In Paris, academic performance is the main – if not the only – determinant of intelligence. Consequently, people who did graduate from a Grande Ecole are considered superior beings.
‘Faire de bonnes études’ in France means only two things: ‘faire médecine’ or ‘faire une grande école’. All the rest is crap.
Les Grandes Ecoles are a highly competitive set of graduate schools. They fall into two categories: commerce (ESSEC, HEC) and ingénieur (Polytechnique, Centrale, Mines, Ponts). Add Sciences-Po (which is half way through) and Ulm (which is not properly une école) to that list and there you have your French Grandes Ecoles. Conveniently, they are all based in the surroundings of Paris. (Where else?)
Graduating from a Grande Ecole leaves in the Parisian subconscious mind a more lasting mark than a tattoo on a Finn’s skin. Most Parisians who did not graduate from a Grande Ecole consequently feel a form of discomfort about it. They might be great parents, great professionals or great people, they just missed that key milestone of Parisian intelligence.
It is therefore every Parisian’s dream to have at least one of his children entering a Grande Ecole. If that happens, the Parisian can die in peace.
The fact that a person is a student or an alumnus of a Grande Ecole usually comes early in a conversation. Rarely though from the actual graduate: more frequently, this piece of information is brought to the table by the inferior friend, who is too happy to boast a Grande Ecole friend in front of his other inferior friends: ‘j’étais là-bas avec Marc, tu sais, mon copain centralien…’. At this point, the Grande Ecole graduate adopts a humble ‘I’m just like you guys’ profile. On top of being smarter, he is also sympa. This makes others admire him even more.
Grandes Ecoles are hard to get into. What it takes is excellent grades, hard work, educated parents and a hint of luck. The most fantastic thing about putting together that combination of things is that no matter what he does with his life, Parisians will always consider the person who graduated from a Grande Ecole as superior. And therefore entitled, throughout his career.
The fact that most Grande Ecole graduates end up being grey corporate executives is not relevant. Their intelligence has been vouched already. They won. Everybody else lost. It is important to realize that in Paris, no successful entrepreneur, artist, writer, chef, artisan can be considered part of the elite (at least in this lifetime). This category is exclusively reserved to Grandes Ecoles alumni. Other people are expected to move on.
By understanding that intelligence is one fold and fully determined at age 20, Parisians manage to offer the world an easily readable social scale. Finally! Merci qui?
Useful tip: The most obvious form of professional success in Paris is to be a Grande Ecole almuni’s boss.
Sound like a Parisian: « Tu sais que Caroline se marie?! Un garçon très bien, ESSEC, super sympa… »
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Tags: academia · education · education system in France · French education · grande ecole · grandes ecoles · intelligence · school10 Comments
10 responses so far ↓
Sounds a lot like the British attitude to Oxbridge - as if its some kind of mythical place where only super-clever people go. And when you tell people that you went there, they get this glazed look on their faces and look as if they want to bow down and worship at your feet. It’s really rather disturbing and may be what puts graduates off mentioning where they went to uni.
In the UK, though, your university career tends to disappear as a form of reference and definition by the time you’re in your mid-20s so it’s only proud mothers that bring it up in conversation (admittedly with every person you meet).
So, yeah, what is this French obsession with university? People seem to introduce themselves with, ‘Hi, my name is……., and I have the bac +5′. I had a student once - a 40-year old French businessman who acted like a complete jerk for a good half hour. He then asked me for in depth info about my university degree and would not be deterred by my attempts to put him off. In the end I told him, and he just shut up and paid attention for the rest of the lesson. It was very very strange…(of course, it then got even weirder when he asked me out at the end of the lesson…).
Legos! I don’t understand the Legos picture but it’s probably just because I don’t go to one of les Grandes Ecoles. Sadly, I am destined to eternal inferiority here in Paris as I will graduate from AUP
At least we throw good parties! Or am I excluded from this hierarchy as a foreigner?
Natasha… Your university (if a good one) is a seal that accompanies you your whole life in France. To give you an idea, the fact that my uncle was a polytechnicien has been mentioned, in church, at his funeral.
the French value inteligence more than anything else (money, achievement, fame…). Ironically enough, they have a very linear vision of it. And academic performance is the best reading grid for it. If you are intelligent, you did well at school. End of the story. Other forms of intelligence can be good but will never rank as high. So the minute people find out you are part of that crew, your voice becomes more valuable, and your entire being more desirable. Plus, for the records, most men like women with a bit of an attitude! Especially, in France, a diligent and well phrased form of it.
