Posted by Pam 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 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.
Tags: Travels
Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA , Just me | 2 Comments »
Posted by Pam at 16 June , 2009
Today, I’m going on holidays :)
Between my work and new MBA adventure, I thought a good break would be welcome.
So happy! :))
Edit: My flight has a 11 hours delay… I’ll leave tomorrow morning…
Posted in: Just me | 1 Comment »
Posted by Pam 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.
- What business opportunities and career goals do you envision for yourself immediately following graduation?
- What steps will you take in the coming year which will enable you to meet these post- graduation career goals ?
- Describe what you feel your personal opportunities and goals are for 2008-2009?
(For example: health, family, personal development, religion, etc…)
- What organization do you most admire and why?
- How might you convey the knowledge gained in the TEC On-Campus Program to your fellow MBA participants?
Raaahhh !
Tags: Assignments, TEC
Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | 4 Comments »
Posted by Pam 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 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! :)
Tags: HEC events
Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | No Comments »
Posted by Pam at 29 May , 2009
Today was my last day at work.
I’m no stranger to goodbyes and new horizons but this one really does feel very special.
Indeed, as I reflect on Friday, 29th May 2009, I bring an end to an adventure I started on a 13th of November: 8 years, 6 months and 16 days ago. Throughout this adventure, I have moved offices 4 times, worked on 14 projects (or major proposals) taking me to 17 cities in 10 countries. But more importantly, I’ve had the privilege to work with people from 37 offices around the world which allowed me to gain cultural awareness in a way that’s rare and truly remarkable.
 My ecosphere (with 5 shrimps) Thought it would be nice to put these numbers in a magic square. As a game you can play at finding out how old I was when I started and when I left.
22 10 14 17
08 11 13 31
29 05 20 09
04 37 16 06
One doesn’t leave such a job after 8+ years without throwing a goodbye party, which I did.
To this occasion, my colleagues offered me an Ecosphere.
Apparently it can live for around 2 years, so hopefully it will keep me nice company throught my studies. I’ll update you here on how it evolves.
Posted in: Just me | 2 Comments »
Posted by Pam at 28 May , 2009
As the HEC MBA September 2009 intake is almost made up by now, there are a few ways for us admits to network. The HEC connect website, of course, but also less official means on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Via that, some of the French parisian crowd organised an ice breaking event by the Eiffel Tower yesterday. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so happy about it and the evening was fresh with a few drizzles. The mood however was great and enjoyable for the 7 of us who attended. We exchanged on our admission process, prior experience, expectations, financing, and on many other topics.
Now I feel like my MBA is finally getting into motion :)
Tags: Social
Posted in: 1. Pre-MBA | No Comments »
Posted by Pam at 19 May , 2009
As many before me, here I am, starting a blog about my MBA experience.
Since December last year, I know that I’ll be starting at the HEC MBA in September 09. I applied to the bilingual French-English programme and thought it would be a good idea to share my experience in a similar manner.
I’ll try my best to write this blog in English and in French. You can find the French version here.
PS: HEC being such an institution in France, I was quite surprised not to find any HEC MBA blog in French. If anyone knows of any, feel free let me know via comment.
Posted in: Just me | No Comments »
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