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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Archive for the ‘1. Pre-MBA’ Category

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 4 September , 2009

Expansiel corridor

Expansiel corridor

My bed

My bed

Yesterday was the day when I checked-in to HEC.
I’m now officially immatriculated as a student at the HEC MBA.

Youpi! :)

I also got the keys of my room at Expansiel (see pictures).

The whole administrative process took me around 2 hours.

Back to student life again!

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | 1 Comment »

Posted by at 30 August , 2009

A week has passed, and the tension starts to build up before classes start. More students arrive in Paris from other countries.

Le Pont des Arts on the day of the picnic

Le Pont des Arts on the day of the picnic

As a result, I could see new faces during another HEC get together when we went for a picnic on the Pont des Arts last Friday (Aug 28th). In total, I could meet people from UK, the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Brazil, Columbia, and of course France.
However, most people will arrive on the 3rd and 4th of September, when we can move into our rooms in Expansiel, the HEC student residence.

On my side, I’ve started figure out what I could bring into my room and I think I won’t be able to do without renting a utility car for moving in.
Indeed, while I *could* do the public transport trip with a suitcase, it may be difficult if I have to lug a microwave and an ironing board around…

To be continued…

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Posted by at 25 August , 2009

I haven’t written much since I came back to France (beside a page about interviews).
True, things have been going slowly but it doesn’t mean nothing happened.

Indeed, as the day when school starts (September 7th) beckons, more students are gathering in Paris. So last Friday (Aug 21st) we had a nice event where we had drinks and a few of us continued for dinner in the Montorgueil area.

All good stuff :)

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Posted by at 29 July , 2009

So here I am. I came back home to Paris a couple of hours ago after a 7 weeks holiday trip which brought me to China, Japan and Tahiti.
Another month of holidays to go, also to take care of various administrative errants and shop for school stuff :)

And last week, while in Tahiti, I learned I have been accepted to the TEC On-Campus Program that I had applied to early this month.

Everything’s good :)

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA , Just me | 2 Comments »

Posted by at 15 July , 2009

On Monday I received my room contract from HEC. So I’ve been officially attributed a room at the Expansiel residence on the HEC campus! Yay!

One of my future classmates posted a link on the Facebook group to a few photos that a previous student took of the on-campus rooms a couple of years ago. Check this out: Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3.

That reminds me of the dorms I used to live in when I first left Tahiti to study for Prépa…
Back to student life again!

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | 1 Comment »

Posted by at 6 July , 2009

I’ve finally finished (and sent) the essays for the TEC On-Campus Program.
I’m FREE!!! :)

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Posted by at 22 June , 2009

When visiting China for the first time in 2004, one of the things that struck me was that, when in China, one should switch one’s mindset to another scale for everything altogether. And it’s not based just on demographic or geographic statistics. Here, everything is bigger.

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Well, it may not apply to everything (such as the size of a roast duck), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen city parks as big as Beijing’s own Beihai, Zonghai and Houhai gardens. Not even mentioning the Summer Palace park which doesn’t really count as a city park and lays by the 4th ring. If the notion of city ring doesn’t mean anything to you, think of the nice peripheral highways that border your city. Paris has two: the Périphérique and the Francilienne. Beijing has seven of them… Oh, and did I mention it? They’re bigger.

This year, one of the reasons why I went to Beijing in the first place was to visit the Tsinghua University with which HEC has a double MBA degree agreement. A nice lady from the Tsinghua SEM IMBA admission office greeted me and we discussed about the application procedure. Finally, she gave me their IMBA brochure and invited me to visit the campus. Now I must mention that students typically travel between different academic buildings riding a bike. I’ve seen some people do it with a taxi. We walked… and going from toward the South exit (where SEM is located) to the North exit (by the dorms) took us 40 minutes.

Today, I’m in Xi’an, home to tens of thousands terracotta warriors. Flying tomorrow to Shanghai and its two world tallest towers, then flying back to Beijing and its world biggest airport…
And ponder upon the fact that people don’t know what gigantic is before coming to China.

Cet article en Français

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA , Just me | 2 Comments »

Posted by at 11 June , 2009

If you’ve read my article about admission essays, you probably noticed how much effort and time I had put in.
And I thought I’d be done with these after being admited! Not!

Once admitted, you still need to go through more admission steps in order to participate to the TEC On-Campus Program. And they require not one essay, but five! All this before the July 6th deadline… I kid you not…

And subjects are not that trivial…

Please address each of the following questions and attach typed responses on a separate sheet of paper.

  1. What business opportunities and career goals do you envision for yourself immediately following graduation?
  2. What steps will you take in the coming year which will enable you to meet these post- graduation career goals ?
  3. Describe what you feel your personal opportunities and goals are for 2008-2009?
    (For example: health, family, personal development, religion, etc…)
  4. What organization do you most admire and why?
  5. How might you convey the knowledge gained in the TEC On-Campus Program to your fellow MBA participants?

Raaahhh !

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Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | 4 Comments »

Posted by at 31 May , 2009

Every year, from the last week of May to the first week of June, Paris goes into Tennis mode with the French Open going full speed. As a tennis fan, I was thrilled when I received an e-mail inviting me to join a HEC MBA networking event organised in the premices of Roland Garros.

Place des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros

Place des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros

So yesterday, after arriving (late), I was dispatched into a group that included not only MBA admits, but also MBA candidates, alumni and others currently studying. We walked around the tennis areas before joining a series of presentation and a very nice cocktail.

Beside roasting under a glorious sun and watching some tennis, it was great to exchange with others as I gave pieces of advice to candidates, learned about the campus facilities from current students, and discussed job perspective with alumnis.
And, of course, the best part being to meet the MBA admits who are going to join my class! I found each of them to be extremely interesting and coming from such diverse backgrounds that it’s mind-boggling.

Very excited now, can’t wait to start in September! :)

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