MiM in Finance

Video: “Introducing EDHEC Business School - Master in Management MIM Financial Economics” - Campus Channel
 
[Music] L’oral. The Interview.

Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos - Campus Channel.

Hello everyone and welcome to Campus Channel. I'm here with EDHEC Business School and we're gonna be talking about the Master in Management's financial economics track.
Here with us today to talk about the Master, I have the pleasure to welcome the director of the Financial Economics tracks, he's called Laurent DEVILLE. How are you?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville. Director Master in Management, Financial Economics track - EDHEC Business School.

I'm fine thanks a lot for receiving us for this presentation. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos - Campus Channel.

Well thanks to you. And also a second year student, in the financial economic tracks, he's called Matteo MELLONE. How are you Matteo?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone. EDHEC Business School second year student.

I'm very good, thank you very much. Thank you for involving me, inviting me, into this initiative.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well thanks thanks to you for answering. Yes and you're both here to answer my questions but first we're going to start with the pitch.
 
[Music] The Pitch.

Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

So Laurent, I believe it's going to be you who is going to be talking for 60 seconds about your programme and tell us everything that we need to know. Are you ready laurent?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

I'm ready. This is quite a challenge but ready.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Then it's your turn.
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

Hello everyone. EDHEC Master in Management specialising finance, we are presenting today with matteo, is a two-year program fully taught in english on our Nice campus that is located on the French Riviera. It is combined with a year of professional immersion in the industry. This programme will provide you with the opportunity to gain cutting edge knowledge in finance, readily applicable to the industry. Your journey in our programmes will start with a comprehensive overview of the foundation of finance, going from financial accounting to corporate and market finance. This 360 degree perspective on finance and management fundamentals, will prepare you for your professional immersion in the financial industry, and help you refine your choices and select the specialisation for your last year of education within our portfolio. International accounting and finance, incorporate finance and banking, in financial markets on climate change and sustainable finance. All specialisations ensure a balance of theory, empirical work, current industry practices. Let's build your successful career in finance together.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, well let's build it together. First thing first, I'd like to ask a question about the market and apart from being a trader what is finance about?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

Finance is about pretty much everything related to the real economy, because you have to finance all the activities, so finance is about the financial industry. But finance is also about all the financial roles that exist in all other industries. So finance is pretty much everywhere I would like to say.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right finance is everywhere. Matteo, do you agree with that statement? What is your vision as a student? How do you perceive finance? Why did you pick that subject as your future job?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone.

Well I completely agree with Laurent. Well from my point of view, the reason why I chose finance is because I have a passion for this kind of subject. I would say that, if you want to define it in a sentence or in a very straightforward way, it's like one way to put in contact the people who are saving money and the people who actually need money to invest in order to make the economy grow. This would be like a very broad explanation, and I do believe that this actually makes a difference in the world. So that's why I chose this subject.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, so finance in order to help people to invest their money. Laurent, one last thing before we really dig into the financial economic tracks. What's the difference between the MiM financial economics and the MiM programme on the other side?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

So at EDHEC, we have this MiM programme for the last two years of the Grande Ecole programme. And we have these two opportunities to either specialise in finance here our programmes in Nice or to specialise in management studies in the Lille campus. So you have these two perspectives and that's what we offer at EDHEC.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right. And today we're going to be talking about the financial economics one. In the admission process it seems that I can evaluate my profile on your website. How reliable is it? I mean: if for example the website is telling me “well you shouldn't apply” then shouldn't I? If it's telling me that I have high chances? Or are you going to tell all your students that they have high chances? How reliable is it?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

No no. I think all applicants have to understand that selecting students is highly time consuming, and it's time consuming for us, it's time consuming for the candidates, and so this way we are able to save time for those of you who are fully inadequate for the programme. Now if the system tells you that you have high chances, then just go forward. Don't censor yourself. If it tells you that you have very low chances, you can still apply and we will review your application. But it's very unlikely that you end up in our programmes. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, save time and money. well, it's the financial subjects. Time is money, so you save time and you save money obviously. How did you go through that process Matteo? Did you test yourself on the website?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone.

