HEC PARIS · MBA GUIDE
HEC’s full-time MBA runs for 12 or 16 months on its campus in Jouy-en-Josas, outside Paris, starting in January or September. Start here to understand the program and prepare each part of your application.
January and September 2027 intakes
GET TO KNOW THE PROGRAM
The January and September intakes take the same core, then come together during the customized part of the program. Pick the track that matches your goal: 12 months if you plan to grow in your company or industry, 16 months if you want to specialize or study abroad.
12 MONTHS
HEC designed this track for people progressing in the same company or industry. After the core, you take five intensive electives, with less room to customize and no exchange or double degree.
16 MONTHS
Eight months of core, then eight months you shape yourself: a specialization, electives, and, if you’re selected, an exchange or a double degree.
For your first eight months, you work with classmates from different countries and sectors. Introductory work includes Business Concepts, a Data Science Camp, and a Math Camp.
The first term: Core courses include Financial Markets & Investments, Financial Reporting & Analysis, Leadership Communication, Managing Customer Value through Marketing, and Statistical Foundations for Business: Insights from Data & AI Tools.
The second term: Courses include Corporate Finance, Operations Management, Strategic Management, Leadership: Influence & Decision Making, and Macroeconomic Intelligence for Global Business Leaders.
Specializations: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Management and Organizations, Strategic Marketing, and Strategy. Each has one 36-hour main class and six 18-hour classes, and places are limited.
Concentrations: Sustainability and Tech & AI are optional, add electives to your specialization, and have limited places.
Electives and the capstone: Intensive electives run in three-day blocks, four times a year. The New Horizons Capstone, with workshops such as a Learning & Discovery Expedition, carries nine European (ECTS) credits in the first phase of the program.
Exchanges: On the 16-month track, you can apply for an exchange at one of more than 30 partner schools. Selection is competitive, and 40 to 50 students go each year.
Double degrees: HEC lists ten partners, including the National University of Singapore, Tsinghua, Keio, Tufts’s Fletcher School, Georgetown Law, and Yale’s Master of Advanced Management. Both schools must admit you separately.
Partner rules: Keio requires Japanese and recommends JLPT N1 (the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test). Georgetown asks for three years of education and work experience in law.
Startups: The Creative Destruction Lab Certificate is a selective ten-month startup course, with streams such as climate, space, AI, and biotech. Places are limited.
Leadership outside class: Examples include a two-day Outdoor Leadership Seminar, the Alumni Reunion Project, and the MBA Tournament.
Rooms: The campus has 177 individual rooms of 19 m², at €650 to €750 a month, and 24 one-bedroom apartments for couples and families, at €790 to €1,160. Apply soon after you’re admitted.
Partners: The Partners’ Club welcomes spouses and partners, whether they live on campus, nearby, or visit.
Clubs: Student-run clubs organize professional and cultural events, for example French Connection, Public Speaking, and Sports and Wellness.
Health cover: Non-EU students register for free French student health coverage after enrolling, and a complementary plan is optional but recommended. HEC’s own insurance rules for 2027 aren’t on its public pages, so ask Admissions once you’re admitted.
Your visa: Non-EU students staying more than three months usually need a long-stay student visa, with proof of admission and an address for your first three months. The steps depend on your country, and HEC recommends applying early to leave time for them.
Working while you study: A student residence permit allows up to 964 hours of work a year, with a lower limit for Algerian students. France says this income shouldn’t be counted on to pay for your studies.
After you graduate: Eligible non-EU graduates of a master’s-level degree can apply for a one-year, non-renewable permit to look for work or start a business. From France, you apply within the two months before your student permit expires, and within twelve months of earning the degree. Algerians and citizens of some countries with bilateral agreements follow other rules.
Jobs under that permit: The job must relate to your studies and pay more than €2,800.53 gross a month, the figure France listed in June 2026.
If you leave France first: You can come back under the same route within four years of earning the degree.
UNDERSTAND WHAT HEC LOOKS FOR
HEC considers your academic strength, career progression, leadership, international outlook, interpersonal qualities, and how well your MBA goals hold together. It also looks for “passion, humility, individuality and respect for others.”
