What Students Say
Likes
- Living on the beautiful campus
- Diversity of opportunities it offers (TEC, CDL, HEC Certificates, HEC Launchpad etc)
- Diversity of people it attracts from all over the world
Dislikes
- Mediocre Career Centre
- Location: A bit remote
- Institution is geared towards serving Masters program more than MBAs
Course Curriculum
- It wasn't that difficult. It was a mix of theory and practical. Some specializations, like entrepreneurship, can be more practical than theoretical.
- Depends on where you are in your program; in the core phase there are 6 hours of classes. from 8 am to 4 pm
- The average class is usually between 90-150 students. Usually, sept batch is larger than the jan batch.
- In my batch there were around 30 Indians out of 180 total students.
Admission Experience
- I applied to HEC Paris (I was admitted), NUS (I was shortlisted), and Cambridge Judge (I was rejected). I received confirmations from HEC Paris and NUS. I was rejected by Cambridge Judge because I applied in the 4th deadline and my profile was not strong enough for selection in that round, so I could probably have not applied to Judge and focused on some other college but I still wanted to give it a shot.
- My criteria were simple: What does the school offer in terms of people (batchmates and alumni), Learning opportunities, and Career perspectives. I chose HEC over NUS because I had been in Europe for work and had connections there.
- Application process at HEC: Initial application, two interviews with alumni, offer
- Eligibility Criteria: This is hard to describe; schools look for a mix of GMAT/GRE, Academic background, Professional Experience and Diversity of experiences you bring, including international experience. They would also look at how many people from the same geography are applying for the programme. There is no minimum score but the average GMAT at HEC MBA is around 690
- The overall admission experience was smooth except I had some problems scheduling one of my alumni interviews because the alumni got COVID and that led to me missing the application deadline or decision deadline.
- I applied for the J22 intake, primarily because of the convenience and shorter duration compared to other programs.
- Timeline breakdown:
- January 2022 (1st half): Took GMAT exam
- February 2022: Submitted HEC Paris application
- April 2022: Received admission offer
- The entire process took about 2-3 months from application to acceptance, which was surprisingly quick and efficient!
Faculty
- We had three sections of 60 students each, and there were 2 faculty members for each course in the Core phase and then in the specialization phase. Entrepreneurship specialization (one I was enrolled in) had 10 faculty and some external mentors over 30 students. While other specializations like Strategy would have a higher number of students with a similar number of faculty.
- Generally yes, again it depends on the course; some are designed to make you a better person and a better team player, and some can directly be linked to your employability.
- Some professors, like my mentor in Entrepreneurship connected me to a lot of industry experts to help me in my job search.
Campus Life
- HEC has two campuses, one in Paris, France. another in Doha, Qatar, which can be helpful if you are looking for roles in middle east as they have a huge network there.
- It has a library, a gym, various sports grounds, and a lake. HEC hosts an international MBA sports tournament where business schools across Europe come to participate. There is a small medical room with basic services and a couple of doctors but it's not nearly enough. They also have a couple of psychologists that you can get counseling from, which is great.
- Indian Festivals like Holi and Diwali are celebrated prominently by clubs along with Christmas, Chinese new year etc. There are professional clubs for almost all sectors.
Part Time Jobs
- Not many; I guess one or two work as TAs or RAs.
- Not many on-campus jobs, though HEC or CDL at HEC Paris sometimes hire MBAs for interns and full-time roles.
- ~25 Hours is the maximum hours of work allowed per week
- There are not a lot of opportunities, which makes it difficult to get these jobs.
Placement
- Around 80%-85% of the graduating batch secure employment within 6 months of completing their course
- That greatly depend on the direction you take so Big Tech and Consulting pays well ~100K Euros but startups might
- Most students find jobs through networking, career-focused events, and HEC specific application links
- Most of my batchmates went to Consulting or Big Tech. In consulting they go for the Associate/Senior Associate/and Consultant roles. At Amazon they go for Senior Program/Product manager which is an L6 role.
- Bain, Amazon, L'Oreal, etc. are the major companies that hire graduates.
Accommodation
- I stayed at a hostel on campus.
- Rent was around 600 euros inclusive of everything (water, electricity, wi-fi)
- Stay on campus
- It was on campus
Exams
- Exams Required: GMAT/GRE
- Required Documents:
- The HEC Paris MBA application requires:
- Core Application Materials:
- Essays—5 required essays plus 1 optional (around 7 total as mentioned in your experience)
- Professional resume in English
- Academic transcripts from all post-secondary institutions
- Two letters of recommendation - Completed by referees through detailed online forms
- Additional Documents:
- Completed online application form
- Passport copy (or birth certificate)
- Passport-style photograph
- Official test scores (GMAT/GRE and English proficiency if required)
- Interview: two separate alumni interviews.
- Interview Format:
- Two one-on-one (video) interviews with HEC Paris MBA alumni
- Each interview lasts 45-60 minutes
- Blind interviews – interviewers only see your CV
- Conducted in English via video calls or in-person
- Interview Structure:
- 30-40 minutes of Q&A about your application and background
- Questions cover motivation, work experience, career goals, and leadership examples
- 10-minute presentation on a topic of your choice
- Follow-up questions about your presentation
Fees
- Tuition: 76,000 Euros
- Hostel: ~7200 Euros but this will depend on the room you choose, the size of the room and if the rent changes during the year.
- Tuition is charged in 3 installments; you can ask for a bit of delay if you need more time and that will be allowed. Hostel rent is paid monthly but again, you can ask for some time if you need it.
- Monthly expenses would be around 900~1000 euros. HEC has shuttles to Paris but if you want to go at a time when there is no shuttle or want to go places not covered, then you'll have to pay for it. You can get various types of Navigo passes and use those on buses, trams and metros.
Scholarship
- There are a lot of scholarships at HEC. For the MBAs specifically:
- HEC Paris MBA Scholarship for Excellence (merit-based, up to 50% of tuition)
- Forte Foundation Scholarship for Women (up to €26,000)
- HEC Paris MBA Scholarship for Diversity (up to 50% of tuition)
- 30% Club Scholarship (50% of first-year tuition for women)
- Laidlaw Scholarships (full tuition—pretty sweet deal!)
- L'Oreal Scholarship (€10,000)
- ARD/HEC Paris Scholarship (up to €16,000)
- But there are a lot of external scholarships as well, targeted at various geographies.







