HEC/ESSEC MIM placement in London IB
Dear monkeys and apes, I'd love to read your opinions.
I've already applied for the MIF at these two schools (no results yet) and that got me wondering as to how exactly does the MIM at HEC/ESSEC fit into the usual rankings that one can find on this site (can't link them, new user). Bocconi is another university that I'm aiming for, but I will only apply for the MIF, since their MIM doesn't hold the same reputation from what I've come to understand.
I read somewhere on WSO that HEC MIM is the school's flagship program and it might even be better than MIF for Paris. My French, however, is rusty, and I'll be aiming for London from the very beginning. So, it's 2023 or even 2024 with the gap year: how do I fare in London as a non-French MIM graduate with a specialization in International Finance?
About ESSEC MIM I know nothing. Seems to be highly ranked by QS and FT, but that doesn't always mean a lot. Some insights would be much appreciated.
In terms of placement in London I would say HEC MiF > Essec Mif/HEC MiM/ > Essec MiM.
From the ESSEC MiF cohort around a 12% of people got a summer internship 2021 in London. I would say placement is favored to French speakers, specially if you are targeting IB. Vast majority of students got internships at BB (CS and BofA are the most represented banks) and a few guys got internships at MM boutiques. Nobody is going to EB.
I see, so there's almost no point in going through the MIM at ESSEC if I'm aiming for IB, seeing how most graduates stay in France and placement numbers are necessarily weaker than the MIF. Thanks for the info.
ESSEC is nowhere close to HEC placement at ANY BBs, and the HEC MiM places better than the MiF due to that gap year which is key for placement
MiM HEC > MiF HEC > MiM ESSEC > MiF ESSEC Go for the MiM in ESSEC. If French recruiters screen your CV they will put higher weight on the Grande Ecole.
I know that the top Grande Ecole MIMs are great feeders for Paris banks, but I intend to go to London. Wouldn't the situation be different in that case, with MIM ESSEC being much weaker than the other three? (MIF at both and MIM HEC) At least HEC MIM is the most prestigious and allows me to specialize in finance in the second year. Meanwhile, most ESSEC MIMs stay in France and not that many go to London as per their own stats.
The 2nd year at the HEC MiM is literally the MIF if you want to. People who do the full 3 year program in HEC and take a gap year with 2 back to back internships in M&A/PE get placed significantly better than everyone else by the time they graduate (all things equal)
ESSEC MiM have a bad placement in London
Essentially, I agree with most people here in that GEs place best in Paris. However, among other non-EU schools, the most elite GEs generally place much better than other schools outside the UK. The ESSEC MiM actually has a relatively good placement in London if you compare with other potential feeders from the EU. Its disadvantage comes by virtue of it not being in the UK rather than School X or Y having better placements.
For both HEC and ESSEC, French people feed well into top BB and some good EB. This advantage extends to speakers of major EU languages, in general.
Notably, there are cases of those from Asia (India / China) getting into top BBs as well. For reference google exactly "ESSEC goldman sachs MiM linkedin" and you'll see a healthy list of people from non-EU countries who get into one top BB.
Btw, are you fixated on London because of the language barrier? If so, then placement in Dubai / Singapore can actually be viable back-ups. All top three GEs in France are feeders in the Middle East, while ESSEC and INSEAD people have an advantage in Singapore because of their campus. I know some ESSEC MIM folks who got into IB roles in CS and UBS in Singapore, for instance. INSEAD hasn't had its first batch of graduates yet, but, in the long-term, we can expect the same.
Thank you for your answer. I'm a CEE EU citizen. I studied French in school, so I know that I can get to a high level with enough practice, but from what I've read here, you have to be close to native to have a good chance in France. That's why I'm dead set on London at the moment. I'll have to think about Singapore/Dubai as an alternative entry point. Were those folks you mentioned European or Asian?
I agree that ESSEC is attractive precisely because it lets you get a good chunk of experience as part of the program, that's true both for the MIM and the MIF. Although for the exchange and double degree programs there is a requirement of prior work experience, so it won't work out for me. Hence I'm leaning more towards the MIF (class size is smaller too).
Are/Were you by any chance an ESSEC MIM student?
You can break into French Market if you can do interviews in french so basically, that would mean being fluent. I do not think you need native-level fluency
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