The Student Room Group

MSc Finance Bocconi - SSE - Warwick - EM Lyon (Management)

My Personal Experience at Bocconi University

A few words on my background:
BSc Accounting and Finance from a top 5 University in the UK with a mid 2:1.
My GMAT: 670.
My offers:
- MSc Finance Warwick
- MSc Finance Bocconi
- MSc Business and Economics with Finance as specialty SSE
- MSc in Management EM Lyon

My career goal: portfolio management in the UK

I have been studying at Bocconi for 5 months now.

Why did I choose Bocconi?

Well, I wanted to discover a new culture and a new environment. As a Frenchman who studied in England for 3years I decided to tick out both EM Lyon and Warwick from my list. So my choice pinned down to SSE or Bocconi.

On the face of it, both SSE and Bocconi programs were top-notch –even though SSE’s seemed a bit more theoretical. Moreover both schools had great reputation in the City.

So my decision was based on extra-curricular criteria:
- The possibility to do sport (Rugby in my case);
- To learn extra languages (at Bocconi, international students are required to take Italian and another language; I chose Portuguese);
- I thought of Milan as nicer, warmer and more vibrant a city than Stockholm.

What I have found

First, I want to mention that Bocconi has absolutely no international student culture whatsoever. We are a minority in the classrooms and they don’t really try to help us out. Take accommodation for instance. It is quite difficult to find any decent place in Milan. You can stay in one of Bocconi’s dorms but they are located far away from the uni (Arcobaleno for instance is miles away from Bocconi and Milan’s city centre) and are relatively expensive. Don’t expect any help from Bocconi’s administration; you’re left on your own. Now compare this with SSE’s international office that kept sending me accommodation offers as I was originally enrolled at SSE. Another issue that could be raised is that everything is in Italian from the sport association to additional classes (VBA, language courses like Russian). This is not so much a big deal for me as I’m French but keep it in mind if your understanding of Italian is weak (good luck to go through Italian red tape btw).

The course: As everywhere else, lecturers range from mediocre to great and I guess this is normal. However what is absolutely unacceptable is that some of them are uncomfortable teaching in English. Trust me the step is high between your bachelor and a Master in Finance and the last thing you want to be facing is to decipher what lecturers are saying.
In terms of workload, your weekly timetable is pretty heavy and you have many suggested/required readings. Don’t expect any seminars because there aren’t any. You need to be independent and work on the models on your own. Remember why I came here? Among other things to learn Portuguese, right? Well, forget about that, Portuguese is advertised as an option but is no longer taught; we train you to be independent… (For the record, Italian is only taught from the second term onwards, which barely makes sense)

The facilities: the library is a joke. It is well too small for the entire student body. In some part of it, you cannot even connect to Wi-Fi and it is outrageously noisy as people think it is normal to pick up their phones. Besides, you can’t find power sockets to plug your laptop in 2/3 of the library. There are few study places scattered across the campus but when exams show up, be ready to race to get a free spot.
If you thought that was bad, just wait for the computer rooms’ descriptions. Because computers are lagging crazily, you’re always sure to find one available but don’t expect the same thing for printers as there are very few of them around. So be patient and line up to print the next class handout.

Job prospects: Bocconi is a solid brand name in the City, no doubt about it. Many students are interviewing for corporate or market positions despite having little relevant work experience. Then getting the job/internship is a matter of personal fit.
The career office is however not on par with those of schools like HEC Paris or St Gallen. For instance at HEC, there is a continuous flow of internships displayed on the school’s website and at St Gallen, campus recruitment is widespread and very well structured. At Bocconi, most internship/job offers are only advertised in Italian and Milan-based. There are possibilities to network but they are quite limited (try to network with 4 professionals when you have 100students attending a company’s presentation as it is the case in Banking Saturdays). This raises another issue: there are 200 students graduating every year with the same degree (160 take the English taught master the rest the Italian taught one) and they pretty much all dream to go away from Italy and to settle down in London: you like liberal markets, right?

The people: Maybe the most subjective part of my review. Well, they are nice people although extremely competitive. Those who study at Bocconi before are not very engaging and usually hang out with the friends they met during their undergrad so it’s difficult to bond. Some have a brown nose leaning, which I find utterly irritating but that isn’t the majority. They are ready to speak in Italian but less happy to do so in English. Ultimately you stick most of the time with internationals (maybe 25% of the students).