Yes, I went to the website. It was this voice that was saying “click here to evaluate your profile”. It was very easy, because they just needed your GMAT score and a couple of documents and nothing much. So connecting to what Laurent was saying, about saving time for the candidate, it's actually quite true. Because if you put yourself in the mind of a candidate, who is actually about to choose his master's degree, he probably wants to apply to five or six of them. And applying actually for the programme means preparing a lot of stuff: cover letters, referrals and everything. Having this kind of pre-screening is very helpful. I did it and I got a positive reply and that's when I moved forward in my application. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well I'm happy you mentioned the GMAT because I wanted to talk about that. It's a massive subject.  It's kind of a monster among students like “how am I gonna handle the GMAT?  Is the free GMAT practice, because you also have that on your website. On the EDHEC website, you have a free GMAT practice and is it enough to get ready for the test? Did you go through it Matteo?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone.

Well I honestly didn't do the free GMAT practice on the EDHEC platform. I honestly didn't even know that they had one. I did the exam beforehand so I already knew my kind of situation and the kind of range of master's degree in which I am suitable to apply for. But maybe Laurent can better answer this if he knows. I just didn't do this kind of evaluation before.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

How did you prepare for the GMAT, before Laurent tells us everything about the free GMAT? 
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone.

Well, the GMAT is always, you know, kind of a sensitive topic for students, because usually when you're about to prepare for it, you're maybe in the run of studying for your bachelor’s, or you are also doing other stuff. You don't always have your full time to dedicate to it. What I did, was basically, I prepared in one month. It's highly recommended to prepare for it for more than one month, and there's a lot of sources, like the GMAT actual website. It sends you the book and a lot of preparation tasks, and then it's up to you. You can do it and then if you don't like your score, you can do it again. But it's a little bit time-consuming and a stressful exam I would say. But it's worth it.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Okay, perfectly clear. Could you tell us about the practice that you offer?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

Sure. There is this practice that is offered but it's not enough. That's simply going to help you check whether your preparation is up to the level you want to achieve. That's it. All the candidates who want to apply to a master degree, know that they have to go through the GMAT and they have to excel in this exam. So you need to get prepared, you need to spend time on that, to do it seriously. If you get prepared, then you should be able to succeed in achieving high grades. But you need serious preparation for that. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, it's about practice if you want to excel at the GMAT. It also says that you are requiring a strong GMAT and strong TAGE MAGE as well, it's like another management test. Students can pick either of those. What are the minimum scores required for the english tests and management test?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

We don't have this kind of minimum value threshold. But a strong GMAT would be considered as something higher than 680 close to 700. You can apply with 650, you can apply with less, you can apply with 600. When you hear a strong GMAT, it depends on where you apply and for what you apply, which institutions. All institutions have different ways of understanding what a strong GMAT score is about. So definitely the 600s would be viewed as a good starting point. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

And regarding the TAGE MAGE? 
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

The same equivalent. Definitely you would need a TAGE MAGE higher than 300. That it doesn't mean that below 300 you wouldn't get accepted but because, this is one of the indications we have, regarding the fact that you're an adequate profile or not. That is one of all the points that we'll get a look at. And this is not the only one. This is a key one, not the only one at all. Your academic performance in your in your in the institution you're in, your professional experience, your letter of motivation, your recommendation letters, your english score - that you were discussing before is really key, since all the programmes are taught in english, so you need to achieve a score that is showing your capacity to understand and to communicate in english  in a flawless way.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right. Now I believe it's not only about that, it was just so the student can have an idea. I mean 300 is an indication, it's not compulsory, but it was just so that a student can see a little bit more clearly about that kind of test. You don't really know what to expect, and what to aim for, what targets to aim for. Let's talk about the interviews now. Because there used to be group interviews at EDHEC, it was very specific to EDHEC and is it still relevant, given the current situation or do you only have skype interviews?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville.

So it really depends on the path to access our degrees. So if you enter the full Grande Ecole programme, you have to go through the french concours. In the French concours, we still have these group interviews. Honestly, this year we are going to modify the way they are handled, to make sure that no one is taking extra risk that we don't need at this time.
If you go through the international admissions, only for the MiM Finance, for the last two years of the degree, there is no need for a group interview. You have an online interview and that takes place at the time that is the most suitable for the candidate.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

How did that interview go, Matteo? How did that happen? Did you have any financial trick questions? like something like “you have, I don't know, one rope and you have 90 minutes and you have to burn each side of the rope”, do you have that kind of mental test or how was it?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone.

