I had an excellent experience at this French consulate. I'm about to study abroad in France, so I applied for a long stay student visa. For this scenario it's set up so that you submit a 'Campus France' form online and then you mail a money order and a copy of your acceptance letter to the office in Washington DC. After this has been confirmed, you set up an appointment with your local consulate. It's important that you bring the documents listed on the website and that you have a credit card on hand to pay the 50 euros for the visa. They will not accept cash. The consulate is located in one of those multi- business buildings and across the street from a Starbucks. Great place to sit and collect your thoughts/ documents before going inside!
It's essential that you arrive at the time of your appointment- I would recommend getting there a few minutes early because they took me ahead of time. You go up the elevator and to the right, then there's a waiting room that's set up kind of like a bank. You have to put your appointment confirmation receipt through the window and they will call your name. The man that helped me was very friendly and efficient. My appointment was on a Friday, and I received my passport + visa by mail the following Wednesday! All around great experience. I'm posting this here because I know how stressed out I was about all of this and it would have been nice to have some reassurance. Hopefully this is helpful to someone. :) read more