The city and extra-curricular activities: Milan is simply the dullest city I’ve ever lived in. First, note that apart from the Duomo and couple other places, Milan is the black sheep of Italian cities as it is quite vile (if you want to make this fact straight, compare it with Bologna, Parma, Genoa, Venice, Verona, Torino just to name a few Italian cities surrounding Milan). Once you’re worn out museums, la Scala (Opera) and the aperetivo concept (8 euro drink that comes with a food buffet), Milan has nothing to offer. It is absolutely empty at night and very small.
Second, Remember why I came here? Among other things to play Rugby with Bocconi, right? Well, forget about that, rugby at Bocconi is advertised but the team never plays together as it has no coach and no pitch. At times, games are arranged but there aren’t so many of them (2-3 a year). If you absolutely want to practice sport (or to go to the gym), make sure you come with a medical certificate because if you do it in Lombardia, it costs 70euros for the GP to basically say that everything’s fine with you.
Consequently most people I know dream of one thing: to leave for an exchange (the list of school available is really not impressive and places are extremely limited; if your aim is to get to HEC PARIS through the double degree program, be advised there is one place for 160students).

Conclusion:
Do I regret it? Not really because having Bocconi on my CV has considerably enhanced my chances to get interviews for internships. I believe that at the end of the day all that matters is to get the job that you want. Now, am I disappointed? Gosh yeah. No fun here, absolutely no value for money. Why would I recommend you to come and study at Bocconi? Well, if you actually like to study hard or if you get full scholarship (bear in mind that the scholarship covers one year of tuition only and is quite difficult to renew) I think Bocconi is a place you may consider, otherwise move on, honestly.

Sorry I was a bit lengthy at times but I thought it added value to give you a comprehensive description
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 1
Original post by Cassavettes

Milan has nothing to offer. It is absolutely empty at night and very small.


I've lived three years in Milan and quite enjoyed it. It is not as spectacularly beautiful as Florence or Rome, but it does have its charm

For "night life" ,if you haven't tried yet, try exploring Corso di Porta Ticinese/Colonne di S.Lorenzo/Navigli

there is also Corso Como, but that's rather drugs-infested

The population of Milan proper (without the metropolitan area) is about 1,700,000

Best
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 2
+1 for the in-depth post. For what it's worth, 100% agree with you.
Reply 3
Thanks for the comprehensive review I have applied to do a Specialized Masters at Bocconi. I spent 2 months traveling around Italy last summer (although I did not visit Milan and fell in love with the country. As I want to go into investment banking and live in Italy.. after reading the reviews, brochure and watching the videos online Bocconi seemed like the perfect university for me. May have to do a bit more research now.
Reply 4
Original post by Cassavettes
My Personal Experience at Bocconi University

A few words on my background:
BSc Accounting and Finance from a top 5 University in the UK with a mid 2:1.
My GMAT: 670.
My offers:
- MSc Finance Warwick
- MSc Finance Bocconi
- MSc Business and Economics with Finance as specialty SSE
- MSc in Management EM Lyon

My career goal: portfolio management in the UK

I have been studying at Bocconi for 5 months now.

Why did I choose Bocconi?

Well, I wanted to discover a new culture and a new environment. As a Frenchman who studied in England for 3years I decided to tick out both EM Lyon and Warwick from my list. So my choice pinned down to SSE or Bocconi.

On the face of it, both SSE and Bocconi programs were top-notch –even though SSE’s seemed a bit more theoretical. Moreover both schools had great reputation in the City.

So my decision was based on extra-curricular criteria:
- The possibility to do sport (Rugby in my case);
- To learn extra languages (at Bocconi, international students are required to take Italian and another language; I chose Portuguese);
- I thought of Milan as nicer, warmer and more vibrant a city than Stockholm.

Sorry I was a bit lengthy at times but I thought it added value to give you a comprehensive description


Bonjour,

Thanks for the comprehensive review. I think Bocconi places quite a few people in London in areas like equity sales, FX sales and anything Italy-focussed (at least in markets). Did you find most people wanted to go into markets, or corp fin? (or was there an equal split).

I have an MSc Finance offer at l'HEC. Do you have any thoughts on that? From the people I've spoken to I found more people go into IBD/M&A than markets (I guess the opposite holds true for L'Ecoles Polytechniques).

My experience is all in markets though (internship, full-time role in prop) so I would like to continue there.
Reply 5
Original post by slct

Were you able to secure a internship for the summer outside Italy?
Btw, at the time of application, have much finance-related work experience did you have?


