atlanta campus, making them eligible for OPT (more information on OPT is found below). OPT and a third and fourth semester in Atlanta is only available to students doing the thesis option.

Should you decide to transfer to the Atlanta campus, you will need to take a minimum of 12 semester hours of coursework or thesis hours each semester in order to maintain full-time student standing as required by the F-1 visa. Although only 30 hours of study are required to obtain the MS degree, students may earn more than 30 credit hours. Students should submit their petition to graduate only once they are ready to complete their degree. If you do the thesis with OPT, you will be taking more than 30 credit hours to complete your degree. (9 credit hours each semester at Lorraine, and 12 credit hours each semester on the Atlanta campus).

To clarify, it you decide to do the thesis option so that you can do OPT in Atlanta, you will graduate with a minimum of 42 semester hours of credits. Remember, you need to take 12 semester hours of credit each semester you are on the Atlanta campus, in order to maintain full time student status for the F-1 visa.

Yes. We are one Georgia Tech. You may complete your degree on any one of the three Georgia Tech campuses - Atlanta, Europe, or Shenzhen - and the degree will be granted by the Georgia Institute of Technology. If you complete two semesters on the Europe campus, and then transfer to the Atlanta campus in semester three, your degree will still be noted as "Georgia Tech" on your diploma.

No. You can decide during your first semester if you would like to pursue the thesis option. Keep in mind that you will need to pursue the thesis option if you are an international student who is intent on doing OPT in Atlanta beginning in their third semester. Details on OPT are addressed in greater detail below in the section on the "Semester in Atlanta".

Normally, you can have an advisor in another discipline so long as you have a co-advisor from your home department. Please check with your school.

Yes. Students wishing to complete the masters with thesis on the Atlanta campus must find an advisor prior to arrival in Atlanta. Each school posts faculty bios and their areas of interest on their website. Once you review that information, you should contact the faculty member with whom you would like to work. Please remember that you will need to be proactive in finding an advisor, should you chose to do the thesis option. You will find an advisor, but it is up to you to secure this.

No. If you find an advisor on the Europe campus, you can work on your thesis and coursework concurrently. If you decide to work on your thesis in Atlanta, you will not begin this work until your third semester when you transfer to the Atlanta campus. You can elect to do a thesis with faculty in Europe or Atlanta.

 Georgia Tech-Europe is home to Georgia Tech-CNRS IRL 2958, a joint international research laboratory between Georgia Tech and the CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique), the French National Center for Scientific Research, and other local partners. Laboratories and areas of specialization can be found on the Georgia Tech-CNRS IRL 2958 website. This international research laboratory is yet another great reason to study at Georgia Tech-Europe. 

It's possible. As most European Engineering schools require students to complete an internship in order to graduate, the market is quite competitive. Summer internships, which are common in the U.S., are not common in Europe, where 6 month internships are the norm. With initiative and determination, it is possible to find a global internship beginning in the summer after your first two semesters at Georgia Tech-Europe. Students have found internships without speaking any French. Students have made great contacts and secured internships through connections made through Georgia Tech-Europe's Corporate Seminar series. A staff member at Lorraine campus can assist you with the process.

Please keep in mind that as standard internships in Europe are generally 6 months in duration, you will need to plan accordingly for your final semester of studies. For example, if you begin your studies in Fall on the Lorraine campus, followed by the Spring semester on the Europe campus, and start your internship in the Summer, your third semester of study will be in the following Spring.

No. Should you wish to do an internship in Europe, we recommend searching during your time on the Europe campus. If you find an internship in Europe that begins after you complete your second semester, staff in Metz can assist with extending your visa. Remember, you are not obligated to come to Atlanta in your third semester - many students complete their entire degree on the Lorraine campus.

All students who remain in good standing during their first two semesters at Georgia Tech-Europe will be given permission to transfer to Georgia Tech in Atlanta! ME students only (non dual-degree) must first secure funding before being allowed to transfer to Atlanta. (or, for ECE students, the Shenzhen campus is also an option).

To clarify, there is no limit to the number of students who may transfer, so long as they are in good academic standing. In order to remain in good standing, general Institute policy is that master's students maintain a minimum 2.7 GPA. Students in the School of Mechanical Engineering must maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to remain in good standing and secure a GRA before transferring to the Atlanta campus in their third semester.

