Charlotte CORDIER

A French enginner usually studies for 5 years. A screening process directs top "baccalaureat" students into "preparatory classes": a 2-year intensive undergraduate program in mathematics and physics.

After completing this program of studies, I took a national competitive examination and entered a « Grande Ecole » for 3 years. The final engineering degree is equivalent to the first year of a Ph. D. or Masters, i.e. (five years after a secondary or high school diploma).

The French title of "Ingenieur" is only awarded by the "Grandes Ecoles". The main feature of these "Grandes Ecoles" is their limited annual admission and stringent selection criteria.

I studyed Engineering in France at "Louis de Broglie", a graduate engineering school offering a wide-ranging course of general subjects, with a concentration in four leading fields :

- Automated Production Science

- Professional Electronics

- Computer Science

- Material Science

I have therefore studyed many different fields (see my MAP-CV)

Throughout the curriculum, I worked « hand in hand » with industry:

Mentoring : from the beginning of my studies, I had a mentor at THALES. I met my mentor at east 6 times over the schooling years. Thus I learnt what exactly the

life of an engineer involves and I had a privileged relationship in the industrial world.

Industrial Projects: In the second year of the engineering curriculum, I worked in pairs on a

project for a company : it involves working to find the best possible solutions to a project identified by a company (analysing the client’s needs, managing resources, offering solutions and providing results).

Internships : During the curriculum, I carryed out at least 3 internships (a one-month bluecollar internship in automotive industry, a 3-month internship abroad (Australia) and a 6-month engineering internship at THALES Australia)

"Sandwich Year" : this option consists of a 12-month undergraduate programm  which I did at THALES Microelectronics in France.