The real test is the pool, not the internet test.
Learning up to binary trees in a month in c with no experience in programming at all ain't nothing like very basic
Why having an english or french class when the school is actually paying so we can follow online course on a website like babel??? (don't remember the name).
Truth is some people are lazy and don't want to bother learning another language.
a) projects are here to teach us notions, for exemple the first minishell we had to code was there to teach us execve and fork (basics to code a shell).
b) first we are building stuff the way the school wants, basically you have to do a programm that do certains things (like recoding a wolf3d for exemple) and you have to follow the coding norme of the school, you are free to do it the way you want as long as you follow the rules for the project.
But there is also free projects, during 6months you can do what you want the way you want as long as it is a real project and not 6months of vacation.
c) not everything is team based, except for rushes and some projects, all projects are individuals, we learn together yes but we don't code all the time together.
d) You don't have one mentor, every student can be your mentor, the concept of the peer learning is exactly what you describe, talking to other students to get help, another approach of the projects, learning new things, etc.
Not the smartest, those who are born2code.
The selection is here to separate those who can deal with the teaching system of the school from those who can't.
The cool part is that there is no other requirements, you don't have to pay 8k per year for the school like students of other schools have to, and you get better results than public schools.
The only programming experience i had before 42 was some html/css (far from knowing everything), i could barely do a static website (and i'm not young either, i am 27years old), there is no way i would have learn so much (c, php/js/mysql, assembler, ruby on rails, using docker) all by myself with no guidance at all and absolutly no idea where to start.
Being in 42 gives us the motivation, alone at home with a slower learning, not so easy.
Yes living in paris is expensive, but if you live in the suburb, maybe part-time work for some people (no deadlines means you can actually work if you want or need it), you can manage it, it's just 3years, with a 6months internship during the first year (you can be paid) and a third year with possible sandwich course if you need it.
Personnaly i'm french, but from what i saw it is possible to attend 42 even if you don't speak french (it's a good opportunity to learn it though), sometimes it would be tricky (i think videos are only in french) but if you have question, people who speak english will help you.
Actually we have people from usa, ireland, marocco, singapore, romania i think and probably others.
hey, i'm a student of 42, would like to clarify a few things.
About the teaching assistants : we do have a few students helping the pedago team, but they aren't TA, they are in the "bocal" to help the team in place to create new projetcs, maintain the school servers and the intranet, that sort of things. Except if you encounter a bug or if there is something wrong with a subject or some hardware you are not suppose to expect any help from them, at all.
Yes 42 is a bit of a fork of epitech, but they don't have the same program anymore, the basic program is the same (projects for the beginner) but new projetcs are totally new, and students are encourage to create new projetcs too (we actually have some, like a project including docker, a student is preparing a OcamL pool etc...).
"All of École 42’s projects are meant to be collaborative, so the students work in teams of two to five people"
This is not true, the main concept of the school is the peer learning, you are not suppose to do solo projects with other peoples, you are suppose to learn how to do the project with other people, this is actually a different concept, we do have group projects though but it's a minority.