All students should be aware that they will be transferred to the Atlanta campus without funding (although ME students must secure funding in order to transfer) and will pay the higher non-resident tuition unless they are residents of the state of Georgia. The cost to study on the Atlanta campus is twice the cost of studying on the Lorraine campus.

This is our most frequently asked question, so please read this carefully. NO student who remains in good standing has ever been denied the transfer to Atlanta!

No. Masters students are self-funded for the semester in Atlanta. The exception is for ME students -- Mechanical Engineering students must secure a GRA before being allowed to transfer to the Atlanta campus.  (please note that this applies to non dual-degree students.) We do offer one fellowship for the semester students come to Atlanta only. This is quite competitive. More information can be found on the Fellowship page on our website. 

Students will pay out-of-state/non-resident tuition for the semester(s) they will spend on the Atlanta campus, unless they are from Georgia. Please visit the Costs page on our website for more details. While at Georgia Tech-Europe, all students pay the lower in-state/resident tuition. This is one of the many perks of studying at Georgia Tech-Europe - a Georgia Tech degree, but at a lower cost! Studying on the Lorraine campus is approximately half the cost of studying on the Atlanta campus. Many students opt to complete their entire degree on the Lorraine campus due to the quality of the experience and the lower cost.

There are limited opportunities for those students on the master’s thesis track, but the majority of funding is reserved for PhD students. Students will need to contact our Head of Academic Program at Georgia Tech-Europe for direction on trying to secure a GRA before heading to the Atlanta campus. GRAs are not guaranteed. Remember that MSME students must obtain a GRA before transferring to the Atlanta campus.

It is unlikely that you will be able to obtain a GTA while on the Atlanta campus. There are no possibilities for students within the School of Mechanical Engineering. There may be limited opportunities in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, but you should plan as though you will not obtain a GTA. No matter your major, please ask us if this will be possible if you are interested.

It depends. You must be on the thesis track, and spend two semesters in Atlanta as a full-time student in order to qualify for OPT. Under the F-1 visa, only students who spend two consecutive semesters as full-time students (12 credit hours per semester) on the Atlanta campus are eligible for OPT. And the only way to spend two consecutive semesters in Atlanta is if you are on the thesis track. 

To clarify, those wishing to do OPT in Atlanta, will need to be on the thesis track. For more information, please visit Georgia Tech’s Office of International Education (OIE) International Students and Scholars Services webpage. You do not need to declare that you will do a thesis at the time you accept the offer to study at Georgia Tech-Europe. You can decide after you arrive for your first semester.

If you begin your studies on the Lorraine campus, it is not possible to spend two semesters in Atlanta if you are doing the non-thesis option. When you start on the Europe campus, you are required to take 9 SCH (semester hours) each semester, meaning you will complete 18 SCH total in semesters one and two at Georgia Tech-Europe. (You may not take fewer than 9 SCH per semester while on the Lorraine campus.) This will leave you with 12 SCH remaining for your 3rd and final semester in Atlanta. You will be able to complete your non-thesis masters in three semesters and will not be granted a visa for a 4th semester. The only way to spend a 4th semester in the program is if you opt for the thesis option which will allow you to spend two consecutive semesters on the Atlanta campus. If you are interested in the option offered by the Shenzhen campus, we would recommend pursuing the opportunity to study at Shenzhen rather than Europe.

No. Many students plan on coming to Atlanta in their third semester, but once they arrive on the Lorraine campus, they realize three things quite quickly - 1. The experience of being in the American university system on a small campus in France is quite agreeable! 2. The cost to study on the Lorraine campus is half of the cost of the Atlanta campus! 3. The degree is the same - it is conferred by Georgia Tech in Atlanta! Try the Europe campus - you'll like it!

The F-1 student visa does not facilitate finding long-term U.S. employment. Students studying in the U.S. who have qualified for OPT (see above) will have 60 days to secure employment under OPT with the F-1 visa. They are not permitted to work during this 60-day grace period. Students will need to research on their own the process for obtaining an H1B visa, which requires sponsorship by an employer. Although students are not guaranteed to find a job in the U.S., many do find companies that are willing to sponsor a work visa.

