• First-Year Study

    First-Year Study left
    First-Year Study middle
    First-Year Study right

  • Take the Next Step

  • Explore Our Community

    What our students, alumni, and faculty are doing in Paris and worldwide

  • Contact Us

    [email protected]

    Program Contact
    Emmanuel Cohen and Francesca Bonesio, Program Coordinators

  • Related Links

  • Social

    • Parsons Paris
    • New School
  • Your first year at Parsons Paris is a period of exploration and interdisciplinary discovery that prepares you to thrive in a complex and rapidly changing world. These two semesters immerse you in a broad range of art and design concepts, skills, and critical practices, training you to become a flexible thinker, proficient maker, and bold experimenter. The curriculum, which serves as the first-year course of study for all bachelor's degree programs at Parsons Paris, provides a strong foundation for your creative practice and intellectual development over the next three years.

    Program Highlights

    • Framework for Success

      Learn relevant art and design concepts, tools, and methods - including 2D and 3D processes, drawing, and digital design - as well as liberal arts approaches and insights.

    • Purposeful Perspectives

      Build capacity and curiosity that inform various paths through your studies and your future as a skilled and socially aware artist, designer, and strategic thinker.

    • Shared Learning Experience

      Study and interact with fellow students who are passionate about all kinds of art, design, and strategic processes and who will one day forge new paths in an array of disciplines.

    • Immersion in Paris

      Benefit from the opportunity to study the French language and immerse yourself in the unique Parisian cultural scene and local communities of designers and artists.

    • Future Options

      While all students enter Parsons Paris with a major declared, they are encouraged to go beyond established categories and explore outside of traditional disciplines.

  • Curriculum

    The first-year curriculum provides a common experience for all incoming Parsons Paris students, focusing on critically engaged approaches to art, design, and strategic thinking. Art, Media & Technology BFA and Fashion Design BFA students complete the same set of core courses, except for one Program Elective studio tailored for their specific needs. BBA students in Strategic Design and Management follow a similar curriculum that is supplemented by several management-related courses. In addition, all students take intensive creative workshops that help them acquire technical skills in preparation for their sophomore year.

    Learn more

  • Parsons Paris faculty represent a broad range of expertise and are acknowledged as leading practitioners and scholars in their fields.

  • Student Work

      See Our Work

    • Program News

      • Take The Next Step

      Submit your application

      Undergraduates

      To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

      Undergraduate Adult Learners

      To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

      Graduates

      To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.