Well it wasn't a tricky interview with pressure tests or anything. It was more some kind of as, Laurent said, it's an automatic kind of video interviewing, which you see. At least, it was when I applied. I don’t know if it's different, but I basically received these kinds of questions on the screen and you get to see them and you have something like 30 second or maybe one minute to prepare your answer and then it's one shot. You have no option to reply again, so you just have to be honest and be yourself. The questions are all about your motivation and why you're applying to this master in particular. What is interesting about finance and about the career path you want to start. And I think the purpose of it is actually to understand if you really want to do this master and if you really can add value to the programme. And if the programme can add value to you. As far as I recall, there were no finance tricky questions or anything. I believe that this kind of assessment about your finance knowledge has already been done before. Maybe looking at your curriculum or looking at your application itself or your referrals, they already have an overview of what you know about finance, what is your actual profile. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

About that, do you remember one question? Because it feels like it just pops on the screen. Then you have 30 seconds to think about the question. Then you have to answer it, and you're being registered, and then another question comes. So maybe you could give us like one secret, one question? Like you were “I wish I knew that before!”
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, I'm not sure I remember them. The thing is, the purpose of having like 30 seconds and one shot is just, I guess, it's just because they want you to be honest and to speak straight forward. It's not just because they want to see you answer in the right way. So I wouldn't say that there is a particular question, in which you have to prepare beforehand. Of course, You have to prepare a good pitch for yourself, what you did in the past and why you want to apply in this programme. It will be very useful to know something about the particular courses that they are teaching or maybe even better, about some of the teachers and the professors that are involved in the programme. If you have the opportunity to show interest in this particular thing, when they ask you”why are you choosing this programme”, it probably can actually make the difference. Well, I remember, like one thing that would be useful for a person applying. When I applied, at the end, I had the last question that was basically giving me one or two minutes to say whatever I want. So it's something that you don't expect to have, and you run the risk of, you know, arriving at the last question and then they say “you have two minutes to answer and to say whatever you want”. And you don't know what to say. So it would be very nice to prepare something for that moment. I remember I talked about my motivation again, it's one more chance to pitch yourself.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, so think of the last two minutes when you're gonna have to pitch yourself. Laurent, do you want to say anything more or do you think that everything has been said?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

No, the objective is to get to know the candidates and to know them better. So my advice to candidates is that: show us who you are, and give us the envy to recruit you. Show the sparks that you have in your eyes, for finance. Where you want to go, what do you want to build, how do you want to make an impact and that's what matters. Rather than this kind of trick questions about  who's leaving the subway and who's entering the subway, and this kind of tricky stuff that you will face later on in the investment banking interview.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, I'm going to quote you Laurent, the EDHEC Master in Finance programmes have equal impacts on skills and careers. My question is very simple. How do you teach soft skills?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

There are multiple ways where we teach soft skills. You teach soft skills in most of the courses because our students work together in groups. They defend their ideas, they defend their solution, they work on cases, but also at EDHEC we have the TICD, that I think is unique to EDHEC, the talent identification and career development module, which builds and allows students to, well figure out, whether they do have the soft skills and whether they have to improve some of them. So this is a combination of the in-class work and group work and presentations. And also these kinds of specific programmes, that we offer to all students at EDHEC, that will allow them to get prepared for all these interviews for their career. I would say in the financial industry.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Very clear.  What did you think of the TICD, the famous talent identification and career development from EDHEC Matteo? Have you used it yet? Has it helped to develop, as your future finance career?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Yes absolutely. I remember it was maybe in the half of my first year of the programme. It was very very useful. As Laurent said, I wouldn't say that it's just about seeing if you have the soft skills, but it's also more about making sure that you're able to face a potential interview or a potential job environment situation, in which you have to prove yourself or make sure you have the soft skill set to survive the environment. It was really, I would say, intense but also very useful. I remember that, at the end, when you do all these kinds of assessments that include, for example some case studies, and some face-to-face interviews with professionals, then at the end you have some kind of report in which you have like an overview of your profile from EDHEC point of view and their perspective on how you did during the assessment and the particular things in which you should improve. So I would say that it's a lot career related and orientated to this goal of achieving good interviews and achieving the next path of your career in the right way. It also develops you to understand your weaknesses, that it's something that doesn't have to be underestimated in my opinion.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, so the TICD is that place to be if you want to improve and develop your career. It's time for our first break, let's head to the clichés.
 
