ESSEC Diaries: Student Life and Campus Culture Experience with Jacques and Cyril

ESSEC Diaries is a podcast about student life at ESSEC Singapore. The host interviews two students, Cyril and Jack, who talk about campus culture, activities, and their daily routines. They mention that the campus culture is focused on traveling and students often talk about their recent or future trips. They also discuss the various clubs and events on campus, such as the football and chess clubs, as well as parties organized by the student council. Cyril and Jack describe their typical day as attending classes, studying, and participating in social activities. They highlight the strong community and networking opportunities at ESSEC. The students also mention the difference in academic environment compared to their previous educational institutions, with more focus on specialization and closer interactions with administration and teachers at ESSEC. They share their most memorable experiences, such as running for the student council and winning, and the first day of school. They advis Welcome to ESSEC Diaries, Student Journeys in Singapore. I'm your host, Joe Spito, and today we'll be talking about life on campus. Today we're joining with two students who'll be giving us a behind the scenes of what it's really like to study at ESSEC Singapore. So let me introduce our two special guests today. Hi, my name is Cyril. I'm a second year DBA student at ESSEC in Singapore. I'm the president of the Football Club and Chess Club, and I'm heavily involved in student life as the head of logistics on the student council. So my name is Jack. I'm in the Master in Finance program. I have a background in engineering, and I am the head of student life for the Master in Finance here. Wonderful. Maybe you could give us a brief overview of what the campus culture is like. Yeah, the campus culture here is focused on traveling because you're in Singapore, and obviously you can go around in a lot of different countries. This is a big part of the culture. People talk a lot about their recent travels, their future travels, ask about advice. Yeah, I always hear students talking about where they're traveling over the weekend or during the holidays. So I get that for sure. What about the campus itself? Is there any, you talked about some of the activities and things you're involved in. In MIF, we do work a lot. So as for student activities, it's often football. And so we have a football club. We organize sessions about it. There are even teachers playing with us. And also one of my main jobs as the head of student life is to organize the parties. We did quite a few nice parties in Singapore in very premium places. It sounds like a lot of fun. Cyril, how about you? So I just want to build on what Jack said. The campus, Singapore is such a great place. But the campus that we have in Asia is rather very functional. It's where you get your work done and then you can obviously hang out with your friends. We have a student association room. It's where people can just hang out for between classes and things like that. And then when people go off campus, it's rather to go out together and try new food or hang out and have fun. But yeah, it sounds like it's quite a lot of fun going on. I'm curious, what does a typical day look like as a student on campus at ESSEC? So for me, I usually come for classes and we often stay after classes to look for internships or talk about whatever classes, go eat outside. It's very community focused, yeah. Yeah, it sounds like it's quite a strong community. Like you said, you guys hang out a lot after classes. Ciro, how about you? What's your day like? So that's in the MIS program, but in the BBA we have classes, I think, nearly every single day. And these can range from the morning up until late afternoon. So oftentimes we might have two or three lectures and then in between those lectures, for lunch we'll go out. There's a food court that's quite nearby. It's under these three big towers called Fusionopolis. Other than that, we might choose to study a bit, whether it's in the library or down on level one where we have these things called study rooms, but also study areas, which can be found nearly all across campus. We just stick to level one because that's where nearly all of our classes are. You'll see teachers going through there. You'll have master's students and a lot of BBA students just hang out until they have their next class. Wonderful, and I'm curious, because you guys have studied at other places, how does the academic environment differ from your previous educational institutions to now at ESSEC? Obviously, it's the first time I'm in university, but back in high school, what's really different is how everybody really wants to be really good at the same things. So I wanna work in finance. So what I happen to be friends very much with people who are also very much interested in finance and in math-related subjects. So I guess I would say the level of ambition is also quite different. People are not as keen on growing and developing themselves and then focusing on one single area for the rest of their lives, which is not necessarily what I want to do, but it's like I have key targets and goals that are quite common to the other people in my cohort. One thing I would say differs from studying in France, I believe that we are much closer to the administration. You can put a face to the administration, the people that are taking care of your issues, whereas in larger institutions, it's not as easy to go talk to somebody one-on-one and then to explain your specific objective or what you're trying to achieve. Yeah, and same goes for the teachers. I had several cheap teachers here where I went on a lunch with and it was very nice. Yeah, it takes me back to what you guys were talking about