CAREER PROGRESSION
HEC has no minimum work experience. It encourages at least two years and calls two to ten ideal. The Class of 2025 averaged six.
Letrado’s adviceShow what changed between your first role and now: what you decide, and who it affects. A list of titles doesn’t show growth on its own.
COHERENT GOALS
HEC weighs whether your goals hold together, and it built the 12-month track for people growing within the same company or industry.
Letrado’s adviceChoose your track with your goal in mind. If you’re changing industry or country, the 16-month track gives you more room to customize and a chance at an exchange.
INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK
95% of the Class of 2026 is international, and your first months are spent in a study group with people from different countries and sectors.
Letrado’s adviceThink of a project where people from different countries disagreed, and say what you did to move it forward.
WHAT HEC DESCRIBES
Interviews with HEC alumni, in English, weighted equally, if you’re preselected
A presentation in each interview, on a topic you choose, then a talk about your application
Interviews usually take place in the two weeks before the Admissions Jury, the committee that decides. HEC says you’ll have its decision within five weeks of your deadline.
HEC doesn’t publish whether interviews are online or in person, or how long they last.
CLASS OF 2026
Before the MBA, 29% of the class worked in finance and 10% in consulting. Another 20% came from technology, telecommunications, and e-commerce.
HEC prints an average score of 635 on the GMAT Focus Edition (the current GMAT, scored from 205 to 805) without naming the class, and says it has no minimum score for any test.
The class profile doesn’t publish a GPA average or a test score range.
WHAT HEC SAYS
HEC’s public MBA pages don’t set a formal rule on AI or outside help. In a 2025 article on scholarship essays, its admissions team advises against AI-generated essays and asks applicants to “write from the heart and present their true selves.”
You also need two recommendations. HEC’s public pages don’t say who should write them or what they’re asked.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
HEC decides at monthly Admissions Juries, and one calendar covers both the 12- and 16-month tracks. October 18 and November 15, 2026 are deadlines for both intakes, and January 11, 2027 is a deadline for September 2027 entry.
Both intakes
Oct 18, 2026January 2027 intake
Nov 15, 2026September 2027 intake
Nov 15, 2026September 2027 · Jan to Mar
Jan 11, Feb 15, or Mar 15, 2027September 2027 · Apr to Jun
Apr 12, May 17, or Jun 14, 2027After June 14, 2027, September entry moves to rolling admissions, with a final decision date of July 30, 2027. HEC doesn’t publish a time of day for its deadlines, and January 2028 dates aren’t posted yet.
Essays inside the online application, a résumé in English, a passport-style photo, and a copy of your passport or birth certificate (both passports if you hold two). The fee is €200, non-refundable.
Required, with no minimum score. GMAT and Executive Assessment scores must be less than five years old. Send the official result and a scan of your score report.
Normally an accredited bachelor’s degree, with official transcripts from every university you attended.
Required. HEC’s public pages don’t give the questions or say who should write them.
If you’re preselected, both in English, each with a ten-minute presentation on a topic you choose.
Earlier deadlines: August 16 and September 20, 2026, for both intakes, with decisions on September 18 and October 23, 2026.
If you need a visa: HEC recommends applying early to leave time for your visa and housing. It says the time from applying to starting is four to six months on average, and registration generally closes a month before the intake begins.
Scholarships: HEC’s scholarship deadlines follow the admissions calendar, and the Forté and L’Oréal essays go in with your MBA application.
One application per cycle: A cycle is a September intake plus the January after it. If you’re not admitted, you can reapply in the next cycle, and HEC wants to see how you’ve grown.
Which tests: The GMAT (the Focus Edition or the earlier edition), the GRE, or the Executive Assessment. HEC states no minimum for any of them.
A possible test waiver: Graduates of top-ranked Master in Management programs may qualify, so contact Admissions. HEC doesn’t list which programs count.
