01 · Class profile
Who is in the HEC Paris MBA class
Class of 2026, as on HEC's class-profile page: 268 students, 95% international and 60 nationalities (the text says more than 60).
HEC's pages differ: its 2025 Employment Report shows 265 participants, 94% international and 61 nationalities. This page uses the class-profile page. Both show 40% women, an average age of 30 and 6 years of work experience.
HEC's class-profile page covers the Class of 2026 only.
Where the class is from (share of students)
Share of the Class of 2026, regions as HEC groups them. Read from a chart in HEC's 2025 Employment Report, so small figures may carry a reading error.
Test scores
| Test | Average | Median | Range |
|---|
| GMAT | 635 for the current class, which HEC says equates to 690 for the former edition | Not published | Not published |
| GRE | Not published | Not published | Not published |
The average is from HEC's requirements page. The Employment Report shows 635 for both the Class of 2025 and the Class of 2026. HEC publishes no minimum score.
Work experience
HEC calls 2 to 10 years ideal and strongly encourages at least 2 years, but sets no absolute minimum. It gives the average as 6 years.
Campus and intakes
The campus is a 340-acre residential campus in Jouy-en-Josas, 10 miles outside Paris, where most MBA students live.
The programme lasts 12 or 16 months (12 months for the January intake only).
HEC says students from both intakes can merge into one class in the second half of the programme (the Customized Phase). HEC's news article on the September 2025 intake gave 173 students, 47 nationalities and more than 41% women for that intake alone.
Where do you sit in this class? Enter your score, experience and profile and see your position and interview risk.
Check my chances02 · Placements
Where HEC Paris MBA graduates go
Class of 2025, from HEC's 2025 Employment Report, the newest one; HEC has not yet published a report for the Class of 2026. All pay figures are in US dollars.
The report calls the $123,170 the average salary package, up 12% on the year before, and lists sign-on and performance bonuses separately.
The pages we read do not say how many graduates reported a salary or how the dollar figures were converted.
The 75% accepted job offers within three months of graduation. Jobs abroad means jobs outside home country.
Sector of the job (share of the class)
Share of the Class of 2025. Together, technology, financial services and consulting are 66%.
Others: consumer packaged goods, government, NGO and education, and manufacturing (5% each); entertainment and media, healthcare, and retail and luxury (4% each); energy and utilities, and hospitality and tourism (2% each); and legal, real estate, and transportation and logistics (1% each).
Function of the job (share of the class)
Operations and logistics
13% Share of the Class of 2025.
Others: information technology (5%), project management (3%), legal (2%), human resources (1%), strategy (2%) and other (3%).
HEC's pages differ: its function-change page gives strategy 2% and other 3%, while its placement-by-function chart gives strategy 3% and other 2%. This page uses the function-change figures.
Location of the job (share of the class)
Share of the Class of 2025, as HEC says. The report also gives pay by region; we leave it out here.
Change of sector, function and location
HEC says 57% changed sector, 54% changed function and 57% changed location, and that 22% changed all three.
Employers
Companies that hired two or more graduates, as printed in the report: Amazon, L'Oreal, Impossible Cloud, BCG, Accenture, Pernod Ricard, HCLTech, Bank of America, Microsoft, Google, KPMG, Strategy&, and Uber.
03 · Fees and scholarships
What it costs, and how to pay less
Tuition is €102,000 in total for both the January 2027 and September 2027 intakes: a €9,000 deposit, then instalments of €47,000 and €46,000.
We read these numbers from an image on HEC's fees page, because the page text does not carry them.
HEC does not publish the due dates of the deposit and instalments on its public pages. HEC's deadlines table gives a 'Deadline to Confirm' for each deadline (see section 04).
The public pages do not say what the tuition covers or whether VAT applies. The application fee is €200 and non-refundable.
HEC says it gives over €1,000,000 in aid every year, and does not publish what share of students receive aid.
Living costs
| Cost | HEC's estimate for 16 months |
|---|
| Accommodation | From €10,400 |
| Meals | €6,000 |
| Transportation | €4,700 |
| Miscellaneous | €3,200 |
| Books | €1,000 |
| Total | €25,300 |
HEC says students living on campus with a partner should expect about €32,000.
