HEC Paris - Sep 2010 intake

CampusFrance takes about a month, unfortunately.

First, you complete your account through their website. Then you mail them a money order for $120 bucks and a copy of your admissions letter. You sit tight for 3-4 weeks and check your portal page regularly (they don't always send you an email notification.) In between, you can schedule a visa appointment at the Boston consulate for when you think you'll have your CampusFrance letter in hand. Don't go to the appointment until you have that letter.

I think it'd be helpful to check the LinkedIn discussion thread because a few people from Boston have posted their experiences along with the exact forms and papers they brought to their visa appointment. I also have a post about this on my personal blog if you're interested.

Another thing to get a move on is making sure you can show proof of finances and proof of residence. Check the consulate website to see what you need. For me, it was a notarized letter and a copy of some bank statements. My consulate didn't require proof of residence in France, but some others did. You'll have to email Mathieu if you need an attestation letter for proof of residency.

Also, you might try contacting some of the Boston folks directly. I'm sure they'd be happy to give some guidance .

omg, i feel so behind! see, this is why I had originally applied Jan intake.

and there are other Boston folk going to HEC?! I don't have linked in, but would love to get in touch with them. maybe I should join.

I don't even have anything from HEC yet. All I got was a verbal you're in from Marie-Lawrence. I can't send my payment without the acceptance letter from HEC, correct?

You need a physical copy of the acceptance letter. When you get it, make a copy and send that with the money order along with your information (registration number, phone number, name, etc.) to CampusFrance as soon as possible. You also need to fill out the application form. Just do your best on the application and don't worry about it too much. I butchered mine and kept calling the embassy in order to redo it. I was informed that the application form is not so important for us because HEC sends the French embassy in Washington D.C. a list of accepted students. But still fill out the application. It takes three weeks or so for CampusFrance to process your application after they have received the required materials.

But I'm in the same boat as you are. Any information that you might find helpful please post here. We need to hang in there together!

i already filled out the application on CampusFrance and submitted it last night. So, I guess right now, I just have to sit and wait. I just keep worrying that I won't get my visa in time.

Hey pemberly, easier said than done, but don't worry. I'm pretty sure you'll manage to get everything in time . The embassies also have appointments for emergency visas should you need to resort to that. It's just a matter of waiting for all your paperwork to come together. Since you've already completed the CampusFrance form, you just have to wait for the HEC admissions letter. You can mail a copy to CF via priority mail when you get it. If you schedule your visa appointment now for about 5 weeks out, you should be able to make it. My appointment in San Francisco was on a Friday and I was able to pick up my visa the following Tuesday. It might not be that quick for everyone, but I think they are speedier than they appear. You have to put a date of departure down for the visa application anyway, so the embassy will know by when you need to have the visa.

Have faith, it'll work out. PM me if you have any questions.

And re my previous post, you should definitely join LinkedIn. HEC's admissions committee put together a group for us and the discussion thread alone is over 42 pages now. Extremely useful! Another source is Google Groups. You should get an email from one of the current students to join this group. It's also a great avenue to get questions answered. And finally, a non-official group you can add yourself to is the HEC MBA September 2010 Intake Facebook group. Request to join and any one of the group members can add you. These are also good resources for finding off-campus housing, which you will probably have to do since the on-campus rooms have already been assigned and there's a mile-long waitlist. Good luck with everything!

i figured i'd be too late for housing and scholarships. sigh. so i have to find somewhere to live without seeing it first?

i just joined the linkedin group and will scroll through the pages of comments when i have time. thanks eggwhitesonly! you're so helpful!

so, i still do not have any information from hec. i know i just spoke to marie-laurence a week ago, but I only have a few more weeks to get a visa and get my housing and insurance in order. just some sort of acknowledgment that the school isn't playing with my mind would be nice. I've been annoying mathieu with emails, and have not received a response. I know he must be overwhelmed with housing problems now, so hopefully, he'll email me back soon. and marie-laurence is on holiday. T_T i have about 6 weeks to move my life.

Make sure you cc admissionmba@hec.fr on all key emails. If Mathieu doesn't respond, hopefully someone else from the office can give you a response. I know it's tough because a lot of the French are likely to be on vacation right now. I'd say, if you really need something from the school, just wake up early and give them a call. That's probably your best way of reaching them. As for off-campus housing, there's a thread on LinkedIn you can post to. Or contact some of the people searching directly. I'd also recommend emailing some of the local French who are part of our intake. There's a few of them living in Versailles right now who might be able to help you. PM me if you need specific names. Check the intranet with the community log-in information if you need information on insurance and such.

Fingers crossed!

Received the OK from CampusFrance to advance to the next phase and apply for the visa at the consulate. That part of the process was actually not bad at all. It took about two weeks for CampusFrance to approve my application.

Hi peeps! Congratulations to those who got accepted in HEC! I'm actually in the process of writing my essays and need some divine intervention hence I'm coming here to solicit some help!

I'm applying for the NUS-HEC double degree program and have been accepted to the NUS program and applying for the HEC portion now. I've been at it for the better part of 2 months but have not completed it yet (thanks to World Cup no less ) Anw can anyone give any tips on the following question;

3. Leadership and ethics are inevitably intertwined in the business world. Describe a situation in which you have dealt with these issues and how they have influenced you.

This is really a tough ass question if you ask me!

Hope to hear from you guys soon!

Eugene

Concerning the visa, does anyone know what exactly the OFII application is? Also, do I have to get a physical and present the results to the consulate for the visa, or is that after I arrive in France to receive the permit and French social insurance?

Thanks in advance!

Congrats to all those who have been accepted for the Sep 2010 intake.I am planning to apply to the Jan 2011 intake. I completed the Candidate Profile Evaluation about 2 weeks ago and haven't heard back from anybody. The website says they will get back in 2 weeks and that they strongly encourage you to complete this step before starting the application. So was wondering if all those of you who applied completed the evaluation and got a feedback. I am little worried since I have less than a month for the Jan 2011 deadline and am not sure if I should go ahead and apply without receiving any feedback.

Any advice would be great!!

i had applied to the jan intake, but was told that it was extremely competitive and already full because they take only about 50 students. i got bumped to my choice of sept 2010 or 2011. i suggest waiting and applying to sept.

hey alankrita
it took around two week for hec people to reply in my case. I think you will hear from them in couple of days.

best wishes for your application

Thanks for the reply guys!!

@pemberly: I guess you tried applying for the Jan 2010 intake. When did you apply? Did they let you know not to apply during the candidate evaluation phase? I was planning to apply to R3 and they have a R4 too so was wondering if it is still a shot. I applied to a couple of other schools for the Jan intake and was hoping I could apply to HEC too since that would give me more options to decide.

i applied rd 2 and i didn't do the candidate evaluation. i was WL, and on speaking to the admissions officers, they informed me that the Jan intake was pretty much full, and getting in off the WL would be a fat chance. but i'd be accepted the next day if i changed to sept. several other jan intake applicants had the same experience.

Okay, received my visa by mail a few days ago! It took less than 48 hours. The only part of the entire process that didn't make sense was registering for CampusFrance. Other than that, everything was fine.

Did anybody register for Freshers' Week at HEC?

Oh, and members who are students or alumni of a European business school can change their GMATClub username's color to the ultra sleek and elegant teal. So far, there's only two members in this group: group43359.html