Work and study
What criteria did you have in mind when choosing a business school? Why did you choose EDHEC Business School?
First of all, I chose EDHEC Business School, as the school occupies a leading position in educational rankings and is one of the Top business schools not only in Europe but also in the world, especially in finance.
In addition, I did not want to interrupt my professional activity and go “back to school”. I started working at a Big-4 in my third year of undergraduate studies and continue to work there. I wanted to combine studies and work. Unlike other potential schools that I considered, only EDHEC offered the MSc Risk & Finance part-time programme which allows you to study and work at the same time.
Tell us more about the programme.
This specialised EDHEC programme lasts 13 months: 13 modules, one module each month, respectively. Classes are held once a month for 3 days, from Thursday to Saturday. The programme is held on the EDHEC London campus, unlike most finance programmes which are located on the Côte d’Azur in Nice. For this part-time programme, it is a mandatory requirement for the student to be employed.
What are the main takeaways so far?
The programme covers all areas of finance - from econometrics and corporate finance to analysis of financial market trends and risk management. Each module has practical tasks or group projects, or analysis of real cases from the financial world.
There are different professors on each module - industry practitioners and academy professors, EDHEC’s full-time teachers and guest lecturers invited from around the world from renowned business schools and universities. The composition of students is international - from France, China, Italy, Morocco, India - I am the only one from Russia.
Is the programme challenging?
In order to immediately enter a specialised programme, I needed to demonstrate that I successfully completed certain prerequisites courses. The programme is quite demanding, since it is necessary to combine full-time work, rather than part-time work, and full-time study. Every month, we must hand in homework and prepare for exams for each module. We have very strict attending rules for each course, not to mention the module.
As part of the training, events are organised during which companies come and talk about their activities. Accordingly, we have a unique opportunity to communicate with experienced colleagues from the finance industry from various fields. It is also a great opportunity to meet someone, possibly a future employer.
What documents are required for admission?
The set of documents is fairly standard: diploma/transcript, IELTS or TOEFL English test (I was exempted from it, because my bachelor's programme was in English), GMAT test score (verbal-mathematical test), resume, motivation letter, 2 letters of recommendation. Convenient and easy online application form on the EDHEC’s website.
When did you submit your documents and when did you receive a response on enrollment?
I applied in the last days before the Excellence Scholarship deadline - March 30, 2019. This scholarship is required in order to be nominated for the Co-Financed Scholarship. After successfully passing the GMAT in mid-April, I received a response on enrollment with a scholarship of 30%. Then, after reserving my seat in the programme, I automatically became a candidate for the Co-financed scholarship. Then there were 3 interviews in April.
When did you find out that you were a laureate?
The result was announced at the end of May.
I was very glad to receive a scholarship, especially since there were many other outstanding candidates. It is especially valuable that they chose the candidate not in a typical French programme, but in a part-time program in London, which is little known in Russia.
What advice would you give to students applying for EDHEC programmes and applying for a joint scholarship?
I recommend that students decide on the programme as early as possible, in order to prepare for the English and GMAT exams, so that there are more opportunities to catch the best scholarships.
There are two options for entering my MSc in Risk & Finance after having completed a serious undergraduate programme and having work experience, or, through the two-year Master in Management in Financial Economics, which allows students to choose the MSc in Risk & Finance as the advanced specialisation during the second year learning.
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