Leonard de Vinci Graduate School of Engineering - ESILV (reviews)

ESILV is a great school—modern, up-to-date, and very accessible, especially for students coming from a “classe prépa.”
While the Paris campus is impressive, I have one warning regarding student associations: they are a major focus of the school’s promotion, but getting accepted into one can be quite difficult due to the sheer number of students. The exception to this is usually the technical associations, which are more accessible if you are ready to put down the work. Another downside to note is that the English proficiency of some professors can make their lectures difficult to follow.

However, there are significant upsides, particularly regarding the Nantes campus:

Community & Access: The Nantes campus is much smaller, making it significantly easier to join associations and get involved.

Personalized Learning: In Nantes, the professors actually know you personally, which isn’t usually the case in Paris. Depending on your learning style, this can be a huge advantage.

Practical Application: Especially within the majors—but true since the first year—there is a heavy emphasis on projects and the real-world application of what you learn.

The LIA Major: My major (Software Engineering & AI) is incredibly versatile. It allows you to stay “polyvalent,” exploring a wide range of subjects and learning various new technologies without being pigeonholed too early.