| On-campus housing | What HEC lists |
|---|
| Individual room | 19 m2, 177 available, €650 to €750 a month. |
| One-bedroom apartment | 35 to 38 m2, 24 available, €790 to €1,160 a month. |
HEC scholarships
| Scholarship | What you get and who it is for |
|---|
| Excellence | Up to 50% of tuition, on merit. HEC considers every admitted candidate automatically and tells you one week after admission. |
| Diversity | Up to 50% of tuition. You show in the final essay what your profile adds to the class. Considered automatically, with a decision one week after admission. |
| Laidlaw Scholars | Up to 10 full-tuition scholarships per graduating class for exceptional women with leadership potential and financial constraints. The form comes only after admission and is due within one week of the results. |
| Sanofi Life Sciences | Up to 10 a year, covering 75% of tuition, for life-sciences and healthcare backgrounds. Considered automatically with no extra application. |
| Forte Foundation (women) | Up to €26,000 for admitted candidates. The Forte essay must be submitted with the application. |
| 30% Club (women) | 50% of tuition for the first year, for high-potential women in both intakes. Considered automatically if you are admitted. |
| L'Oreal | €10,000, one per intake. It needs a 1,500-word essay on leadership and creativity, submitted with the application. |
| CMA CGM Excellence Fund | An external fund for international students with financial need, with an average award of €25,000. The form is sent after admission and can be combined with Excellence and Diversity. |
Other scholarships HEC lists
| Scholarship | What you get and who it is for |
|---|
| ARD/HEC Paris Scholarship | €16,000, for French armed forces officers. |
| Paris Saclay Innovation Cluster Scholarship | Up to €16,000. |
| Future Leaders of Africa | Up to €15,000, 10 awards, for citizens of five named African countries. |
| Eiffel Excellence Scholarship | A French government scholarship for non-French candidates aged 29 or younger, for the September 2027 intake only. You must be admitted in the September, October or November rounds and have paid your deposit. HEC emails eligible candidates a form in early December 2026, and Campus France announces results in April 2027. It pays a monthly allowance of €1,200, not tuition. |
| Sainsbury Management Fellowship | £50,000, for UK engineers. |
How scholarships are decided
The Scholarship Committee considers your essays, background and work history, GMAT score and the results of your two alumni interviews. Scholarships are deducted from the final instalment.
Excellence, Forte, ARD and Paris Saclay together cannot exceed 50% of tuition. For Excellence, Forte and Paris Saclay, candidates sponsored for more than 50% of tuition by an employer or government are not eligible.
For loans, HEC points to 'Regional Funding Options' and 'Financial Aid by Country' pages and names no lenders, rates or terms.
Could your profile earn a scholarship? Check where you stand before you apply.
Check my chances04 · Rounds and deadlines
Which round, and by when
HEC has deadlines for most months rather than named rounds, so the cards are numbered Deadline 1 to 5, with none in December or July. The cards show the deadlines HEC lists from October 2026.
Deadline 1October: 18th Oct 2026
- Interviews:
- Not published
- Decision:
- 20th Nov 2026 (both intakes)
Deadline 2November: 15th Nov 2026
- Interviews:
- Not published
- Decision:
- 18th Dec 2026 (September 2027 intake) or rolling admissions (January 2027 intake)
Deadline 3January: 11th Jan 2027
- Interviews:
- Not published
- Decision:
- 19th Feb 2027 (September 2027 intake)
Deadline 4February: 15th Feb 2027
- Interviews:
- Not published
- Decision:
- 19th Mar 2027 (September 2027 intake)
Deadline 5March: 15th Mar 2027
- Interviews:
- Not published
- Decision:
- 16th Apr 2027 (September 2027 intake)
HEC holds 12 Admissions Juries a year and says you receive an admission decision within five weeks of the application deadline.
HEC takes applications for two intakes, January 2027 and September 2027. The 18th Oct 2026 and 15th Nov 2026 deadlines apply to both; the later ones are for September 2027 only.
HEC does not publish interview dates per deadline. It says the interviews usually take place in the two weeks before the final Admissions Jury.
Incomplete applications may be moved to the next month's jury. HEC marks its dates as possibly subject to change.
January 2027 intake
| Deadline | Decision and confirm date |
|---|
| 18th Oct 2026 | Decision 20th Nov 2026. Confirm by 18th Dec 2026. |
| 15th Nov 2026 | Rolling admissions. HEC does not publish the confirm date; it says Admissions provides it. |
The later deadlines are not in HEC's January 2027 table.