I did a few summer internships in banking but it wasn't enough to impress big asset managers like Pimco, BlackRock or Fidelity. With Bocconi on my CV, I interviewed in all of them and got myself a nice position in London
Reply 6
Thanks for giving us such a detailed review. I wish more people did that.
One remark from me - you say that Bocconi offers no value for money, and yet when you had the decision between Bocconi (20,000 euro without scholarship) and SSE (free), you chose Bocconi because of rugby, languages and the weather? I think you are partially at fault there.
Reply 7
Original post by Trent23
I have applied to do a Specialized Masters at Bocconi. May have to do a bit more research now.


Specialized Masters may be different though. I assume there will be more international people. Once again I tried to be as objective as I could but what I described is my personal experience and yours may be totally different. However bear in mind that travelling in Italy even for 2 months is hardly representative of living in Italy.
Reply 8
Original post by effofex
Did you find most people wanted to go into markets, or corp fin? (or was there an equal split).

I have an MSc Finance offer at l'HEC. Do you have any thoughts on that? From the people I've spoken to I found more people go into IBD/M&A than markets (I guess the opposite holds true for L'Ecoles Polytechniques).



At Bocconi, most people are interested in corporate finance but quite a few applied for market positions and got internships.
I don't really know HEC specialized masters. However, in France, HEC is renowned for its Grande Ecole Program (associated with the MSc Management - and then you choose the major in finance within this MSc). Usually specialized masters are regarded as cash cows.
Polytechniques is an engineering school and is truly an elite school. So after that you can do pretty much whatever you want.
Reply 9
Thanks for the detailed post, really appreciate it.

I have an offer for MSc Finance at Bocconi but I really have my doubts, particularly about the language part and the fact that everything seems really unstructured.

I am really considering going to Mannheim instead. I've spent a semester there and the teaching was excellent and we had company presentations with 1-2 BB's every week. Then again, Bocconi is a much stronger name but dont know if the Bocconi tuition fee vs 500 euro at Mannheim is really worth getting one or two extra interviews.
Thank you for a really informative post.

Could you share your opinion as to how easy/difficult it is for a French student who has studied an economics-type subject at BSc level at a really reputable UK university to be accepted at HEC/Essec/ESCP/EM Lyon afterwards?
Reply 11
Original post by ParisApplications
Could you share your opinion as to how easy/difficult it is for a French student who has studied an economics-type subject at BSc level at a really reputable UK university to be accepted at HEC/Essec/ESCP/EM Lyon afterwards?


It isn't so hard. HEC/ESCP and EM Lyon share a common admission process called SAI (Service des Admissions Internationales). You need to get recommendation letters, to answer to some competency questions and to take the GMAT. A score above 650 should be enough to be considered for the final stage which is a 2-3 on 1 itw (in English or French). Some schools put more emphasis on the itw in their selecting process (EM Lyon) while others like HEC puts a greater emphasis on your GMAT score (typically 700+). ESSEC has a standalone admission process but it is very similar to the one I've just described.
Reply 12
Original post by Cassavettes
It isn't so hard. HEC/ESCP and EM Lyon share a common admission process called SAI (Service des Admissions Internationales). You need to get recommendation letters, to answer to some competency questions and to take the GMAT. A score above 650 should be enough to be considered for the final stage which is a 2-3 on 1 itw (in English or French). Some schools put more emphasis on the itw in their selecting process (EM Lyon) while others like HEC puts a greater emphasis on your GMAT score (typically 700+). ESSEC has a standalone admission process but it is very similar to the one I've just described.


Thanks for the inisght, would you say HEC favors students with high GMAT scores more than students with high gpa?

Would it be possible to be admitted to a prestigious bs like HEC with an average GPA, but very high GMAT?
Thank you - very useful!
Reply 14
Original post by Cassavettes
My Personal Experience at Bocconi University

A few words on my background:
BSc Accounting and Finance from a top 5 University in the UK with a mid 2:1.
My GMAT: 670.
My offers:
- MSc Finance Warwick
- MSc Finance Bocconi
- MSc Business and Economics with Finance as specialty SSE
- MSc in Management EM Lyon

My career goal: portfolio management in the UK

I have been studying at Bocconi for 5 months now.

Why did I choose Bocconi?

Well, I wanted to discover a new culture and a new environment. As a Frenchman who studied in England for 3years I decided to tick out both EM Lyon and Warwick from my list. So my choice pinned down to SSE or Bocconi.

On the face of it, both SSE and Bocconi programs were top-notch –even though SSE’s seemed a bit more theoretical. Moreover both schools had great reputation in the City.

