For the most part, it seems that the French and American students had similar thoughts on what it means to be successful- having money, a family, happiness, satisfaction. Both sides also seemed to agree on the overall importance of success and what one must do to achieve it: one must work hard, have ambitions, goals, persistance, even luck. However, I noticed that more MIT students associated the word success with its outcomes (money, fame, etc), while more of the polytechniciens associate the word with ways of reaching success (for example, hard work and having values).

There are several reoccuring words on both the French and the American sides (i.e. happiness, work, money) However, Americans are more focused on traits and attributes that an individual must have in order to be successful. There is a strong emphasis on the individual and what the individual can do to achieve success. Consequently, it is not surprising that the word "power" appears several times on the American side but not on the French side. Americans are driven to succeed by power and the French are more driven by emotional and material satisfaction.

I think a large proportion of Americans focus on the meaning of success in terms of what money can buy. As a result, words like Mercedes-Benz and power are often used. These words also highlight the idea that success is something only an elite few can achieve. At MIT, the path towards becoming elite and eventually successful, entails being "individually determined," "perseverant," and "hard-working." In this respect, both countries have the same idea of how to become successful.

What do the French consider to be the most important element of success?

je pense que la place dans la societe qu'on occupe, et l'argent qu'on a sont les 2 elements les plus regardes en ce qui concerne le "succes", mais surtout la place que l'on a en fait ("il est directeur de ...", "il traite avec telle ou telle personne ...")

Judy : en fait, vu de la France, il me semble que les Etats unis sont un pays ou la competition universitaire n'existe pas trop (alors qu'elle est feroce dans le monde du travail, entre entreprises concurrentes), ou les gens sont plutot "cool" quand ils sont etudiants. comment voyez vous ca ? est ce vrai ?