Students have asked if completing their degree on the Europe campus will hinder their chances of finding a job in the U.S. The answer is, no. Whether students complete their degree on the Europe or the Atlanta campus, the degree is the same U.S. degree granted by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

While studying on the Atlanta campus, students will have the opportunity to participate in career fairs with a wide variety of companies recruiting. Many companies prefer candidates who already have the right to work in the U.S., but it may be possible to find a company willing to sponsor your work visa.

While on the Europe campus, students will be invited to participate in smaller job fairs attended by global companies. Many international students opt to do a 6 month European internship, and they are often offered jobs by these companies when they finish their degree.

For more information related to living and working in the U.S., please visit Georgia Tech’s Office of International Education (OIE) International Students and Scholars Services webpage.

Finding a job in Europe post-graduation is possible. Even without a promise of work or a work contract from an employer, non-EU students holding a Master’s degree may request a temporary resident permit (Autorisation Provisoire de Séjour) valid for 12 months while they are seeking employment. We have a staff member at Georgia Tech-Europe who can help to put you on the right track with your job search.

All masters students at Georgia Tech-Europe pay Georgia Tech's in-state/resident tuition for each of the two semesters they spend at Georgia Tech-Europe. For the semester(s) in Atlanta, students will pay the higher out-of-state/non-resident tuition. Studying on the Europe campus is approximately half the cost of studying on the Atlanta campus. For more details on costs, please visit the Costs page on our website. The Board of Regents of the State of Georgia did not increase tuition for the 2022-2023 school year. Tuition for the 2023-2024 academic year will be posted in April.

Students will receive an invoice for tuition and fees for each semester within the first 10 days of the semester. Tuition is paid via wire transfer in U.S. dollars or Euros.

No. Master's students are admitted without funding to Georgia Tech-Europe. The same holds for the semester(s) in Atlanta.

There are limited opportunities for those students on the master’s thesis track, but the majority of funding is reserved for PhD students. There is no way to secure any funding ahead of time, as faculty recruit their students directly.

You will be eligible to apply for a teaching assistantship to help with undergraduate labs once you arrive at Georgia Tech-Europe. If selected for the TA position, you will be refunded 1,800 Euros at the end of the semester. You will still need to pay the full tuition up front.

There are no scholarships or fellowships available to students while studying on the Lorraine campus. We offer limited opportunities for students who opt to spend one semester on the Atlanta campus, to offset the higher cost of attendance. Please visit our Fellowships page for more information on applying.

No. In order to qualify for these scholarships, which are offered through the French government, you must be studying at a French institution of higher education. Georgia Tech is a U.S. institution; Georgia Tech-Europe is our French campus. We are not a French institution of higher education, so you will not qualify for any scholarship or grant that requires students to be studying at a French institution of higher education. Please read the eligibility criteria carefully before applying for any scholarship or grant.

We offer graduate student housing in a student residence operated by one of our partner schools. This residence is called "Résidence Edouard Branly". It is quite nice - students will have their own studio with an ensuite bathroom and a kitchenette.

To clarify, you will have your own room. For more information on the graduate student housing and information on life in Metz, France, please review the "Live" section on our webpage.

We do not offer married student housing (except in the case where both partners are studying at Georgia Tech-Europe), or housing for families. If you will be arriving with a spouse/partner/children, please reach out to us as soon as possible at Info@europe.gatech.edu to learn about housing options.

Once you have officially accepted the offer to attend Georgia Tech-Europe, staff from the Atlanta office will contact you to assist you with the visa process. Please do not begin this process on your own. Students will apply for a long-stay visa through Campus France and VFS. Again, wait until receiving direction from us before beginning this process.

Should you decide to study at the Shenzhen campus for your third semester, you will need to contact a staff member on the Europe campus for assistance. They will assist you in obtaining the proper visa. (You will need to be in good academic standing in order to switch campuses.)

Should you decide to study at the Atlanta campus for your third semester, you will need to contact a staff member on the Europe campus for assistance. They will assist you in obtaining an F-1 visa. (You will need to be in good academic standing in order to switch campuses.)