So my decision was based on extra-curricular criteria:
- The possibility to do sport (Rugby in my case);
- To learn extra languages (at Bocconi, international students are required to take Italian and another language; I chose Portuguese);
- I thought of Milan as nicer, warmer and more vibrant a city than Stockholm.

What I have found

First, I want to mention that Bocconi has absolutely no international student culture whatsoever. We are a minority in the classrooms and they don’t really try to help us out. Take accommodation for instance. It is quite difficult to find any decent place in Milan. You can stay in one of Bocconi’s dorms but they are located far away from the uni (Arcobaleno for instance is miles away from Bocconi and Milan’s city centre) and are relatively expensive. Don’t expect any help from Bocconi’s administration; you’re left on your own. Now compare this with SSE’s international office that kept sending me accommodation offers as I was originally enrolled at SSE. Another issue that could be raised is that everything is in Italian from the sport association to additional classes (VBA, language courses like Russian). This is not so much a big deal for me as I’m French but keep it in mind if your understanding of Italian is weak (good luck to go through Italian red tape btw).

The course: As everywhere else, lecturers range from mediocre to great and I guess this is normal. However what is absolutely unacceptable is that some of them are uncomfortable teaching in English. Trust me the step is high between your bachelor and a Master in Finance and the last thing you want to be facing is to decipher what lecturers are saying.
In terms of workload, your weekly timetable is pretty heavy and you have many suggested/required readings. Don’t expect any seminars because there aren’t any. You need to be independent and work on the models on your own. Remember why I came here? Among other things to learn Portuguese, right? Well, forget about that, Portuguese is advertised as an option but is no longer taught; we train you to be independent… (For the record, Italian is only taught from the second term onwards, which barely makes sense)

The facilities: the library is a joke. It is well too small for the entire student body. In some part of it, you cannot even connect to Wi-Fi and it is outrageously noisy as people think it is normal to pick up their phones. Besides, you can’t find power sockets to plug your laptop in 2/3 of the library. There are few study places scattered across the campus but when exams show up, be ready to race to get a free spot.
If you thought that was bad, just wait for the computer rooms’ descriptions. Because computers are lagging crazily, you’re always sure to find one available but don’t expect the same thing for printers as there are very few of them around. So be patient and line up to print the next class handout.

Job prospects: Bocconi is a solid brand name in the City, no doubt about it. Many students are interviewing for corporate or market positions despite having little relevant work experience. Then getting the job/internship is a matter of personal fit.
The career office is however not on par with those of schools like HEC Paris or St Gallen. For instance at HEC, there is a continuous flow of internships displayed on the school’s website and at St Gallen, campus recruitment is widespread and very well structured. At Bocconi, most internship/job offers are only advertised in Italian and Milan-based. There are possibilities to network but they are quite limited (try to network with 4 professionals when you have 100students attending a company’s presentation as it is the case in Banking Saturdays). This raises another issue: there are 200 students graduating every year with the same degree (160 take the English taught master the rest the Italian taught one) and they pretty much all dream to go away from Italy and to settle down in London: you like liberal markets, right?

The people: Maybe the most subjective part of my review. Well, they are nice people although extremely competitive. Those who study at Bocconi before are not very engaging and usually hang out with the friends they met during their undergrad so it’s difficult to bond. Some have a brown nose leaning, which I find utterly irritating but that isn’t the majority. They are ready to speak in Italian but less happy to do so in English. Ultimately you stick most of the time with internationals (maybe 25% of the students).

The city and extra-curricular activities: Milan is simply the dullest city I’ve ever lived in. First, note that apart from the Duomo and couple other places, Milan is the black sheep of Italian cities as it is quite vile (if you want to make this fact straight, compare it with Bologna, Parma, Genoa, Venice, Verona, Torino just to name a few Italian cities surrounding Milan). Once you’re worn out museums, la Scala (Opera) and the aperetivo concept (8 euro drink that comes with a food buffet), Milan has nothing to offer. It is absolutely empty at night and very small.
Second, Remember why I came here? Among other things to play Rugby with Bocconi, right? Well, forget about that, rugby at Bocconi is advertised but the team never plays together as it has no coach and no pitch. At times, games are arranged but there aren’t so many of them (2-3 a year). If you absolutely want to practice sport (or to go to the gym), make sure you come with a medical certificate because if you do it in Lombardia, it costs 70euros for the GP to basically say that everything’s fine with you.
Consequently most people I know dream of one thing: to leave for an exchange (the list of school available is really not impressive and places are extremely limited; if your aim is to get to HEC PARIS through the double degree program, be advised there is one place for 160students).

