Well i am currently a student at ESCP & i will try to make you understand the differences between HEC and ESCP in a un-partial & objective way.
First thing that you have to understand is that HEC,ESCP and ESSEC are the top 3 grand ecoles of france, they are the most well respected and well recognized names when it comes to business schools (in france), and are well known to accept only the creme de la creme (the top layer of students). So if you make it into any one of the 3, congratulate yourself! Its a great school. I know many french student who will give off their arm, to get into any of these 3 top schools. Of course there are differences among the 3, but there are many many more similarities.
Also one thing to keep in mind here is that the placements opportunities for all these 3 schools are almost the same. All top companies in all sectors come and frequent these schools, and none of them has a specific advantage over the other. You can launch a great career from any of these 3 grand ecoles.
The main differences among them, as per me, are as follows:
Prestige: According to the FT rankings, all 3 schools occupy really high ranks. HEC- 2nd, ESSEC- 3rd and ESCP- 7th. But these rankings vary a lot year by year, for example ESCP was 2nd in 2014. That said in France all 3 schools are regarded as very very good business schools. The top of the top or creme de la creme in French. If a french student makes it into any of these 3 he is at the top of the world. From what i have gleaned in the past one year the preference is usually HEC, ESSEC and then ESCP. But there is a very think line differentiating the 3.
On the international scale HEC has a heavy hand as it gains a lot of popularity because of its MBA degree, ESSEC also offers MBA and is slowly climbing the ranks, whereas ESCP only offers EMBA and no MBA as such, because of this its relatively unknown in the international MBA circles but its Executive MBA is one of the best in the world.
Curriculum: Its almost the same, all 3 schools have a 2 years course which is broken into 4 semesters. One can take the option of Gap years and gap semesters to gain some work experience. Also the electives and courses are also the same. Though some colleges offer limited specializations so that is something to check up on.
Exchange opportunities: Well here all 3 schools have good relations with colleges all over the world and offer many exchange and double degree programs, the quality of exchange programs is slightly better in ESSEC and HEC compared to ESCP. But ESCP has 5 campuses in 5 major European cities( London, Paris, Madrid, Turin & Berlin) so it compensates for the lack of high quality exchange opportunities with a chance for students to earn MSc degrees of up to 3 countries. One can do this by studying in ESCP campuses in London, Paris and Berlin. So this can be very beneficial as you get degrees recognized by 3 countries.
Location: ESCP is a clear winner as it is in the center of the city and students can enjoy many networking opportunities organized by companies which keep on occurring in the city. This is troublesome for HEC and ESSEC which are pretty far from Paris( about an hour each).
There may be a few other trivial differences but according to me, these are the most major ones.
Lastly, again i repeat each of the 3 colleges are amazing in their own way, and are great places to study in.
For people who have doubts about how the job prospects would be, well i have already told you that all major companies come and recruit from these campuses.
That said.... the school can only open doors for you, you are the one who has to go through them. You can be sure that it wont be a walk in the park, it will be tough finding a good job. Mainly because the job market is very competitive.
But the name of the school will surely help you get many interviews, and after that it is upto you, your skills and how hard you have worked while at the school. Also getting internships is fairly easy, all students do find an internship in their gap semesters or gap years. Ofcourse there would be some language barriers, but they can be mitigated if acted upon( you are in France for 2-3 years remember,
LEARN FRENCH).
Lastly, all my seniors struggled a bit early on after graduation, but are all doing great and have well paying jobs now. So it is definitely not impossible to get a good job, in this economy. Also the EU market is improving, so it is just going to get better now.
Hope the answer helped.
You can get more info about the MiM degree in general and its requirements by checking out
https://www.mim-essay.comRegards,