Oh wow so Polytechnique is a special situation and unlike going to some of the other European universities or even the other Grandes Ecoles. I am not sure how much you know about how it is organized, but there are a few key points worth knowing.
- It offers very limited majors, basically math/engineering related. Most students were then funneled into Masters programs, I believe, and it was done more or less on academic ranking at the time. Things have changed since they reorganized it in 2017/18 I think so I can’t really speak to the new degree situation and exit pathways.
- It’s a military school dating from the Napoleonic era and military service is done in the first year prior to arriving on campus. I don’t know how that works with international students. Regardless, your student would have a Napoleonic uniform to be worn for certain ceremonial events and marches during their time on campus.
- It is beyond bureaucratic, YES. That’s just kind of France in general, though, and wouldn’t be exclusive to Polytechnique but the military aspect does kind of intensify it, probably. There is not a lot of support/handholding.
- It would be a big culture shock for most Americans and an adjustment in a lot of ways. The French would be a new version of French – VERY heavy on slang and Polytechniciens LOVE creative slang. That is challenging to figure out at first but doable. But also just the system, the military service, etc. bonds the French more tightly in a shared experience prior to the campus part and it can be hard for international students to break in. So they mostly group together. They normally would cluster geographically - say, Chinese students together. North African. Etc. Students are nice though and sports are a good way to make friends.
- Historically, it accepted students by just taking the highest scores out of all who took the math baccalaureate exam in French and French-speaking countries. This was published on campus. The last one to make the cutoff (everyone knew) drank free at the student bar for the first year. Admissions is different now, the class is bigger, and I think admissions is more holistic now, but still very challenging.
- This is subjective, but I just remember the campus as kind of cold and maybe dated (60s architecture, lots of concrete). It’s outside of Paris, and does not have the easy accessibility of something in Paris or a major city. If your student doesn’t have a car, they’ll take the train from a little station that takes a while.
Students are pretty nice, though, and they have lots of fun events. There’s a loose network for parties of other schools. One memory was learning to saber a bottle of champagne in the student bar. X is an impressive school with a lot of respect in France and super strong network.
It’s a really specific experience!