Interview 2025 Competitive examinations
All interviews (auditions) are by default conducted in person in Paris (at the Institut Henri Poincaré ), during the week 10 to 14 March 2025. Depending on your situation (health issues, pregnancy, foreign residency, etc.), you may be eligible for a videoconference interview, which you have to formally request. Please refer to the official guide for more information.
- In person
The interviews are possible in French or English.
The date and time (Paris time) of the interviews will be indicated on the invitation (sent by the central service of the competition) that you will receive. On the day of the interview, please be present at least ~15 minutes in advance. You will be in a waiting space and you will be admitted at the right time.
For the presentation, you will project a PDF file uploaded via a USB key to the local computer.
While not compulsory, we warmly suggest that you send a PDF copy of your presentation at the latest the day before your interview, to the committee’s address . This file will only be used in case of technical problems.
Timing of the interview. For all candidates: 18 minutes of presentation of your research work and project + 20 minutes of questions/answers with the committee. The candidats who are also interviewed for the 02/03 or 02/05 competition will have 2 extra presentation minutes and 2 extra Q&A minutes. Please respect the maximum duration of the presentation (either 18 or 20 minutes).
You may prepare backup slides to answer questions, but please be concise in your answers. There will also be the possibility to use a board.
- By videoconference
The interviews are possible in French or English.
The interview will be conducted by videoconference, using Zoom. If you are not familiar with this software, we advise you to practice in advance, especially via the resources on the website https://zoom.us .
The date and time (Paris time) of the interviews will be indicated on the invitation (sent by the central service of the competition) that you will receive. The Zoom link will also be provided following your request. Depending on the encryption settings on your side and on the committee side, the Zoom link may not work. In that case please use the Meeting ID and the passcode provided by the central service. On the day of the interview, please log in ~10 minutes in advance: you will be in the Waiting Room and you will be admitted at the right time.
For the presentation, you will be able to only share a PDF file via the Zoom screen sharing functionality.
While not compulsory, we warmly suggest that you send a PDF copy of your presentation at the latest the day before your interview, to the committee’s address . This file will only be used in case of technical problems (e.g. during screen sharing).
We advise you to choose a quiet place with good light conditions, a good internet connection and good sound (e.g. headphones).
Timing of the interview. For all candidates: 18 minutes of presentation of your research work and project + 20 minutes of questions/answers with the committee. The candidats who are also interviewed for the 02/03 or 02/05 competition will have 2 extra presentation minutes and 2 extra Q&A minutes. Please respect the maximum duration of the presentation (either 18 or 20 minutes).
You may prepare backup slides to answer questions, but please be concise in your answers. There will be also the possibility of using a virtual whiteboard in Zoom if you need to draw a picture or write an equation.
In case of urgent questions or technical problems, it is possible to contact the committee at .