Year 3 · Fall 2024 — Exchange at École polytechnique

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My first semester on exchange at École polytechnique. Lecturing in English was never a problem — my English was already fine — and, honestly, the biggest thing I took from the whole year had little to do with coursework: this was where I learned to live on my own. I took 16 ECTS.

Course Name	Teacher	ECTS	Score
Algorithms for Discrete Mathematics	Lucas GERIN	3	A
Object-oriented Programming	Gaël THOMAS & Julien TIERNY	5	A-
Macroeconomics	Mehdi SENOUCI & Gauthier VERMANDEL	5	B+
Beginner French	Alexia BRUILLON	2	A+
Sports - Year 2 (Climbing)		1	A

Algorithms for Discrete Mathematics

A carefully designed course with little coursework beyond a capstone project, and plenty of class time set aside for it — the project itself just asks you to pull together everything you have learned. It is a solid introduction to NumPy, SymPy, and SciPy. Professor Gerin is sharp, with a dry, applied-mathematician humor that still keeps one foot in the theory — close to my own taste, though I will admit I care even less about proofs and am often happy as long as something works.

Year 3 · Spring 2025 — Exchange at École polytechnique

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I took 16 ECTS this semester.

Course Name	Teacher	ECTS	Score
History of Economics	Béatrice CHERRIER	3	A
Machine Learning	Jesse READ	5	A
Econometrics	Laura RECUERO VIRTO & Arne UHLENDORFF	5	A
Intermediate French (B1/B2)	Marie-Chantal GERARD	2	A
Sports - Year 2 (Racketlon)		1	A+

History of Economics

Less my personal peak than the peak of my course-selection luck. The format was role-playing debates on a set of given topics. My group went first, on “is economics too mathematized?” — a spicy thing to argue as a math major (and worth noting that BX students all double-major, one of which must be mathematics). I was on the affirmative: that economics piles on complex models that still do not prove all that useful — which of course turns straight into a fight over what “useful” even means. Being week one, the room had not warmed up yet; later weeks were livelier, with topics like “is economics objective?” and “is economics too ideological?”. I like logical debate — not the angle-switching sophistry of competitive debating, which is pointless here and gets called out on the spot. More than anything, this course taught me how to think, and how to write something a reader can actually follow.

X on Eiken

Year 3 · Fall 2024 — Exchange at École polytechnique

Algorithms for Discrete Mathematics

Year 3 · Spring 2025 — Exchange at École polytechnique

History of Economics