Basma Aiouche is an Arts et Metiers and MIT alumna. 

Here is her Monday advice #2 to A&M students (enrolled in "parcours US" program):

While getting ready your university applications, you can try contact university professors, to ensure that they know you. You can try to find a summer internship (between A1 and A2) in the lab before your parcours US year. You can contact professors by email asking smart questions about their research, classes or admission procedure. But please never ask evident questions, you can normallu easily find answers on the internet. Asking evident questions can only harm you in your application process!

Basma Aiouche's full Louis Magne report is available on our website (you need to sign up first): https://americanfriendsam.org/shasta-internship/shasta-2-0-for-students/student-reports.html