Léonard Thélot, 3rd year engineering student

Léonard is a third year student in the Finance and Risk Management engineering program at ENSAE Paris and is currently enrolled in the M2MO Master's program. He was recruited through the Concours Commun Mines-Ponts (CCMP). He comes from a MP* prep school at the Masséna high school in Nice.

To help you see more clearly the training offer proposed by ENSAE Paris, students share their experience.

1. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO ENROLL AT ENSAE PARIS?

As I have a taste for math, I wanted to join a school where the scientific aspect is at the heart of the training. ENSAE was the obvious choice. Furthermore, I chose to follow the Finance and Risk Management track and the M2MO Master's program at Université Paris Cité at the same time to be able to link financial mathematics and data science.

2. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THE ENSAE PARIS PROGRAM? IF YES, FOR WHAT REASONS?

I would recommend ENSAE Paris because the school offers a very rich and diversified program (statistics, data science, finance, economics, sociology), while focusing on the scientific quality of the content. You come out of it with real knowledge and a way of thinking that is highly sought after by employers who correspond to you.

3. WHAT IS A TYPICAL WEEK LIKE FOR AN ENSAE STUDENT?

As far as courses are concerned, it is rather varied because the timetable can change every week. You will have a sports afternoon on Mondays (sports class) and on Thursdays if you participate in university competitions. There are also times to take care of your associations if you decide to join one. Thursday nights are obviously dedicated to the KF&T, which is the school bar. For the rest, since almost all 1st and 2nd year students live on campus, it is very easy to meet up during the week.

4. ARE YOU OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN PART OF A STUDENT ASSOCIATION AT THE SCHOOL? IF SO, WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE AND WHAT DID YOU GET OUT OF IT?

I was Vice President of the BDE (Students Office), but during the Covid-19 crisis we were unfortunately unable to organize many events. It is still a very nice experience that allows us to be confronted to situations we are not used to and to take responsibilities.

5. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ARE THE THREE STRONG POINTS OF ENSAE PARIS?

In my opinion, the strong points of ENSAE are the scientific quality of the teaching linked to the fact that the professors are for the most part professors-researchers who are extremely well-known in their field, the small size of the classes which allows us to access the double degrees that we would like to obtain depending on the field we are interested in, as well as the family and friendly atmosphere that exists among the students.

6. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO ARE STILL WONDERING ABOUT THEIR ORIENTATION AND ARE NOW IN THE MP/MP* PREPARATORY PROGRAM?

The main advice I would give would be to try as much as possible to forget about the school rankings because I know that we look at them a lot in preparatory classes. You have to ask yourself exactly what you like and what you don't like. For example, if you like science and want to continue to study it seriously, it's better to go to schools that are known for their technical training. This is what led me to choose ENSAE.