Frog to Dragon: HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA Blog


The quest for wisdom, from France to China, of an HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA dual degree student (class of 2011)

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Posted by at 27 January , 2010

You may have noticed that I’m getting to blog a bit more regularly. Well, part of it is because many interesting things happen.

Yesterday and today HEC hosted the recrutment “Carrefours“. Carrefour means crossroads in French and is also the name of France’s largest supermarket chain. And indeed, the whole event seemed like a big marketplace.
In two days, about 110 companies came to recruit from a very broad range of sectors. There were consulting firms and banks of course, but also retail, transportation, automobile, energy, publishing, food, consumer goods, luxury, and the list goes on. There was even a video game company.
Unfortunately, most (although not all) of the companies that came focus on recruiting Grande Ecole people. This masters programme is clearly the one that HEC is famous for. It often brings frustration as we see recruiters all smile and, the second we mention we’re from the MBA programme, they start to look away.

However, persistence (and a sustained smile) is key, as well as good preparation.
Before the carrefours, I studied my plan of attack, I knew that I was interested in consulting or consumer goods (preferably more on the luxury side). So I shortlisted 10 companies, categorised in “must-see” and “if-time”, and went ahead.
While a few companies proved disappointing (I’m starting to really wonder whether I’d really like to go back to the consulting sharks nest), I came back with 3 companies that were interested in my profile, and where I could happily imagine myself applying to. One was in consulting, one in beauty, and one in luxury. I felt the highest connection to was the latter but it was a total pleasure to discuss with each of them.
So in the end, I’ve had a fruitful Carrefour. I’ve made contact with the recruiting representatives of likeable companies and I know they’ll remember me when I e-mail them. And most importantly, I’ve confirmed that my profile is attractive to my target industry. A career switch is indeed possible!

On another note, while I went to the Carrefours fairly light-hearted, mainly looking for information as I’ll finish my studies from Tsinghua only in June next year, we (of the September 09 intake) noticed many old faces from the September 08 batch who finished class in December. I didn’t want to ask to many questions but it seems like the job market is tough for those who just graduated…

 

Fajitas party!

Fajitas party!

So what’s the deal with fajitas? You may ask.

Well, I just wanted to (at last) comment on the social life at HEC, since it’s something that we’re most most proud of in our MBA.

Just two days ago, we received an e-mail from the president of the Latin Club about a fajitas party organised at the Piano Bar (it’s a bar with a piano) by the dorms. That came in as a total surprise out of some ideas that emerged during the week-end (which was the January 10 integration week-end in the Alps).

Here you go: fajitas, sangria, caipiroska, margarita, pisco…

Total succes! Latin Club! We love you! :)

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Posted by at 24 January , 2010

Some of you may know of my interest in China. In particular, the proposition of a double degree with the Tsinghua University was a factor in my selection of the HEC MBA.

After writing 3000+ worth of more essays, sending the university my 60 euros of application fees by post, and applying to the Tsinghua SEM IMBA independently, back in December, I received their response this week:

Dear Pam,

Congratulations! We are very pleased to inform you that you have been admitted by School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University for IMBA Program starting from 2010 Fall. Thank you again for choosing Tsinghua MBA program.

This email is to inform you of your admission to Tsinghua SEM IMBA Program. The official admission letter and visa application form will be sent to you in June 2010 from Tsinghua University. Welcome to join in Tsinghua SEM!

Me happy! (^__^)

I feel like I just took a step further toward China!

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA , 2. At HEC MBA | 9 Comments »

Posted by at 16 January , 2010

Just a quick article about the Tracks.

Some of you may know that the HEC MBA curriculum is composed of 4 phases:
– Core 1
– Core 2
– Personalised Phase 1
– Personalised Phase 2

Basically Core 1 and 2 are made up of mandatory foundation classes and Personalised Phase 1 and 2 are elective time.

Until recently, only Personalised Phase 2 allowed for specialisation where we can choose between Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management Innovation, Marketing and Strategy.

However, since last year, and more this year, we now have the possibility to also specialise during the Personalised Phase 1. The new tracks are planned to be more professional and one key factor is that they are HEC cross disciplinary tracks. Meaning that unlike the PP2 tracks, they are open not only to MBA students but also to other programmes from HEC such as the Grande Ecole or Specialised Masters.
In Personalised Phase 1, we can now specialise in Energy, Real Estate, Social Business and Luxury Strategies.

Now I’ll let you guess to which one I’m going to apply ;)

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Posted by at 13 January , 2010

First of all Happy New Year 2010! :)

Happy New Year 2010!

Happy New Year 2010!

It gives me the opportunity for me to look back at my Year 2009 where many things happened.
I left my job and started a new life as an HEC student.
I feel I opened up to many new things. I discovered myself a talent for topics I had no idea of (eg. Financial Accounting?!) and met people that I would have had little chances to meet before (eg. a japanese girl who worked in bulldozer manufacturing…)
At this stage, I sincerely believe that year 2009 was a cornerstone year for me and that year 2010 will bring more changes in my life.