Conclusion:
Do I regret it? Not really because having Bocconi on my CV has considerably enhanced my chances to get interviews for internships. I believe that at the end of the day all that matters is to get the job that you want. Now, am I disappointed? Gosh yeah. No fun here, absolutely no value for money. Why would I recommend you to come and study at Bocconi? Well, if you actually like to study hard or if you get full scholarship (bear in mind that the scholarship covers one year of tuition only and is quite difficult to renew) I think Bocconi is a place you may consider, otherwise move on, honestly.

Sorry I was a bit lengthy at times but I thought it added value to give you a comprehensive description



Hi :smile: I know your post is mainly concerned with MSc but I see you know a great deal about Bocconi and I am really looking for someone who can advise me objectively about my choice..basically I have to choose between PPE at York and Bocconi BIEMF and I am constantly told diametrically opposed views on everything :s-smilie: ..

I know Bocconi is more internationally recognised than York (which however has a pretty strong reputation within the UK, especially for PPE) but my worry is that once I go back to Italy (I'm currently studying in the UK) I won't have as high chaces to get in, say Oxford or LSE, to do a MSc..would it be better to go to York (where I can take the econometrics route, which would allow me to do a master in Economics) or go to Bocconi to do the undergraduate which could(?) look better on my CV..? Thanks a lot :smile:
Reply 15
Original post by dianaro
Hi :smile: I know your post is mainly concerned with MSc but I see you know a great deal about Bocconi and I am really looking for someone who can advise me objectively about my choice..basically I have to choose between PPE at York and Bocconi BIEMF and I am constantly told diametrically opposed views on everything :s-smilie: ..

I know Bocconi is more internationally recognised than York (which however has a pretty strong reputation within the UK, especially for PPE) but my worry is that once I go back to Italy (I'm currently studying in the UK) I won't have as high chaces to get in, say Oxford or LSE, to do a MSc..would it be better to go to York (where I can take the econometrics route, which would allow me to do a master in Economics) or go to Bocconi to do the undergraduate which could(?) look better on my CV..? Thanks a lot :smile:


Bump, because incredibly, I'm facing the exact same dilemma!
Reply 16
I'm finishing my first year at Bocconi in the Msc finance.

I did my undergrad in France and have intentional work experience. I wish to share my experience and maybe help few people make a choice.

Cassavettes wrote a great post, so I will quote it and add to it

What I have found

First, I want to mention that Bocconi has absolutely no international student culture whatsoever. We are a minority in the classrooms and they don’t really try to help us out. Take accommodation for instance. It is quite difficult to find any decent place in Milan. You can stay in one of Bocconi’s dorms but they are located far away from the uni (Arcobaleno for instance is miles away from Bocconi and Milan’s city centre) and are relatively expensive. Don’t expect any help from Bocconi’s administration; you’re left on your own. Now compare this with SSE’s international office that kept sending me accommodation offers as I was originally enrolled at SSE. Another issue that could be raised is that everything is in Italian from the sport association to additional classes (VBA, language courses like Russian). This is not so much a big deal for me as I’m French but keep it in mind if your understanding of Italian is weak (good luck to go through Italian red tape btw).


Entirely true, to give people an idea, you pay 700 euro for a 9m² room with bathroom. And you have to kick your guess out at midnight.
Its possible to get lower rent if you qualify as being poor (there are 4 brackets), which bring the cost to 350 euro.
But the funny things is : They first give the room to the previous year student (normal), but then people that are able to pay full price get priority of room allocation.
So usually the poorest people, do not get access to the room whatsoever:smile:.



The course: As everywhere else, lecturers range from mediocre to great and I guess this is normal. However what is absolutely unacceptable is that some of them are uncomfortable teaching in English. Trust me the step is high between your bachelor and a Master in Finance and the last thing you want to be facing is to decipher what lecturers are saying.
In terms of workload, your weekly timetable is pretty heavy and you have many suggested/required readings. Don’t expect any seminars because there aren’t any. You need to be independent and work on the models on your own. Remember why I came here? Among other things to learn Portuguese, right? Well, forget about that, Portuguese is advertised as an option but is no longer taught; we train you to be independent… (For the record, Italian is only taught from the second term onwards, which barely makes sense)


We also should mention that language, for the msc level, are taught from the B1 level.
Don't expect the language center to help you, or even direct you toward the A1 level class that are taught to Bsc (I found out about it through other students).

