In this edition of our Admissions Director Q&A, we hear from Sara Vanos, Executive Director of Marketing & Admissions for MBA Programs at HEC Paris.
Sara’s role covers the full-time MBA, the Executive MBA and the TRIUM Global MBA. She has over 20 years’ experience in higher education and has worked in roles across alumni relations, careers and marketing in business schools in France and Canada. Her teams are responsible for communications, marketing and admissions for the MBA programs – with the goal of attracting leaders with the character, courage and competence to change the world. Sara’s teams work closely with top prospective students across the globe to offer a truly personalized experience from relevant content to personal coaching throughout the application process, including tailored events and information, as well as a high-touch admissions process. She sits on the selection, admissions, and scholarship committees and juries.
Sara loves meeting prospective students across the globe and hopes to welcome you for a campus tour soon. She is particularly passionate about the HEC Paris Executive MBA, as she graduated from the Program in 2020. Read on for her insights into what to expect in the admissions process at HEC Paris this year.
Clear Admit: What is the one aspect of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?
Sara Vanos: The top-ranked, global HEC Paris MBA program is one of the most diverse program in the world, with a 90% international student body, representing on average 60 nationalities. Our class size, limited to around 300 students, combined with the fact that many of our MBAs live on campus in our housing residencies, ensures that our students become part of a close-knit community for life.
Our program is highly customizable, allowing students to pick from one of 7 Specializations, allowing them to focus deeply and develop their management skillset and students are immersed in leadership training, which is embedded across our curriculum offerings.
Students graduate prepared to work with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Moreover, we emphasize there is rarely a single “right” way to lead or think; students must understand their context, balance the timely with the timeless, and, most importantly, have the confidence and wherewithal to think critically in the face of complexity.
CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks “submit” and the time the committee offers a final decision?
SV: We connect with applicants from the moment they make first contact with us, so the time before submitting an actual application is just as important as the time after they have submitted it. At HEC Paris, we try to get to know each and every applicant through email or phone before they apply, so we understand them and their goals. Once they submit, the relationship doesn’t end. As applicants move through the process, their Marketing & Recruitment Manager stays in touch. Once a complete application is submitted, applicants will know within 2-3 weeks if they have made it to the final round of consideration. If they are selected to move into the final round, alumni interviews will be scheduled and the applicant will hear from both their Admissions Officer and Marketing & Recruitment Manager, who will offer them advice on their upcoming interviews with two MBA alumni.
In the 2 – 3 weeks following pre-selection, the candidate will meet two MBA alumni for one-on-one interviews. They will have the chance to both present on a topic of their choice and discuss with our alumni to assess fit. The interviews are traditionally in person and take place in over 80 countries. After the alumni interviews, we host the official jury, wherein we make admissions decisions. The whole process takes 5 weeks, which means applicants will know if they’re admitted within 5 weeks of submitting their applications.
Once admitted, candidates can apply for a merit-based scholarship.
CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read an essay? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? What is one key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write?
SV: Candidates should review the essay questions carefully before responding to ensure they have the best response. When planning essay responses, it’s important for candidates to look at each question and make sure your responses complement each other in order to avoid too much repetition.
We also have an open essay, where applicants can share anything that they would like. It can explain a gap in their CV, or how they’ve experienced diversity, or the challenges that brought them to this place today. This can be very useful in getting to know our candidates and understand their situation.
Most importantly candidates should write from the heart and present their true selves – be genuine! And finally, they should remember to spell check and carefully proofread!
CA: Could you tell us about your interview process? Approximately how many applicants do you interview? Who conducts the interview (students, admissions officers, alumni) and what is the nature of the interview (resume-based, application-based, behavioral)? Will your admissions interviews be in-person or virtual for the 2024-2025 admissions season?
SV: No one knows the HEC Paris MBA program better than our alumni. Top candidates will move on to the interview round of the application process, which are conducted by alumni. We receive over 2,500 applications per year and around 20 percent are advanced into the final round of interviews.
Candidates who make it to our interview round, present on a topic that they have chosen. They should also take advantage of this time to ask the interviewer about the program and its culture, to ensure it’s the right fit for them. Just like with essays, candidates should be true to themselves and speak from the heart. Interviews take place online with interviewers from around the world. We try to match candidates with alumni, who are working in their target sector or geography or have a link.
