Raymond Said:

What nationality/ies is/are the foreign exchange students are in your college/high school?

We Answered:

In my 3 schools, I AM the foreigner.
I teach in Japan, remember?
There are a few Chinese kids in one school, and there was an american boy. One school has a boy whose mother is Japanese, and father is Swiss.

Willie Said:

What grades do American high school foreign exchange students normally get during a year in France?

We Answered:

I was an exchange student in high school with AFS, although not in France. I got average grades while studying abroad, but my high school here in the USA just posted the credits to my transcript as pass/fail since they didn't really know how to interpret the host country's grading system. So, basically, my time abroad had no impact on my GPA.

For what it's worth, I think most colleges would value a student's study abroad experience... and if, for some reason, it happens to bring down your GPA, I believe that any college worth its salt would take that into account.

Once you apply and are accepted into the exchange program, talk to your school about how that would influence your grades, transcript, etc. Also, a word to the wise -- the France programs with both AFS and YFU tend to be very popular, so apply early if you're set on France and only France. :-)

Good luck! I loved my time with AFS -- it changed my life.