[Music] 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

So what would be the cliche, the stereotype, that someone might have had before working in finance, before applying to EDHEC? What comes to mind  if I say EDHEC Finance in Nice?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

There are many things that we can discuss. There are so many cliches about finance. I would say that one of the cliches is that finance is not the place to make money anymore. I do think this is kind of a cliche. The reason for that is that we hear about the tech industry and data science industry. If you want to be successful, you have to go these ways. We do think that investment banking still has a future and finance has a future within investment banking. But also in these Fintechs and all these kinds of things that you may learn and the skills you may learn in MiM Finance, would allow you to access this kind of very successful careers that still exist. Believe me, I think Matteo is on the right track to make a successful career.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Oh I'm sure to hear that you're going to have a good return on investment Matteo. What would be the cliche that comes to your mind?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well something that came to my mind, when I started the Master's degree, there was my bachelor was not pure finance, so that was actually my first real education in finance and the one thing that they usually think,people who don’t do finance, is that finance is only about maths or mostly about maths. And I would say that this is kind of a cliche, because when you actually get to know the subject and you get into the industry and the environment, you understand that of course, maths is like the basics, it’s like the fundamental thing to know, that you have to know if you want to have success. And if you wanted to actually understand the subject, in a proper manner. But also, there's a lot more skills that you need to have that don't relate to numbers and quantitative stuff… For example, relationship skills, or being able to understand opportunities and a lot of stuff like that, is very important, not only when you study finance but especially when you actually apply it. When you do your internships and your full-time programme, you will understand that. Of course if you do like the quantitative derivative trader, maybe it's more important to have the maths compared to a person who does consulting. But at the same time, I would say that you need to have a hybrid profile and be able to be keen in both things, but it's not entirely 100% mathematics.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well coming from a student who did not like finance as a previous academic background, I think it's even more powerful to hear that. So you don't stop yourself from a career in finance just because of maths. You can, I mean you need maths, I mean it's compulsory but you don't need to be a master in maths in order to apply. That's a very clear message you gave us. 
I'm intrigued by your course called “from climate science to climate finance”. Is it possible to be both ecological and work in finance? And I'm asking you Laurent. 
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

I hope so because if it's not the case, then the future of this planet is kind of at risk. So yes, we can and we have to. And that's what we teach all our students. So all our students need to go through that core course “from climate science to climate finance”. You need to as a finance professional, you need to understand the challenges that the planet is facing, that society is facing. And for which finance is part of the solution. So yes, this is possible and this is necessary. This is necessary to combine the finance perspective with the climate perspective.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

What do you think of that, Matteo? Did you attend that course?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Yes, I did. I found it very interesting, and I wanted to connect to whatLaurent said. I completely agree with that. I would add that, not only is it important for the world, to have a finance industry aligned with climate issues, but it's also very important to the finance industry to survive, to stay on track with those kinds of issues. Not just because the governments and, in general, the big institutions, are asking for more requirements in order to stay green, and in order to follow this kind of topic. So not only from a financial point of view, but also because finance is about the future. It's about the opportunities in the future and the future has to be sustainable. Because there is no other way to survive. Let's say it straightforwardly. And surviving means, not only us as people, but also the industry around us. Where the money flows and everything. So for the actual survival of the finance industry it's mandatory to be connected with these kinds of issues. And to make a step towards the improvement of this kind of sensitive topics.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well I couldn't agree with you two more, and I'm happy to hear that Laurent has mentioned the GMAT preparation. And how like you offer them in a party way on the website. 
“Do you prepare, will you prepare me for any official accreditation such as the CFA?”
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

Yes definitely. That CFA is a partner of the programme, and after the first year of the degree, you have pretty much all the knowledge that you need to succeed in level one of CFA. And possibly in most of the topics that are tackled in the level two of the CFA exam. We have a CFA elective that effectively prepares you for the kind of exam that you will go through on top of the financial knowledge that you need to succeed in the CFA. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

You also have a double degree with Berkeley Haas and MIT management law school. Is there a limited number of students accepted in the double degree courses? Because it sounds like a very interesting double degree to get.
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

