Edit: I checked Epitech tuition fees, it's around 40k€ for the whole 5 years curriculum. You can make a century of studies for the same price in any public university.
For example, one key part for me was that the school allowed me to practically don't go to classes as long as I could prove that my work wasn't affected. It's something that you won't find everyday. I'm 100% sure I'd have failed university otherwise because the lack of freedom would have bored me to death Conversely, friends of mine have dropped from Epitech in the first two years because they didn't get enough support, so it shows that the most interesting thing the school has to offer is its learning devices. They understood that one size doesn't fit all (which is against the French public school philosophy).
So yeah, the tuition is expensive (and frankly given how the school works you sometimes wonder whether they eat luxury cars for lunch), but there's simply no public alternative.
One other factor I've also wondered is if people paying for their scholarships weren't more invested in making it a success? I knew my fair share of people who weren't thriving as developers at Epitech as well, mind you, but most of them dropped before the end.
I've done Ensimag, which is a public school in the same sector, and you definitely could skip classes if you wanted to (though most of the ones who skipped classes did it out of sloppiness)
Those who had issues were those who needed to be told where and what exactly to look for. They often felt like they were paying for little to no teaching (which is true, in a sense, but I preferred to see it as an opportunity to grow by myself in an environment where I could have extra resources at my disposal if I needed to - the best one often being other students, sometimes from previous years).
And once again, all engineering schools considers their students adult enough to let them do their thing: there's no repercussion if you don't go to classes, it's not 42-specific
I graduated from an enginnering school, and you can absolutely skip all classes if you wanted to. Sure, the teachers don't encourage you to do it, but the freedom is definitely there.
BUT, since there will always be a percentage of students who don't succeed in a "traditional" way, a bunch of rich people will always attempt to lure them into a paid program (which is, I repeat, selective). So they learn quite a bit, and they can become high-earners in the future, since they're all hanging out with technically good people.
> I checked Epitech tuition fees, it's around 40k€ for the whole 5 years curriculum
$9100 a year is indeed expensive for French schools, but I'm sure some Americans on the other side of the ponds are chuckling right now.
Don't forget though that housing, food, "Sécurité Sociale", library, etc. weren't included.
Good public schools are about that much - or less. At Ann Arbor it would be $8000/year for tuition.
As I said "This kind of discussion will end up being the typical (French) disdain between people learning engineering in the public schools v/s the ones learning in these "practical teaching" private schools and vice versa."
At the end of the day, both ways work. One is free if you fit the public education.
You can make a century of studies for the same price in any public university
I'd say that it seems like it's easier to make it as an average/mediocre person if you're doing epitech, 101, 42, etc.
If you're very good, it seems like you'll do better with a more beefy theoretical background
You could just as well learn all the theory by heart, do not know how to use it in practical situations, forget it after the exams and pass just fine in most public schools as well. If you're bad and not willing, you're gonna be bad, no education will save you
There are good engineers in both, both have different approach to teach which fit different people. Both do generally good in the private sector after they're done with it.
As usual the people graduating from public schools will say the private graduates don't have the theorical foundation, and the private graduates will say the public graduates don't have enough technical skills when they graduate. In reality the decent students will pick up the theory from the practical projects and vice-versa.
If that matters, I did Epitech, which is similar-ish to 42 and all the people that graduated with me have decent positions and are in high demand by the job market. Some of them in big name companies.
This kind of private schools are a good alternative for people who don't fit in the public education by letting them just do practical projects with some direction and let them pick up the theory from there. Some people are really good self taught hackers but would otherwise drop out in typical education, but they can shine in these schools. I've met many.