Preparing for the double degree program with ESCP Business School
Anna Azanova, a graduate of the "Marketing Communications and Advertising in Contemporary Business" program, shared her memories of how she prepared for the double degree program with one of France’s leading business schools, ESCP Business School.
During school, I traveled to France several times, stayed with host families, and explored the country extensively. I already knew that studying abroad was an amazing opportunity, but I didn’t take any serious steps toward it until the first year of my master’s.
The decision to apply came rather spontaneously. “If not now, then when?” I thought when I saw the announcement posted in early September, and I began gathering documents just ten days before the deadline. Of course, the support of my family and boyfriend played a huge role. Without them, I probably would have hesitated much more — and maybe not applied at all.
As is often the case, I submitted the documents on the last possible day. Then I was supposed to be scheduled for an interview via Skype. On September 27, I received an email saying that my interview would take place... on September 28 — while I was in another city and couldn’t come to HSE. I had to negotiate with some other applicants to swap dates.
The interview went very smoothly. The ESCP representatives were kind and didn’t ask any tricky questions — but they did speak to me in every language I listed on my CV. After a while, I got an email saying I had been accepted into the program.
Once I received confirmation, I immediately began researching relocation tips and reading blogs on the topic. Other students’ experiences were incredibly helpful. Plus, there was enough time to explore resources. That’s how I learned, for example, that living in France is much easier if you’re a scholarship recipient. In that case, Campus France takes care of you: they help with housing, reimburse insurance costs, and organize orientation activities.
In early November, I received information about the Eiffel Scholarship. Its key feature is that candidates are nominated by universities. We had to collect documents, complete the application, send everything to the French school, and wait. I also applied for a French government scholarship. It’s roughly equivalent to the Eiffel Scholarship, but you can’t receive both at the same time. On top of that, I applied for the Potanin Foundation Scholarship in Russia.
In the end, I was awarded the Eiffel Scholarship. Before I could believe it, I had several friends check the recipient list on the website. That’s when it really hit me: I was going to France.
By that point, I already had a corporate email account with ESCP, and I occasionally sent them various documents. The course selection process started in April, and by June we needed to finalize our choices. The challenge was to choose courses that matched HSE's content as closely as possible. But the next year’s curriculum wouldn’t be officially approved until August, so I had to make decisions based on the previous year’s offerings. It was nice to feel equally supported by both universities — their academic offices answered all my questions promptly.
I wasn’t just dealing with logistics — I was also mentally preparing for life in France. “Endless bureaucracy, weird opening hours, lots of migrants, yellow vests” — I mentally ran through every stereotype I knew and tried to prepare myself. It was important to me that the gap between expectations and reality would be minimal.
I was a bit nervous about how my coworkers would react to my decision to leave. My job couldn’t be done remotely, so I had to quit. But my colleagues gave me a very warm send-off and said lots of kind things.
Back to logistics. Since I received a scholarship, I was exempt from the Campus France interview, which is otherwise required to get a student visa. All I had left was to gather yet another set of documents and go to the visa center. It seemed like the visa center staff weren’t used to dealing with scholarship recipients, because I had to explain and defend nearly every document — or explain why I didn’t have one. For instance, I didn’t have a housing contract yet, since it would be signed at the Campus France office in Paris.
Finally, nearly a year after deciding to go to Paris, I arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport — and felt… overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe this was going to be my new home. But honestly, the only hard day was that first Sunday. I couldn’t go to Campus France right away and felt a bit adrift. Luckily, my friend from school — who was doing an Erasmus exchange in Paris from her Czech university — met up with me. We spent the whole day walking around, and by the evening I’d completely unplugged from my stress and emotions.
By Monday, I already had a to-do list: sorting documents, setting up my new home. The anxiety disappeared and was replaced by tons of new — mostly amazing — impressions. I had two weeks before classes started to adjust to my new lifestyle, explore my neighborhood, and rest. Mid-September, the academic year began.
It might sound like it all came together easily — and maybe it did, if you already have a good CV, transcript, and the motivation. But that CV and transcript didn’t create themselves 😉.
P.S. Don’t hesitate — this is an incredible experience!