English: Not needed if English is your native language or your degree was taught in English. Otherwise HEC accepts TOEFL 5 out of 6, IELTS 7 with at least 6.5 in each section, PTE 72, Duolingo 135, Cambridge 185 with at least 176 in each section, or TOEIC 850 in listening and reading plus 340 in speaking and writing. Scores must be less than two years old.
Without a bachelor’s degree: HEC considers applicants with secondary education plus at least five years of work, including three in management. It also considers athletes who have represented their country at national level.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
Questions inside the applicationHEC requires essays, but its public pages don’t list the current questions, word limits, or any video questions. They’re in the application portal, which you register to open.
HEC reads your essays and references when it decides whether to invite you to interview. It weighs your career progression, leadership, and MBA goals, so your writing should show all three.
Letrado’s adviceBefore you draft, write one page on your career decisions and the role you want next, and draw on it for each answer.
Don’t rely on question lists from other websites. Read the current ones in the portal.
It’s due with your MBA application and asks about “the style of leadership they think maximizes creativity and innovation.” There’s one €10,000 award per intake.
Up to ten awards a year, each worth up to €15,000, for citizens of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, or Uganda with a bachelor’s or master’s degree from outside France. Send the essay on the continent’s current challenges and your proposed solutions to scholarships@hec.fr.
For women who show leadership and support for women, worth up to €26,000, and not open if your company or government pays more than half your tuition. HEC doesn’t publish the question or its limit.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
HEC charges €102,000 in tuition for both the January and September 2027 intakes, with no separate price for the 12-month track. Its living-cost estimate is €25,300 for 16 months, or around €32,000 if you live on campus with a partner.
AUTOMATIC REVIEW
Admitted applicants are considered automatically for the Excellence and Diversity scholarships, each worth up to 50% of tuition. Excellence isn’t open if your company or government pays more than half your tuition.
AWARDS WITH THEIR OWN STEP
Forté and L’Oréal need an essay with your MBA application. Laidlaw and CMA CGM need a form within a week of your admission.
FULL TUITION
Up to ten awards per class for admitted women with leadership potential and financial constraints. It doesn’t cover living costs or combine with other HEC awards.
HEC says it awards over €1 million in scholarships a year. Excellence, Forté, Paris-Saclay (for its alumni and people working on its site), and ARD (for French armed-forces officers in transition) awards can be combined up to 50% of tuition.
HEC MBA scholarships (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED TUITION · JANUARY AND SEPTEMBER 2027 INTAKES
€102,000HEC shows tuition as a deposit and two installments. Living costs are extra, and HEC’s printed estimate covers the 16-month track.
HEC doesn’t publish payment dates, what tuition covers, or a living-cost estimate for the 12-month track, so confirm them with Admissions before you accept.
HEC fees and funding (opens in a new tab)
AI illustrationLetrado’s adviceMost of HEC’s award pages say decisions come within a week of your admission, so send your scholarship essays with your application, and have your financial details ready for Laidlaw or CMA CGM.
HEC reports that 75% of its Class of 2025 accepted a job offer within three months of graduation. By location, 52% work in Europe, 25% in Asia and Oceania, 11% in North America, 8% in Africa and the Middle East, and 4% in Latin America and the Caribbean. In all, 64% work outside their home country.
Employment statistics (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO HEC PARIS · J.C.
She had strong finance progress inside one multinational in Shanghai, limited outside experience, and an early goal of jumping straight to regional president. We helped her separate her own work from her executives’ decisions and name a next role she could reach.
She separated the analysis she produced, the recommendations she made, and the decisions executives owned.
She recommended scaling back a launch after early demand weakened, which limited inventory risk and frustrated a commercial team.
She aimed for commercial or category leadership before broader general management.
HEC weighs career progression and coherent MBA goals. J.C.’s application showed both: her own part in each decision, in plain words, and a realistic step toward general management.
AI illustrationHER HEC PARIS OUTCOME
Offered a place in the HEC Paris MBA
HER CHOICE: CEIBSCEIBS, Shanghai · Photo: Paulo Menegusso / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Cropped.
The scholarship and access to employers in her region supported her goal. HEC offered a European base, but she wanted to deepen her own market.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
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