How to prepare your arrival at ESSEC

“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.”

Being admitted in the ESSEC Master in Management Grande Ecole program is surely a great achievement! But what are the next steps to prepare perfectly your arrival at ESSEC?

Housing and CAF

The first decision you should take is where you want to live. At this point, the are two different schools of thought:

1.     Living in Cergy, paying a smaller rent and enjoying very short commuting times and all the social gathering opportunities that come from being so close to the ESSEC campus;

2.     Living in a private house in Paris and enjoying one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Personally speaking, I think that at least for the first year is a very good idea to live close to the campus. This will allow you to minimize transportation time, maximize the time you spent at school studying or enjoying your time with your associations. This will also allow you to build a stronger network with your peers. In addition, Cergy is cheaper than Paris, very well connected (25 minutes to La Defense et 35 for Paris city center) and with much more green areas than Paris. In case you are interested in ESSEC’s student housing you can check ALEGESSEC, they offer 4 Residences around the ESSEC campus. 
 In addition, French Government has a form of housing subsidy called CAF. If you subscribe to CAF, you will receive every month a cash transfer (on average 100/200 euros) that will allow you to lower the real cost of housing. In order to gain time, you should apply to CAF as soon as you pick up your keys and here you will find more useful information.

Learning French

As I already said in a previous article, learning French will make your experience at ESSEC much more engaging and interesting. There are many ways to learn French faster, and you find all of them in the above-mentioned article.

Courses & Exchanges

The unique and extreme flexibility of the ESSEC MiM GE means that you can chose between 200+ courses every single trimester. You also have many great exchange destinations, a lot of possible specializations and of course the Chairs. If you joined ESSEC you clearly know what your professional project is, but I suggest you go even further and check which exact courses and specializations you want to take. You will find the course catalog here.

Association Life

ESSEC organizes association nights to allow you to better know which activities ESSEC students are carrying on. However, if you want to join an association you will have to do an interview, usually in September, and it is a good idea to decide what you want to join well in advance. You will find all the associations at this link. Take into consideration that this page is work in progress and for now just a list. Furthermore, associations typically have their own website you can check. Also, if you want to join a French association learning the rudiments of French will definitely help!

Enjoy ESSEC!

Once again, preparation is the very foundation to achieve spectacular results and if you follow those basic suggestion you will be able to experience ESSEC immediately at 120%!