Haleigh… hello! the legos is just the idea of the podium. You enter a Grande Ecole, you’re on top of the world (or, more accurately, of France). It’s like you won - it’s over. Now you can relax!! Now, les Grandes Ecoles all have great parties too. since kids had to cram so hard in prépa to get in, they party a lot once they’re in. Now, as a foreigner, you are not expected to be in the race for Les Grandes Ecoles. So rest assured, you are not socially doomed quite yet!
Pardonez moi svp: “alumnus” et “alumna” sont singulaires et “alumni” / “alumnae”, pleurieles. Mais je suis Americain et n’suis pas un diplome de Grande Ecole si mon Latin et Francais sont inferieurs. Bonne journee!
Add to the list the Ecoles Normales Supérieures (George Pompidou was a Normalien.)
As one French person who failed brilliantly at getting into Normale Sup, and for whom her second year of prépa was one of the most traumatic experiences of her entire life, I read this post with great interest.
I fully agree with you that the French equate academic success with personal worth. It’s a bit weird but, unfortunately, true. Although it is striking that Sarko loves to stress that he did got get up the political ranks through the traditional French path - Science Po and ENA…
Merci, Olivier, for another great post. So spot-on.
But could you help the rest of us and give the code-names used for the Grandes Ecoles (like X for Polytechnique) which still have me baffled? Assas? Normale? I still don’t understand which are boastable and which aren’t. Normalien, etc… Ash-eu-say, etc. An American in Paris gets mightily confused.
Like Ponts et Chaussees. What’s that?
Merci for all the insider scoop!
Is it true that once in university, no matter how smart you are, or how hard you work, or how hard you study, one will never get the highest grade in a project/exam/class/etc?
Ron… nice to read form you!! Very good point. J’ai corrigé cela! Merci : I love to be corrected. For teh records, as a good Parisian, my parents wanted the best for me. Studying latin was good, but studying ancient Greek was even more the shit. So my Latin skills are close to zero!!
Elizabeth… Allez, i added Normale Sup in there for the sake of your efforts and sacrifice. It’s not really une école but it sure it very much out there for everything else!
Polly… Merci bcp!
So…School - nickname - alumnus:
Ecole Polytechnique - X - X or polytechicien
Ecole Centrale paris - Centrale - centralien
Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Les Ponts - ‘a fait les Ponts’
Ecole des Mines de Paris - Les Mines - ‘a fait les Mines’
ESSEC - ESSEC - ESSEC
HEC - HEC - HEC
Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris - Science-Po - Science-Po/Science-Poteux (ou Science-Potard)
Ecole Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm / ENS or Ulm/ Normalien
Polytechnique students have to do what is called ‘une école d’application’ after their Polytechnique curriculum, so they usually go by the combo. The top of which is to be X-Mines. X-Ponts, X telecom are other common denominations.
Assas is a ‘fac de droit’. Supposedly better than others (and more right wing). Dauphine would be its equivalent for economics. Yet, these are still is ‘facs’ (universités vs écoles). Meaning hardly any competition to get in. So nothing worth really bragging about!
There are several Ecoles des Mines, Ecoles des Ponts in other cities of France. Only the ones in Paris are highly regarded. Same with les ENS. Cachan and Fontenay are not worth that much. On teh other hand, Ulm is the ultimate Pantheon of French academia. No question about it, the hardest one to get into. ENS usually lead alumni to a career as professors or in research.
Nenii… ah!! Never really thought about it that way. But I guess it’s vastly true, yeah. No one ever gets a perfect score in university. French mentality!! The only cpunter examps is for thesis students who usually get congratulatiosn from the jury when completing their ’soutenance de thèse’. Takes 10 years of university to get kudos from French professors!!
My God, you are right about this Grandes ecoles culture! And, there is also a lot of competition between these schools. I did Sup de Co Strasbourg and for sure I do not have the same level as the one who did ESSEC. And, when I first look for a job, that was very noticeable!!!!! Great article!
Ha ha! C’est vrai, Olivier. Et triste aussi.