earlier in terms of playing football with the teachers, because I'm guessing it's a unique experience in itself. You mentioned also the chess club. I'm curious, what are some of the other activities or clubs or events that you guys are taking part of? So I guess then since most clubs are actually headed by DBA students, we obviously make things accessible to everybody because we want to have as many masters as we can. It's great for networking as well as great for meeting new people. So for the chess club, we oftentimes organize as tournaments. We do the same for football clubs. So the football club has a tournament and we sometimes have games with other universities where we invite alumni to the games and also teachers because they're always up for it. And then they also allow us to, they bring us people from outside of the academics there, which is great. Other events would be also maybe like those campaigns for student election at the student council. This is also for the DBAs. Every year this happens over the course of one or two months and that's obviously gets everybody going. They're interested in seeing who will and she will win. I'd like to add on to what Cyril said. We do have a lot of interactions with alumni for events. This is something else nice as well because it helps us on the networking. Absolutely. So you mentioned the inter-campus football tournaments. You mentioned alumni networking. I'm curious, how do you balance your academic responsibilities with your social life? You have to figure out when you're going to do certain assignments. Because for example, in finance, if you really have a big assignment that you need to complete, you have to spend a certain amount of time, maybe two, three hours, depending on how difficult it is. And then figure out when you're going to do it because you have a lot of other, the course load in the BBA classes and balancing that with your social activities can be somewhat of a challenge. But if you time yourself well, and if you have a schedule and you commit to it, then it can be very easy. So planning and having the right schedule to make sure that you're balancing is some key to everyone. What has been your most memorable experience so far as a SX student in Singapore? Last year, I ran for student council and I think that both the same event, but one of them was when we declared the student council and then we danced. And it was somewhat embarrassing, but honestly, the thrill that I got was really fun. I honestly have no regrets concerning that. And then I guess that the second thing would be when we had results of the election and we won and everybody on my team decided that it was a good reason to jump to joy. And honestly, it's something that I also wouldn't trade in, but great memories. Yeah, it sounds like it's kind of a memorable experience. Yeah, for me, the first one would be the first day, I think, because we were all in the same situation and it was obvious that the year would be a nice one. Yeah, I think those holidays can definitely bring us together, especially when, once again, we're overseas away from our families. Now, as many of the folks who'll be listening and watching today's episode will be our future students, what advice would you give to them on getting the most out of their experience on campus? I have a very specific idea. So basically, Singapore is very unique. It's a melting pot. You get people very highly qualified and educated from elsewhere around the world. And I guess that if there's one thing that you should absolutely take advantage of, it's the alumni network and different people you can meet here in Singapore. So if you, like, when somebody offers you an opportunity to go out, you should absolutely take it. Once a school organises a career fair or an event on campus, go, because you will regret not doing it in five years because the people that you meet will be incredibly interesting and have careers that you might be exposed to, careers that you might be interested in and just have never heard about. And this is, I did this through Footboard. So I was actually in a team with our finance professor and he put me onto the team and then I joined other teams through that team and basically it was like a butterfly effect. Now I have a whole network of friends that I can just call back in Singapore at any point in time. So whatever reason, maybe career, but maybe also just ask them how they're doing. There's just another thing that I would want to add on to what we've both said. It's that it's only in Singapore that you'll one day show up to school and then there'll be like a beautiful pattern of traditional arts, mostly rooted in Indian traditions to celebrate a specific holiday or festival that you would have otherwise never heard about. Or like when you show up, it's Chinese New Year and then the school has got some mascots in front of the school that everybody can take photos with. You don't get these kinds of experiences if you're not on the Singapore campus. And I think that it's something that also has to do with openness, going out, the eagerness to learn, the curiosity, going from like ignorance to enlightenment in the sense that's what Singapore brings in many cultural different aspects. Yeah. Beautifully put, and I completely agree that once again, the Singapore advantages, it's a melting pot. We have people from all over the world who celebrate all kinds of festivities and culture. So yes, definitely an advantage of studying here in Singapore. Thank you guys so much for sharing your insights and experience. I really appreciate it. No, it's great to be here. Thanks for inviting us. And for everyone watching and listening to today's episode, hopefully you found it helpful. If you have any questions, do let us know. Otherwise, we'll see you on the next episode of ESSEC Diaries.