The school itself was located in the 11 arrondissement (fairly central) and close to numerous ‘hipster’ and trendy areas. I chose to live in the 5th arrondissement, and in retrospect the commute was a hassle. I chose the 5th as on paper, when researching Paris out of Australia, it sounded like a (possibly overly) safe and rather posh area, whilst still attracting the young.
I did love that area, but felt the distance to school (35 min by metro) was an effort. The school building was lovely on the outside but nothing special on the inside. It was completely functional, had a great community feel and it did hold some great parties. Another bonus was a subsidised cafeteria, where students could get a huge lunch (choice of main/ entre/ drink or dessert) for ~4 euro. Unheard of. It was also a great hangout for getting to know other students and socialising.
The teaching methods and quality of education at ESCP were solid. Just like anywhere there were some standout lecturers, who really impressed, and others who were pretty much what you would expect. None were a disappointment. Class engagement was good in most classes, case-based study methods were common (using cases sourced from Ivy League schools) – these are some of the things that appealed to me. I also enjoyed that class sizes were much smaller than at QUT (20 to 40 people was common). I would highly recommend this school to students interested in finance. I honestly enjoyed all of my classes.
My favourite classes were the Derivatives & risk management class (outstanding professor), and the Valuation class (great professor and particularly interesting and beneficial content). On the downside, grading of some professors seemed a little bit arbitrary to me, but overall I was content with my results. The only other frustrating thing was paperwork. There was a lot of it, and not just at school. France loves bureaucracy.
I took all my classes in English, however French classes were an option. The workload was heavy, I did 6 subjects each semester (two of which were half-units) and there were often weekly homework/assignments involved. To do well you had to attend to them. I felt there was a lot more ongoing assessment than at QUT, which I personally did not mind as it forced me to stay on top of the material covered.
