Jouy-en-Josas, France
My experience was extremely positive! I can tell you that it was one
of the best experiences of my life and I wouldn’t change a thing.
HEC Paris, this last word is a big myth cause HEC is far from being
in Paris. Nevertheless, if you have such an amazing city just 35min from you,
you’ll definitely commute as much as you can and HEC helps you with that since
it provides some shuttles to go and come back to Paris on given days.
HEC gives you an amazing experience regarding living on campus,
which was a new experience for me. The buildings on campus are quite old but
there is a huge lake and forest that with good weather are perfect to hang out
with your friends. At the beginning of the semester you have always a million
things to do on campus, always a lot of fun. As the semester develops and the
weather gets worse, you will have very calm periods on campus, which you have
to overcome going to Paris, otherwise be prepared to some boredom.
Courses
The courses at HEC slightly disappointed me. I guess I had really
high expectations since HEC is a top school.
My favorites were Luxury Strategy with Vincent Bastien (former CEO
of Louis Vuitton) and Globalization and CSR with Elie Matta. Luxury Strategy is
definitely a course to choose. It’s very rare to have the privilege of having
such a Professor teaching you. Globalization and CSR is also super interesting
due to the Professor which pushes you a lot to argue during classes and makes
his classes almost like an open debate.
The ones I really didn’t like were Supply Chain Management and
Branding Strategies in Consumer Goods with Jan-Philipp Büchler. Both of them
super boring with too much workload and not captivating Professors.
Be prepared to not having really high grades and to have mandatory
attendance in class (extremely bad when you have courses on Friday and Saturday..).
Housing
I lived on campus on an Individual room. I had my own bathroom. This
room was the most expensive one and is located in the “best” buildings. There
are also apartments that are shared by two people with a really crappy kitchen
and bathroom and the “co-douche” ones, the most popular option. In the previous
rooms you share a shower with one person and share the toilette with the entire
corridor. If I would choose today I would be in one of these rooms because they
are bigger, have a balcony and you get used sharing your bathroom. Almost all
my friends were in these rooms and it’s a better option. Also, the buildings
with these rooms are the ones where the parties happen and you want to be
there!
University
The university is in general quite old. There is only one modern
building. This was a big disappointment
for me (and all my friends). When I was there I didn’t have wifi in my room and
on campus you only had it in specific spots. I’ve heard that they are changing
this situation nowadays.
You don’t have kitchens in the rooms so you have to eat in a canteen,
which might not be always good, even though there are always at least 2 or 3
options.
Sightseeing
Live and enjoy Paris as much as you can, try to get away from the
cliché things and walk around as much as possible.
Paris is the most amazing city in the world!
Visa
As I’m European, there was no need for a visa.
Vaccines
No
Surprises
How old the campus is in general but also how beautiful the lake and
forest part is. Also the amount of sports you can do even though the gym is
super small.
Another surprising factor was the associations’ life by the French
people. They basically live for their associations, the sports associations,
the Arts one, the BDE (students union), the wine one, among many others. There
are huge campaigns where you can get a lot of things for free on campus and
activities they organize. Basically if you are French and are not part of an
association you are no one.
The French people and the internationals don’t mix, even when going
to the same parties. There is a party every Thursday, the POW (party of the
week), which is a lot of fun! The associations organize these parties and there
are many rituals involved, for example, a song that everybody sings and dances
when the POW is over.
Even though the rule is for French and internationals not to mix,
make an effort for it to happen. I did it and I now know a lot of really cool
French people :)
--
By Margarida Tenente, Class of 2014/2015
Term abroad - Fall 2014
Nationality: Portuguese
Country of residence:
Portugal
Home School: Nova SBE
Host School: HEC Paris