September 2027 intake
| Deadline | Decision and confirm date |
|---|
| 18th Oct 2026 | Decision 20th Nov 2026. Confirm by 18th Dec 2026. |
| 15th Nov 2026 | Decision 18th Dec 2026. Confirm by 18th Jan 2027. |
| 11th Jan 2027 | Decision 19th Feb 2027. Confirm by 16th Mar 2027. |
| 15th Feb 2027 | Decision 19th Mar 2027. Confirm by 13th Apr 2027. |
| 15th Mar 2027 | Decision 16th Apr 2027. Confirm by 17th May 2027. |
| 12th Apr 2027 | Decision 21st May 2027. Confirm by 15th Jun 2027. |
| 17th May 2027 | Decision 18th Jun 2027. Confirm by 13th Jul 2027. |
| 14th Jun 2027 | Decision 16th Jul 2027. Confirm by 13th Aug 2027. |
| Rolling admissions | Decision 30th Jul 2027. HEC does not publish the confirm date; it says Admissions provides it. |
The earlier deadlines for both intakes were 16th Aug 2026 (decision 18th Sep 2026) and 20th Sep 2026 (decision 23rd Oct 2026). 'Confirm by' is the date by which an admitted candidate must confirm.
You can apply only once per graduating cycle: the September intake and the following January intake count as one cycle. Past applicants are welcome to reapply if they show how their profile has strengthened.
HEC advises applying early, especially if you need on-campus housing or a student visa, and says double-degree applicants may have different deadlines.
Not sure which intake or deadline to aim for? We look at your file and tell you.
Check my chances05 · Clubs and activities
Life outside class
HEC's Student Clubs page lists 32 MBA clubs: 26 professional clubs and 6 social clubs. The count is ours, as HEC states no total. HEC also has pages for Cultural Weeks and the MBA Council.
Professional clubs (26)
Africa; Arts, Media and Entertainment; Asia Pacific Business; Blockchain; Consulting; Consulting Practice at HEC; Data Science; Digital Transformation; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Finance; FinTech; Healthcare; Industry; LATAM; LGBTQ+ and Allies; Luxury; Marketing; Middle East North Africa; Private Equity/Venture Capital; Product Management; Real Estate; Search Fund; Sustainability; Technology; and Women in Leadership.
Social clubs (6)
French Connection; Games; HEC Paris Partners' Club; Public Speaking; Sports and Wellness; and Wine and Spirits.
What some clubs do
| Club | What they do |
|---|
| Asia Pacific Business Club | Networking events, conferences on and off campus and an Asia Trek for participants seeking jobs in Asia-Pacific. |
| Energy Club | Energy Day, company visits, alumni events, speaker sessions, workshops and energy treks. |
| Luxury Club | Founded in 2000 and one of the largest clubs. Company visits, international treks, speaker panels and alumni aperos. |
| Consulting Practice at HEC | A student-led consulting organisation serving real clients, with an Advisory Board of the MBA Associate Dean, professors and alumni. Its services are Strategy Advisory, Digital and Analytics Advisory, and Global Expansion and Emerging Markets Advisory. |
| Entrepreneurship Club | Guest speakers, conferences and pitch contests, workshops, and alliances with other schools to launch high-technology ventures. |
| Finance Club | Treks across Europe, alumni partnerships, and work with the Career Center and the HEC Grande Ecole Finance Club. |
| LGBTQ+ and Allies Club | Takes part each year in the Paris Pride Parade. With the Women in Leadership Club, it organised the first Diversity Conference in 2019. |
| Sports and Wellness Club | A bi-annual Sports Day, on-campus runs and tennis, and preparation for MBAT, the inter-school MBA tournament. |
Cultural Weeks
Cultural Weeks are student-led, 5-day immersions in peers' traditions. Recent ones include the following.
| Event | What it is |
|---|
| Holi Festival | Held with the town of Jouy-en-Josas. |
| Latin America Cultural Week | A Cultural Week on Latin America. |
| Asian-Pacific Cultural Week | Includes a Taiwanese night market and Kendo. |
| Japanese Cultural Week | Includes origami and sushi-making. |
Described as HEC describes them on its Student Clubs and Cultural Weeks pages. Clubs change what they run each year.
06 · Process
From application to decision
Connect with HECOptional
Fill in an online form and get personalised feedback from the Marketing and Recruitment Manager for your region.
HEC says this does not affect your formal application.
Complete the application
Apply online. The system auto-saves your work. The application fee is €200.
HEC says incomplete applications may be moved to the next month's jury.
Pre-Selection JuryAfter you apply
The Admissions Board looks at your education, professional experience, international exposure, essays and recommendation letters. This decides who is invited to interview.
HEC says motivation and clear reasoning for choosing HEC are required. It does not describe how invitations are sent.
Two interviewsBefore the final jury
You are invited to two separate interviews with alumni of the HEC Paris MBA. They count equally and are held in English.
HEC says they usually take place in the two weeks before the final Admissions Jury. It does not publish the mode or length.