Our interviewers assess is the program is right for the candidate and if both interviewers feel it is not, then a candidate is not admitted to the program. We believe that our alumni know best who will succeed and fit at the HEC Paris MBA and we put our ultimate trust in our past students.
CA: What is your testing policy? Do you offer exam waivers? Why or why not?
SV: All applicants are required to submit an official GMAT, GMAT Focus Edition, GMAC Executive Assessment (EA) or GRE score report with their application. It’s very important for candidates to take the time to research, prepare and study for standardized tests. Doing well on the GRE or GMAT shows us that a candidate has already invested time in their wish to do an MBA and is a great indicator for how well a student will do within the program and how they will perform during their MBA.
In exceptional circumstances, such as a candidate having a CFA Level 3, or other strong proof of quantitative background and an excellent level of English, we may offer an exam waiver but it is rare. This is something candidates can ask their Marketing & Recruitment Manager about. We have also recently introduced the Executive Assessment, for those who have been away from studies for a long time, and wish to pursue a test better suited to their experience.
CA: In the application data form, many schools ask for information about work experience, activities, hobbies, and much more. What advice would you give to applicants as they approach this component of the application process?
SV: We look for overall excellence in our candidates – well-rounded, high-achieving candidates, who have at least two years of professional experience and have shown career progression. In addition, we take into consideration their international exposure, academic background, goals and what they do outside of work. We want to know why the candidate wants to do an MBA and why now? And we want to hear about how the HEC Paris MBA in particular will help them achieve their goals.
As the HEC Paris MBA is one of the most diverse programs in the world, we also look for demonstration of open mindedness, such as having lived, worked or studied abroad, or having worked with different cultures. We want our students to learn from their peers, both on a professional level and on a personal level.
When assessing professional experience, we look for candidates with strong leadership potential end experiences that can add value to their classmates. Our candidates must have a minimum of two years of professional experience and on average our students have six years of professional work experience. We assess the quality of their work experience – what exceptional projects have they worked on and what have they achieved so far in their career. CVs should include details on these projects, including the tasks and results.
CA: Tell us briefly about two popular courses at your institution.
SV: A student favorite is Sebastian Becker’s Management Accounting and Control core course. The course stresses the differences and connections between financial accounting and corporate governance, on the one hand, and management accounting and control, on the other hand. Then, taking strategy as given, you will learn about several concepts as well as tools and techniques of management accounting and control that are commonly used in organizations today for making them succeed in their markets.
An elective that is always popular is Roxana Barbulescu’s Leading in a Diverse World. This course offers participants a time for self-reflection and discussion around issues that are not commonly discussed in organizations but that are nevertheless widely experienced and struggled over in the contemporary workplace: issues of identity and difference
Students continually say that the Outdoor Leadership Seminar and MBA Tournament are among the best aspects of our program. During our Outdoor Leadership Seminar, students spend two days proving – and improving – their team-leadership skills during a series of increasingly difficult field exercises supervised by military-trained professionals. Just as in the real world, the seminar teaches them to lead in situations where they don’t have all the answers, where they confront obstacles that they’ve never seen before. During the seminar, they stretch their limits and go farther than they ever thought possible, learning how to leverage the strength of their team to accomplish a common goal. After each timed exercise, their mentor provides feedback about their effectiveness at leading the group and their methods of problem solving. The program develops participants’ confidence to lead in all circumstances and teaches them how to motivate others to work toward a common goal.
The MBAT, renowned as the MBA Olympics, is the largest gathering of MBA students in Europe. Students participate as members of the MBAT’s core team, and take on the responsibility of organizing a three-day, multisport competition for 1,500 participants. Students are entirely responsible for the MBAT, including all of its organizational and operational details.
CA: Is there anything else you’d like to highlight about your MBA program or admissions process?
SV: We are very proud to have monthly application deadlines, as it ensures that candidates get their admissions decision quickly – the whole process, including interviews takes 5 weeks from the Deadline.
We see great applications throughout the year, with a peak in the first rounds, however, applicants have the same chance to be admitted across rounds as we look at each application and how it fits in the class – keeping spaces through all rounds. We do advise applicants to think about applying earlier than later, so they have time to celebrate and plan their journey including visa and living arrangements, if applicable.
There are scholarships available in each round, including the last. We assess candidates based on the excellence of their application, and admitted students are considered for excellence and diversity scholarships.
For candidates interested in applying to the HEC Paris MBA program, please connect with our recruitment team and we will be in touch soon with next steps on your MBA journey.
