The quarter in HEC is from Jan 3rd to April 15th. That's what the official letter said. So, I had to apply for long stay visa. The long stay visa form is in French. I convinced the consulate to let me apply for the short stay VISA.
By the way, my first experience with the French government bureaucracy was very good. It started off bad with the guy sending me back to make copies of some documents. But, I got my VISA stamped in 15 minutes of submitting all the papers. When he asked me to wait, I had a hunch that I will get it now. That’s the fastest turnaround time compared to any other consulate.