Admissions JuryMonthly
The jury includes representatives of the French Ministry of Education, HEC alumni, faculty and the Dean of the HEC Paris MBA. It reviews your essays, recommendation letters and interviewer notes.
HEC says the Admissions team notifies you hours after the jury. It does not describe the waitlist.
Scholarship decisionWith the final decision
Scholarship recipients are told at the time of the final decision, and the scholarship is deducted from the final instalment of tuition.
07 · What you need
What goes into the application
1. Eligibility
An undergraduate degree from an accredited university, with official transcripts. HEC may waive the degree for someone with a secondary-education certificate and at least 5 years of professional experience, with at least 3 in a managerial position, or for athletes who represented their country at national level. For work experience, HEC calls 2 to 10 years ideal, strongly encourages at least 2 years and sets no absolute minimum. English is the only language required.
2. Test score
An official GMAT, GMAT Focus, GMAC Executive Assessment or GRE score report. GMAT, GMAT Focus and Executive Assessment scores must be under five years old (GMAT code 0TL-6C-28). A GRE score is valid for five years after the year you took it (code 0649). HEC sets no minimum score and accepts official scores only. It may waive the test for holders of a top-ranked Master in Management.
3. English test
If you are not a native English speaker and do not have a degree from an English-taught university, HEC asks for an English test less than 2 years old. HEC's minimums are TOEFL at CEFR level C1 (5 of 6), TOEIC 340 in Speaking and Writing and 850 in Listening and Reading, IELTS 7.0 with at least 6.5 on each part, Cambridge 185 with at least 176 on each part, PTE 72 or Duolingo 135.
4. Essays
The checklist asks for completed essays. HEC does not publish the essay prompts or word limits on its public pages. We expect to find them in the application form.
The last essay is reserved for extra information for the Excellence and Diversity scholarships, and the Diversity case is explained there. If you want the Forte or L'Oreal scholarship, that essay goes in with the application.
5. Two recommendations
The checklist asks for 2 recommendations, which are reviewed at the Pre-Selection Jury and by the final Admissions Jury. HEC's public pages do not say who the recommenders must be, how they submit, what the questions are or when they are due. We expect to find them in the application form.
6. Video or assessment
HEC's public MBA pages mention no video essay and no separate written or video assessment. The interviews are a presentation followed by an in-depth discussion.
7. Other documents
A current professional resume in English, a passport-style photo, transcripts from all post-secondary institutions, a copy of your passport (or birth certificate) and the non-refundable €200 fee. HEC gives no further resume format rules.
08 · What HEC wants
How HEC reads your file
HEC says its Admissions Board is looking for well-rounded applicants who show a strong desire and ability to succeed. It describes six areas. Here is what each means for your application.
| HEC looks at | In plain words |
|---|
| Academic accomplishment | An accredited degree and proof you can handle demanding work. HEC welcomes a wide range of educational backgrounds. |
| Professional experience and career progression | Clear progression over time, strong results in your current role and a sense of direction. |
| Leadership potential | Times when you excelled as a leader, in your personal or professional life. |
| International exposure | Working with people of different backgrounds and adapting to different cultures. |
| MBA motivation and career objectives | A clear reason for applying to HEC Paris, and an application that is consistent from start to finish. |
| Interpersonal skills and personality | Passion, humility, individuality and respect for others, and the ability to lead as well as collaborate. |
HEC says the interviews assess communication skills, leadership potential, aspirations and values, and 'who you are as a whole person'.
HEC publishes no percentage weights for these areas. The only weighting it states is that the two interviews carry equal weight.
See how your file reads against these areas before you spend weeks on the application.
Check my chances09 · Interview questions
What HEC interviewers typically ask
Five types of question that candidates describe, based on candidates' own accounts of their HEC interviews.
| Topic | How it is usually asked |
|---|
| Why HEC, and why not another school | “Why HEC, and why not INSEAD or another comparable school?” |
| Your 10-minute presentation | “Walk us through your presentation; how did you decide on the pricing or the approach?” |
| Why an MBA, and why now | “Why do you want an MBA now and not earlier or later?” |
| Short-term and long-term goals | “What are your short- and long-term goals and why those?” |
| Leadership, conflict and teamwork | “Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague and how you resolved it.” |
We hold only a few accounts and they are older, none from after about 2020, so we do not show how likely each topic is.
HEC's own pages are the authority for the current format. Nobody gets a fixed list, and many questions are follow-ups to your own answers.
Candidates also describe questions about walking through your background, life in France and the French language, what you would bring to the class, strengths and weaknesses, and your own questions for the alumnus.
