Polytechnique: a unique perspective into French society/culture crammed into 3 months Past Review
By Steven Z (Electrical And Computer Engineering, Olin College) for
Ecole Polytechnique: Palaiseau - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
Short answer: Yes! Long answer: ...but there's too much to write! Instead, I'll point you to a blog post I wrote that highlights my cultural, academic, and personal insights at Polytechnique: http://blogs.olin.edu/studentblog/2011/04/france-engineering.html Feel free to contact me (you can find my email address is here: http://bit.ly/iAJGPF), if you have questions on this specific program.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 0-2 weeks |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
In many ways, Polytechnique could not be more different than my experiences at Olin. Olin was founded in 1997, emphasizes a hands-on curriculum, and has 300 students. Polytechnique was founded in 1794, teaches a rather traditional fashion, has 2000 students, and is a military academy. I cannot make any value judgement on which system was better or worse, having only spent 3 months at Polytechnique. So here are the facts as I perceived them: - most courses were lecture based, often with a related petit-class where profs would solve problems on the board and try to engage students - students do not engage too much with profs (of course, I'm biased from my Olin experience). But this is partly a cultural thing, and profs were always approachable when I went up to them after class. - evaluation was a sole exam or project at the end of class - workload was up to the student: you can study a lot on your own (and really understand the material, and receive an A), or cram at the end of semester (and kind of understand the material, and receive a B). |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I cooked with the international students in my dorm every night, and this aided my French learning a lot. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
The doctor at the on-campus clinic was kind and easily accessible |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | - |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
My French language class met only once per week, so it wasn't that useful. Most of my French learning came from meeting people and talking with them. I also had friends who would correct me often on my French. Most people did speak English, at least as well as my French, but I would ask them to speak only French. |
Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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Individual Course Reviews
| Course Name/Rating: |
Creation of technology start-ups |
| Course Department: | MAP581 |
| Instructor: | Stéphane Mallat and Bruno Martinaud |
| Instruction Language: | French |
| Comments: | MAP581 was very different from the other courses I took at Polytechnique. Students were placed in groups of 4, and made to do a semester-long project of coming up with a product, business plan, and pitch based a patent in one of Polytechnique's labs. The most interesting part for me was working in a group with 3 other students (2 French, and 1 Lebanese). As one might imagine, I learned a lot about how they approached learning, and became good friends with my group members. |
| Credit Transfer Issues: | No. |
