u/Superb_Army4881

I'm 18, from France, admitted to the BSc Electrical Engineering starting this September (also got Applied Physics). I'm trying to decide whether to actually come, and I'd rather hear it straight from people who've been through the first year.

My background, so you can judge the level: French baccalauréat with highest honours, 16.44/20 overall. Maths and Physics as my specialisms, plus advanced maths. 17 in maths, 16 in physics, 20 in the oral exam. Cambridge C2 Proficiency in English. Outside school I design PCBs and program microcontrollers, I've got an active GitHub, and I did two internships at an open source software company doing code review and development. Long term I want to go into research, ideally a PhD in microelectronics, which is a big part of why Eindhoven appeals.

My problem is two things.

First, the BSA. I know it's 45 out of 60 credits, and the official figures say 63% continue to the second year in EE. For those of you who did it: what actually separates the people who make it from the ones who don't? Is it maths, workload management, language, something else? I'd rather know now than find out in April.

Second, housing, and this is the bigger one. The only place I could get is a 20m² room in a house shared with 5 other people, around 690 a month all in, on a 12 month contract. I viewed it and honestly it wasn't clean, and there's nowhere quiet to work. I keep reading that first year is heavy, and I'm not sure doing it from that room is realistic. My alternative in France is a selective 5 year engineering track with an integrated bachelor and master at Sorbonne where I'd live at home with no housing risk at all but im worried it is less suited to move to international research afterwards as my aim is to get a PhD in EE field to then work in r&d in a big semiconductor company. I could only do the bachelor in France at sorbonne and try to get a masters a TUE but im not sure the level is on par and i would be accepted.

So: is the housing situation genuinely that rough for first years, or did I just search badly and too late? And has anyone here done a French or other European bachelor and come to TU/e for the master instead? I'm trying to work out whether arriving later is a real option or a way of talking myself out of it.

Thanks for any honest answers, including the discouraging ones.

I'm 18, from France, admitted to the BSc Electrical Engineering starting this September (also got Applied Physics). I'm trying to decide whether to actually come, and I'd rather hear it straight from people who've been through the first year.

My background, so you can judge the level: French baccalauréat with highest honours, 16.44/20 overall. Maths and Physics as my specialisms, plus advanced maths. 17 in maths, 16 in physics, 20 in the oral exam. Cambridge C2 Proficiency in English. Outside school I design PCBs and program microcontrollers, I've got an active GitHub, and I did two internships at an open source software company doing code review and development. Long term I want to go into research, ideally a PhD in microelectronics, which is a big part of why Eindhoven appeals.

My problem is two things.

First, the BSA. I know it's 45 out of 60 credits, and the official figures say 63% continue to the second year in EE. For those of you who did it: what actually separates the people who make it from the ones who don't? Is it maths, workload management, language, something else? I'd rather know now than find out in April.

Second, housing, and this is the bigger one. The only place I could get is a 20m² room in a house shared with 5 other people, around 690 a month all in, on a 12 month contract. I viewed it and honestly it wasn't clean, and there's nowhere quiet to work. I keep reading that first year is heavy, and I'm not sure doing it from that room is realistic. My alternative in France is a selective 5 year engineering track with an integrated bachelor and master at Sorbonne where I'd live at home with no housing risk at all but im worried it is less suited to move to international research afterwards as my aim is to get a PhD in EE field to then work in r&d in a big semiconductor company. I could only do the bachelor in France at sorbonne and try to get a masters a TUE but im not sure the level is on par and i would be accepted.

So: is the housing situation genuinely that rough for first years, or did I just search badly and too late? And has anyone here done a French or other European bachelor and come to TU/e for the master instead? I'm trying to work out whether arriving later is a real option or a way of talking myself out of it.

Thanks for any honest answers, including the discouraging ones.