Eiffel had hoped to enter the École Polytechnique, but his tutors decided that his performance was not good enough, and instead he qualified for entry to the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, which offered a rather more vocational training.
Eiffel se je nato udeležil tečaja na "Collège Sainte-Barbe" v Parizu, da bi se pripravil na zahtevne sprejemne izpite na eni najpomembnejših inženirskih šol v Franciji.