So what’s your new year resolution? Mine is to learn Chinese. I really hope to become more conversational with my Mandarin this year. Time will tell if I succeeded. :)

View of campus from Expansiel

View of campus from Expansiel

So that’s it! Now I’m (hardly) back from my end of year holidays and ready to take over Core 2!

The least we can say is that, academically, Core 2 starts slowly. And this is a good thing since I happen to be hammered with ever more club activities. In parrallel, I need to seriously look for a July-August summer internship.
Lots to do…

Finally, the newcomers from the Jan 2010 intake arrived last week. It’s a bit strange to now be considered as the “seniors”. Tonight we have a special “buddy” event to meet with the younger intake people we will give advices to.
It reminds me of a similar notion from the Consulting world.

Otherwise, I think I’ve never seen so much snow for so long in France…

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Posted by at 18 December , 2009

Today is the last day of Core 1 and we are having our last Core 1 exam this morning (HR Management).
After that, off we go on our Christmas holidays!

View of the lake frozen

View of the lake frozen

Yesterday, the HEC Campus was graced by snow. Yes! lots of snow! Making the surroundings of the campus really beautiful.

Someone organised a snow fight… which I joined ;)

During this period, I have learned about:
– Marketing (in French)
– Supply Chain Management
– Statistics (in French)
– Financial Accounting
– HR Management
– Financial Markets

Snow fight from my window

Snow fight from my window

These were all subjects I didn’t know much about, except maybe HR Management. (They don’t teach you much in Consulting…)

So, can I say I’ve learned much? Yes! Definitely.
I also discovered myself a (strange) taste for Financial Accounting. In Consulting we learn the importance of reading balance sheets and income statements, but I had never got around to actually doing it. Now I discovered that: 1) I don’t mind it. 2) The information is actually interesting :)

Can I say that my Core 1 experience at HEC changed my life? Yes again.
But this one is not so much due to the education we got, but more with the people we interact with. Or more precisely, it had more to do with the TEC On-Campus Program. I wrote earlier that I had been accepted in this coaching group but never actually wrote anything about it. I should really correct that one day…

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Posted by at 27 November , 2009

It’s been a month since I last wrote on this blog… That’s mainly due to the amount of work we have now.

My calendar for the week of November 16th

My calendar for the week of November 16th

About workload, since it’s currently the hottest topic on my list, after a (sort of) slow start in September, we reached cruise speed in October with group work on top of classes and other club activities. Then in November we started to get exams at a rate of approximately one each week. So it’s getting seriously tough.

Actually, for those of you who are wondering what the workload of an MBA student looks like, I’ve prepared a screenshot of my Outlook calendar.
I hope you’ll enjoy :)

Right now, I can’t wait for the holidays at the end of year. But before that, I’ll need to go through the fire of Core 1 exams and project work.

On another note, we’re now in another election period as for the MBAT. We have just elected our new MBA Council and there are quite a few club elections going on.

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Posted by at 21 October , 2009

Those who read my article about school selection know I did an MBA because I wanted to move toward Luxury.
As I spent my summer holidays knowing I was accepted at the HEC MBA, I read a new book called Luxe Oblige (in English: The Luxury Strategy), written by two HEC MBA professors.

This week I discovered these two videos online (in French).

JN Kapferer & V Bastien (Luxe Oblige) dans Darketing - ep1

JN Kapferer & V Bastien (Luxe Oblige) dans Darketing - ep2

It’s quite funny to see one of our teachers in a video :)
Now I need to go back to my Marketing case for tomorrow…

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Posted in: Just me | 3 Comments »

Posted by at 12 October , 2009

These days I’m spending a lot of time thinking about career and, more exactly, researching what I would like to work in after my MBA. Seminars organised by the CMC (Career Management Center) of the HEC MBA are helping a lot in my quest.

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Posted by at 9 October , 2009

Last time I wrote about the election campaigns going on at HEC.

Well, the vote for the MBAT team were cast today and the Game On team came ahead with a lead of just one (that’s right, ONE) vote!
Since the vote was so close I hope both teams can work together in preparing the best MBAT to date :)

Here’s the trailer :)

HEC Paris - MBAT - Game On trailer

But, for now on, Game On!

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Posted by at 7 October , 2009

HEC Paris - MBAT

HEC Paris - MBAT

This week was an election (and electoral campaign) week.

Indeed, we had to choose 2 representatives for our respective sections. The difficulty of an election for 2 winners is that we don’t only vote for our favourite participant (such as for a presidential election) but rather for the 2 candidates which will work best together. So I cast my vote accordingly…

In addition, and that’s where all the buzz is, we have to choose the team which will organise the 2010’s edition of the MBAT. The MBAT is a sport competition event amongst the top european MBAs that HEC students proudly host (and organise) every year. This year will be the event’s 20th anniversary. So the stakes are important…

As a side note, I was very happy to show my parents around the campus on last Sunday. They were quite impressed by the infrastructure and by the lake side (where the MBAT is mostly held btw). We had a quiet afternoon walking around. All good :)

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