10 · Interview experience
What the interview is actually like
What HEC says
| Topic | What to expect |
|---|
| Who interviews | Two separate interviews, each with an alumnus of the HEC Paris MBA. HEC says the two count equally. |
| What each one is | A 10-minute oral presentation on a topic of your choice, then an in-depth discussion of your application. Both are in English. |
| When | Usually in the two weeks before the final Admissions Jury, after you pass the Pre-Selection Jury. |
| Not published | Whether the interviews are online or in person, how long they run, where they are held and how invitations are sent. |
| Video or written tests | HEC's public pages mention none. |
What candidates report
| Topic | What to expect |
|---|
| Mode | Mostly video calls, with a few in person with an alumnus in the candidate's own city, not on the Paris campus. Nothing recent is reported. |
| Length | Often about an hour each, and some ran longer. One was closer to 30 minutes. |
| Order | Introductions, the presentation, questions on it, then why MBA and why HEC, then behavioural questions, then your own questions. Some interviewers ask for the presentation last. |
| The presentation | Candidates chose a product they marketed, a sector trend, a tool or a social theme. Their advice: pick something you know deeply, use the full 10 minutes, keep the slides modest in number and rehearse it. |
| The alumni | Often matched to the candidate's target field, and they receive your application beforehand. Some talk about their own time at HEC at length. |
| Tone | Mostly warm and conversational, though a few were reserved or tougher, and the two interviews can feel quite different from each other. |
Based on candidates' own accounts, which are few and older. Treat them as the long-standing pattern, not a statement about this year, and check HEC's pages for the current format.
11 · FAQs
Questions students ask about HEC Paris MBA
Is there a minimum GMAT or GRE score?
No. HEC sets no minimum score and accepts the GMAT, GMAT Focus, Executive Assessment or GRE. HEC gives an average GMAT of 635 for the current class, which it says equates to 690 for the former edition. It publishes no GRE average or GMAT range.
How much work experience do I need?
HEC sets no absolute minimum. It calls 2 to 10 years ideal and strongly encourages at least 2 years. It gives the average as 6 years.
What are the essay prompts and word limits?
HEC does not publish them on its public pages. We expect to find them in the application form. HEC's public pages mention no video essay or separate assessment.
How many recommendations do I need?
Two. They are reviewed at the Pre-Selection Jury and by the final Admissions Jury. HEC's public pages do not say who the recommenders must be or how they submit.
How does the HEC interview work?
If you pass the Pre-Selection Jury you are invited to two separate interviews with alumni of the HEC Paris MBA, counted equally. Each is a 10-minute presentation on a topic you choose, then an in-depth discussion of your application, in English. HEC does not publish the mode or length.
Which deadline should I apply in?
HEC has no named rounds, only deadlines for most months (none in December or July). The 18th Oct 2026 deadline has passed (decision on 20th Nov 2026). The next is 15th Nov 2026, the last for the January 2027 intake and also a deadline for September 2027. After that the September 2027 intake has deadlines on 11th Jan 2027, 15th Feb 2027 and 15th Mar 2027, then monthly to 14th Jun 2027, plus rolling admissions (HEC lists 30th Jul 2027 against them). The timeline on this page shows which are still open. HEC marks its dates as possibly subject to change. HEC advises applying early, especially if you need on-campus housing or a student visa.
How much does the HEC Paris MBA cost?
Tuition is €102,000 for both intakes, as a €9,000 deposit and instalments of €47,000 and €46,000, which we read from an image on HEC's page. HEC estimates living costs at €25,300 for 16 months. The application fee is €200.
Can I get a scholarship?
HEC considers every admitted candidate automatically for its Excellence and Diversity scholarships, each up to 50% of tuition. It also lists others, such as Laidlaw, Sanofi, Forte, 30% Club and L'Oreal. It gives over €1,000,000 in aid every year and does not publish what share of students receive aid.
Which intake should I apply for, January 2027 or September 2027?
Until 15th Nov 2026 both are open; after that, only the September 2027 intake has published deadlines (HEC lists rolling admissions for January 2027 without dates). Their core curriculum is identical and HEC says students from both intakes can merge into one class in the second half of the programme (the Customized Phase). The January 2027 deadlines stop at 15th Nov 2026, while September 2027 deadlines run to 14th Jun 2027 plus rolling admissions (HEC lists 30th Jul 2027 against them). You can apply only once per graduating cycle.
What are the pay and jobs like after HEC?
For the Class of 2025, HEC reports a mean annual salary of $123,170 and a median annual salary of $115,255, in US dollars, and says 75% of the class accepted job offers within three months of graduation. The largest sectors were technology (27%), financial services (24%) and consulting (15%).