What do Bachelor of Science students during their third year? Let's find out!
Could you please introduce yourself ?
I’m Giuseppe Cognata, I’m 20 years old, and I come from Palermo, in the south of Italy. I am currently a third-year Bachelor student studying Mathematics and Economics here at École Polytechnique.
Why did you choose the Bachelor of Science of Ecole Polytechnique ?
I chose the Bachelor program because of its unique interdisciplinary construction. It was the only program I could find that allowed me to truly mingle rigorous mathematical knowledge and several courses in economics, so that I could better prepare to do formal research in these fields.
Could you tell us how the third year is going ?
My third year is going great! During the fall semester, I went on exchange to EPFL, where I learned a lot about stochastic mathematics and mathematical finance. I’m also really enjoying the courses this semester, even though it’s shorter than the others. I also had one of my favorite experiences in the program this semester. The Bachelor thesis, which allowed me to really engage the knowledge I have acquired during these years into actual research product.
Do you have a favourite course?
For the third year, it’s rather difficult to choose. But I’d say probably Convex Optimization and Optimal Control. In this course, we’re diving really deep in the analysis of convex functions and deriving formally several key results in static and dynamic optimisation, which have many interesting outlooks particularly in mathematical economics, so it hits particularly close to home for me.
What would be a great memory of your third year in the Program that you would like to share with future students?
As I mentioned before, one of my favorite experiences this year was the Bachelor thesis. Doing a two-month internship with my advisor, Professor Galichon from NYU and SciencesPo, has allowed me to get much closer and familiar to doing actual academic research. It also complemented very well my coursework in the bachelor, and allowed me to focus on the topics I am most passionate about.
What are your ambitions for the future?
In the future, I would like to continue deepening my knowledge of economics and mathematics, and be able to contribute to these fields through my own independent research. To this end, I would like to eventually pursue a PhD in Economics, which would give me the necessary training and experience to delve deep into interesting questions in the frontier of economics, and hopefully find their answers.
Any piece of advice to future Bachelor students that you would like to share?
The best advice I can give to future Bachelors is to focus on the areas that really make you passionate, as that will make a lot of hard work far more pleasant. Another important thing: the formal mathematical foundations you will learn during your first year are the pillars upon which everything else you will do later on stands, so do not neglect them no matter what!