How I Secured a Partially Funded Master’s at ESCP Business School, France Through the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship

Hi! My name is Santiago Genoni. I’m a 24-year-old business graduate from Buenos Aires, Argentina. My journey starts at Universidad de San Andrés, where I studied Digital Business Administration. This program, recently created at the time, seemed to me to be a great combination of traditional business admin courses and other content related to data analytics, machine learning, and end-to-end digital product management. I knew I was passionate about business, and I wanted to be prepared for the AI era that was to come. While studying, I went on exchange to the University of Saint Gallen in Switzerland, which was a very enriching and challenging international experience. After graduating, I worked in strategy consulting. It was there that I had to make the choice of stepping away and traveling to Paris to obtain my Master’s in Management at ESCP as an Eiffel Scholarship recipient, specializing in applied data science. When deciding between my job and pursuing a postgraduate degree, I was unsure if the program would provide the right tools and knowledge that I’d need to further advance my career, in contrast to staying in my position and continuing to acquire project experience. In the end, advice from others more experienced, the prestige of the institution, the help of the scholarship, the courses that stood out in the program, and the networking opportunities convinced me to take the step forward. It was the best decision I could have made.

Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Details

The Eiffel Excellence scholarship is granted by the French state, specifically sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It covers the flights to and from your country and the city where you study, including luggage. They grant 1200 euros per month for any expenses, provide health insurance, and offer to locate you in a CROUS residence to pay significantly lower rent (~200 euros per month) if you choose to.

Educational Background

I’ll start by summing up my trajectory and then, in the following sections, comment on how I think my choices determined my chances of obtaining a scholarship abroad: I studied Digital Business Administration at Universidad de San Andrés back home. During my studies, I was a teaching assistant for courses in big data and operations research, and I worked part-time in different startups. I chose small companies because I thought there my efforts would be more visible and I could be rewarded with better opportunities by working in those environments instead of corporations (highly subjective take, but it worked for me!). I set myself the goal of pursuing the maximum amount of responsibility by proactively proposing ideas. My initiative led me to obtain roles with accountability in product development, data structuring, process optimization, internal firm strategy, and stakeholder management. After graduating as magna cum laude (GPA: 8.42/10), I then worked in strategy consulting within the pharmaceutical industry at ZS before being admitted into the Master’s in Management program at ESCP Paris with an Eiffel Excellence scholarship. Today, I am finishing my studies (GPA: 3.8/4), specializing in applied data science within the program, and am in the process of joining another company in the pharmaceutical industry for a digital transformation position.

How Did You Prepare to Apply to ESCP Business School?

How Did You Find Information About Eiffel Excellence Scholarship and ESCP Business School?

The Eiffel Excellence scholarship application process is done through the university you’re admitted to in France. This means the university will inform you about the scholarship and offer the opportunity to apply for it through an internal paperwork process. They will then send your application to the French state for review.

Did You Take Any Standardized Tests? If So, How Did You Prepare for Them?

I took the TOEFL (111/120) because it was a requirement for my exchange in Switzerland back in my graduate degree. The scholarship did not require it or any other standardized tests.

How Did You Prepare to Apply for the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship?

The process requires you to send your CV, transcripts, cover letter, and two recommendation letters. Regarding the last two, I wrote a sincere letter telling my story and the greater, long-term purpose behind my choices, as well as how the Master’s program in France fit into my life project. Then, I asked some of the most notable of my ex-professors from my home university if they were willing to recommend me for the scholarship.

How is Your Experience at ESCP Business School?

The contents of the courses in the program, the opportunity to meet fellow students, and the challenge of settling in a new city are some of the countless invaluable experiences I had thanks to ESCP.

How Does ESCP Business School Support International Students?

The university staff is very attentive to student inquiries and requests. ESCP also has student communities that have developed networks and even platforms for finding accommodation, settling in, course enrollment FAQs, and more.

Are Your Classes Conducted in English or French?

ESCP Paris offers a wide range of free track courses and specialization course blocks, both in English and French.

What Did You Pursue After the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship?

Since I had already acquired experience in consulting and in the pharmaceutical industry, I pursued more senior roles in roughly the same fields.

Would Potential Students Have Any Problems Not Knowing French?

Not at all, since you can take English-only courses. Nevertheless, knowing some French is a huge asset for integrating in Paris.

What Do You Think Made Your Application Stand Out?

The reason I’ve told those details about my career so far is that I believe it was my attitude that made me stand out as a scholarship candidate more than whatever title I put on my CV. I wasn’t openly given feedback on the selection process for the scholarship, but considering my age and the median profile of those I was competing against, I think it’s not necessarily about having nice titles with company names that make your CV shine. If I had to speculate, I’d say it’s about pursuing experiences that genuinely enable you to acquire valuable skills and attributes early on and, arguably the most important thing for a selection process, being able to accurately show in your application why you made those choices, what your mentality is, and how those opportunities shaped you to be more competent towards achieving your life’s long-term professional goals.

I should also mention that, even though merit should be the priority to build a strong candidate profile, the recommendation letters likely have somewhat of an influence on the outcome. For this, I can only say I was fortunate enough to have the opportunities to prove myself in the eyes of the right people by building trust and performing well when it mattered the most.

In short, I believe my advantage was related to an early vision of how I wanted to form myself professionally, dedication towards building an edge through working, high academic standards, and being able to reflect my story in a compelling, genuine way through the cover letter.

What Would You Have Done Differently if You Were Going Through the Process Again?

I would have investigated the scholarship’s requirements before even being accepted into the master’s. I recall having to rush a bit to have all the paperwork before the deadline, since they give you a few weeks at most to get the recommendations and the cover letter ready.

What Advice Would You Give Those Looking to Apply for a Similar Scholarship?

I think the best way I could help is by giving some suggestions on how to build a strong candidate dossier. I’d focus on two key points:

Being goal-oriented is a valued mentality. This doesn’t mean you already need to be accomplished. Being able to accurately communicate what you want for your future in terms of who you aim to be professionally (roughly in the long-term, and more specifically in the near future), how you will achieve this, and what impact you’d wish to have in the world through your career is highly appreciated

No achievement is too small to contribute to the narrative of your story. If you’ve graduated and are currently working or in between degrees, take the time to think retrospectively on the value of whatever experiences (academic or professional) you’ve accumulated. What matters most about any of them is what you feel you got out of it and how they helped you advance towards your goals. Think about how to communicate that to the scholarship jury.