Extremely interesting, extremely selective. So only a few students per year will be accepted in the MSc in finance at MIT, and on the master in financial engineering at Berkeley School of Business. So this is an amazing opportunity, I don't want to oversell that. Only a very few students are eligible for those and even fewer than that will be accepted in these degrees.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well but like you said, it's what makes the value of it as well. So I guess,it’s a possibility if you get accepted by your master. So I want you to name it.
Do you intend to apply to those double degrees Matteo? 
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well if I'm not wrong, I think, I'm not sure, but I think that the time to apply for the MIT double degree may be it's already passed but I'm not sure. Anyway I will also agree with Laurent about the highly selective way of choosing the students that will go to MIT. And talking with my friends and colleagues, I kind of understood the situation. Honestly, in a very humble way, I do not believe I have the profile required to do it. So I honestly wouldn't waste my time to apply for it, although it will be a very nice opportunity and a very interesting situation to be in. This is for students who have the best grades and in the top person of the school which is not my case. And so I would happily leave my place to someone who earns it and has the skills to do it. Because it's very selective and I'm also happy to continue my grand call scheme here in Nice. This is very cool as well.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well very humble of you. Like you said, it's one of the soft skills of humility as well it's very important. So well thank you for that very honest answer. But they have many other programmes, like there's an exchange programme, summer exchanges… Are you gonna do any of those?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well, as far as I know…When you have the gap year in the master in financial economics, you also can choose if instead of an internship, then Laurent of course correct me if i'm wrong, you can choose to do an exchange in another partner university instead of doing an internship. It's up to the student and you have to apply of course and probably have good grades for it. Personally I did not apply because I prefer to use my gap year as professional placement. Which I believe is more the purpose of doing this three year, because it's basically two year with a gap year in the middle, so a three-year course to be ready to break into the industry at the end of your master's. And having a good internship is very important, as I told you, I didn't have a finance background. Before I studied economics, I thought that, from my point of view, it was more interesting and more important to have professional experience before finishing my master’s. So I didn't apply for any kind of exchange during the gap year for this reason.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well that's another advantage of this master’s, you build your own academics depending on your needs. You can build your profile as well. Laurent, is there anything you want to add about the summer exchange or like the exchange programmes as well?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

No, I just wanted to say that, as you mentioned, it depends on the candidate, it depends on the students, and Matteo already has a very international profile. So he may not need that perspective that we're offering to other students who may need it. Matteo is coming from an international perspective, and so I think that this is really the right choice for him to invest a lot in a professional experience instead of just picking this kind of international experience within the academic studies. So it all depends on who you are.
Well Matteo is extremely humble, he shouldn't underestimate himself. I'm pretty sure that he is ready for the most successful career in finance that he can expect. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

You mentioned the CFA partnership. Do you have any other partnership with banks or with companies?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

Well we have quite a lot of partnerships. What I want to highlight is that, there is a very tight connection between EDHEC and the financial industry at large. But on top of that, those links, those crucial links that exist in between the school and financial institutions, we have preferred linked with a Société Généralel that is a sponsoring MSc in corporate finance and banking, we have specific links with a PWC, we have specific links with MAZAR and of course with multiple asset management companies. Either at the institutional level or, I would say, at the individual level. So lots of connections. And these connections allow our students to really gain an edge in the recruitment process I would say.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

What is the EDHEC Risk Institute and corporate partners?
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

