application of "Don't reinvent the wheel..." studying en france

My dad is someone who's crazy with motivational books, and as his son who lived with him for 17 years (i never went to boarding school), each day i was stuffed with his inspirational quotes and life theories...

and one of his favourite was.... "Don't reinvent the wheel..."

Looking at the metafore, it means that you don't need to invent the wheel to use the wheel. As it has been invented by people before us, one does not need to go the long process of creating it, but simply learn what has been learnt and improve on it.

So, how to apply to real life? well, one easy example, as a student of the 8th batch, instead of making the same mistakes made by my seniors, I should learn from their experiences to make better choices in the future.

Almost every senior i meet, i have asked them to share thier experiences in France, especially regarding studying, and here what i know so far:

- we are sent to here to graduate with diplome d'inginieur, equilavent degree + masters

- after 2 years of the special preparation program, there will be limited 'back-door' opportunities to enter the prestigious grandes ecoles, as a result of a governement-to-governement collaboration.

- there's only 15-20 grandes ecoles to choose from and you need to score a minumum of at least 13

- if one misses out on the GE, one will enter IUT for 2 years

- to enter the GE after that, one will need to compete with les français and be among the top certain percentage of the class. There is no loss years taking this route.

- if there's one advantage of taking this route, is there are unlimited choice of GE to choose from.

- if after IUT, one fails to enter the GE, then they'll need to a licence and normal masters in a normal université

- Some students from the early batches failed in thier first or 2nd year of GE and had to drop into IUTs

Donc, the real question is, is it better to go straight to the hard-life of grandes ecoles after 2 or is it better to take the easier route of IUT??