Okay, so the Risk Institute, is a think tank at EDHEC, that allows the school to build a relevant and useful research programme in finance. So there is this research that is built in the financial academia and the purpose at EDHEC is to make it useful for the institutions. So this is a research centre that is closely linked with the industry and that invests a lot afterwards in our programmes. So we develop research that has an academic base, that is academically relevant, but also business relevant. And what we see, is that we have been very successful in building that, because out of the EDHEC Risk institute that has been investing a lot factor analysis, for portfolio management, there has been a spin-off that has been created within uh within EDHEC that was called Scientific Beta and that has been recently sold to Singapore stock exchange for well quite a lot of money. I would say more than 100 million euros. So the research that is done at EDHEC is both meaningful and useful both from an academic and from an industry perspective. 
And our corporate sponsors and partners also help us build the most relevant programmes that will equip our students with the most relevant skills to build a successful career in the industry. I'm not talking about getting a first job, I'm talking about building a career. And to do so, you need the expertise of the industry, and we rely a lot on our corporate partners to do so. And to adjust our programmes over time.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well, very impressive. Let's talk about making an impact. I like to say that's how to make an impact at EDHEC. Again that was very impressive. Matteo, I have a question that I really like to ask the students: is there one thing you didn't like about this master’s? I know you haven't finished yet, I know that  Laurent is watching you, I know you are at risk right now… However, is there, if you could name one thing you didn't like about these master’s? 
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well I have to say, I didn't expect this kind of question from Laurent. well it's hard to say something that I didn't like. What I would think is that one thing, for example, as I mentioned I did economics in my bachelor's, so it wasn't finance but there were a lot of finance related topics. And for me, and for a lot of other students, you know the purpose of the first year of this semester is to give you the basics to make sure to specialise yourself in the second year. And for me, and a lot of other students, we already had a little bit of these basics. Regarding some subjects, others were completely strange from us and we learned a lot, and you know from point zero. But in other cases you might feel like you're learning again something if you did the bachelor that is remotely related to finance. But I guess that this is not something to dislike, because it's also an opportunity to strengthen your knowledge and also it's mandatory to have a broad overview of everything before moving to the specialisation. So it's a path that you have to take and it's something that doesn't have to be underestimated. but yeah I would say, that some courses maybe, if I would have the opportunity to skip that I would probably done. But it's highly subjective. So Laurent doesn't look at me like that…
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

That’s all right. So I guess, what you didn't like is that EDHEC made you suffer for your own good. Well let's talk about something joyful now. One last question before the extra time. It's about someone that has never been to Nice and they would like to know what life is like in Nice. Matteo, can you comment on that?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well it's very cool from a student perspective. The city is not huge, it's not like Paris or London but at the same time there are a lot of students. There are a lot of universities and in the centre of the city, there are a lot of opportunities to get to know other students from other universities. And also the EDHEC students have this habit to gather together, of course before covid, a friday evening or organise some kind of university events…. So I would say that social life is very, very thrilling and very alive. And you know, some people would think that Nice is maybe like a city in which you can chill, you can relax, because you have the sea and it's pretty quiet but I would say that, Nice is also,if you want to have fun during the night and hang out and drink something, there is everything. So from this point of view, it's like Paris, Milan, London and other cities. You find the life that you're looking for as a student and you also find a good opportunity to relax if you need it.
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

All right, perfectly clear. Thank you Matteo.  Thank you Laurent as well. Time flies and we only have two minutes left. Let's go to extra time.
 
[Music] 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Well two last minutes and Laurent and Matteo, you're going to have to tell us everything that hasn't been said yet, or something you want to emphasise on. Matteo we’ll give you one minute to start and then Laurent you will conclude with the last minute. So Matteo, what do you want to tell us?
 
Speaker: Matteo Mellone

Well, from the perspective of a person who is watching this and might be probably like a student who wants to apply for the master’s, who is uncertain about what he wants to do in the future, and is thinking about doing a career in finance… I would connect to the cliche part, when we talked about mathematics. I wouldn't talk just about this, but about the fact that in general the numbers that you have, like for example your gpa or your hard skills on the determined subject is not enough to mark you as a good or bad candidate. I would say that,  I found it very important, both during the master's degree and both during my internships that I'm doing right now, to actually understand which are your weaknesses and your strengths and to make sure that you can develop them as well. And I would say that, we didn’t mention theTICD programme at EDHEC. This is a very good starting point to understand where your potential is and what you can actually do to give an impact to yourself. I think it's mandatory, if you want to have a successful career path, and it's something that goes above the grades and the subjects that you study. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Thank you Matteo. Laurent, the last minute, the last words.
 
Speaker: Laurent Deville

Well, that's such a responsibility. What we want to say is that of course, we are a world rated institution in finance and this is deserved. But we have specificities, and one of these specifices would be that we are teaching finance with a purpose. We want all the knowledge that you acquire, all the competencies that you require to be applicable for the future, with a perspective. We have to Make an impact. And we have to possibly have a positive impact on society, on the financial industry and it's possible to combine that positive impact with a highly successful career. This is what we're going to train you to be in the future. Having the knowledge, being able to apply this knowledge in a relevant way or how to make a positive impact through finance. That would be the motto of the master in management - financial economics. 
 
Speaker: Guillaume Puchercos

Thank you Laurent for playing the game and talking for the last minute. Thank you Matteo as well. Thanks to the two of you for answering all my questions and for the people watching, I hope to see you soon on Campus Channel.