1 lecturer is great (Saita for derivatives), some are good (Gatti for Investment Banking), but most of them are pathetic, weak english and for some completely unhappy to teach (2 of the teacher of economics are just do***bag who don't give a damn about students being able to follow or not).



The facilities: the library is a joke. It is well too small for the entire student body. In some part of it, you cannot even connect to Wi-Fi and it is outrageously noisy as people think it is normal to pick up their phones. Besides, you can’t find power sockets to plug your laptop in 2/3 of the library. There are few study places scattered across the campus but when exams show up, be ready to race to get a free spot.
If you thought that was bad, just wait for the computer rooms’ descriptions. Because computers are lagging crazily, you’re always sure to find one available but don’t expect the same thing for printers as there are very few of them around. So be patient and line up to print the next class handout.


It is indeed a joke. Not enough room, so people go there during exam period at 8:30 in morning to be sure to get some seats.
A good point are the books, you can borrow a lot of them for 4 weeks.
A bad points is that there is no incentive whatsoever for people to give back the book after 4 weeks as there is not cost of doing so (welcome to Italy)

Job prospects: Bocconi is a solid brand name in the City, no doubt about it. Many students are interviewing for corporate or market positions despite having little relevant work experience. Then getting the job/internship is a matter of personal fit.
The career office is however not on par with those of schools like HEC Paris or St Gallen. For instance at HEC, there is a continuous flow of internships displayed on the school’s website and at St Gallen, campus recruitment is widespread and very well structured. At Bocconi, most internship/job offers are only advertised in Italian and Milan-based. There are possibilities to network but they are quite limited (try to network with 4 professionals when you have 100students attending a company’s presentation as it is the case in Banking Saturdays). This raises another issue: there are 200 students graduating every year with the same degree (160 take the English taught master the rest the Italian taught one) and they pretty much all dream to go away from Italy and to settle down in London: you like liberal markets, right?


Honestly, in total I got 2 interviews that I wouldn't have gotten without the Bocconi brand name. That's it.
The career center is not only a joke, it is also inefficient. Half the people do NOT speak english, and the few offers available on the website are like "oh check the website of this bank, they are looking for X at the moment"

The people: Maybe the most subjective part of my review. Well, they are nice people although extremely competitive. Those who study at Bocconi before are not very engaging and usually hang out with the friends they met during their undergrad so it’s difficult to bond. Some have a brown nose leaning, which I find utterly irritating but that isn’t the majority. They are ready to speak in Italian but less happy to do so in English. Ultimately you stick most of the time with internationals (maybe 25% of the students).


I'd say there are a lot of nice people. Like everywhere. And most of them are smart.
The tendency of italian to hang out together is true.
Now I guess the problem is like in any good school, you get a lot of people who spent their life only studying and who are, let say teenagers in an adult's body. It is fun to watch to see a kid with no work experience telling you how the world works, it gets sad when you see they are not joking.

The city and extra-curricular activities: Milan is simply the dullest city I’ve ever lived in. First, note that apart from the Duomo and couple other places, Milan is the black sheep of Italian cities as it is quite vile (if you want to make this fact straight, compare it with Bologna, Parma, Genoa, Venice, Verona, Torino just to name a few Italian cities surrounding Milan). Once you’re worn out museums, la Scala (Opera) and the aperetivo concept (8 euro drink that comes with a food buffet), Milan has nothing to offer. It is absolutely empty at night and very small.


Milan is a small city (though some will say 1.7 million is a lot). Its not dynamic, but it is not bad either. Lovely place to visit or go on holiday. And if you are into fashion and clothes, it is kind of a paradise.


Conclusion:
Do I regret it? Not really because having Bocconi on my CV has considerably enhanced my chances to get interviews for internships. I believe that at the end of the day all that matters is to get the job that you want. Now, am I disappointed? Gosh yeah. No fun here, absolutely no value for money. Why would I recommend you to come and study at Bocconi? Well, if you actually like to study hard or if you get full scholarship (bear in mind that the scholarship covers one year of tuition only and is quite difficult to renew) I think Bocconi is a place you may consider, otherwise move on, honestly.


I do regret coming to Bocconi and i would advise anyone AGAINST it. You have other better, cheaper and more welcoming program out there.

As for the scholarship, you have two of them, one related to grade, the other regarded to financial situation.
The second one is a funny one as you actually have no idea on how it is attributed. And the school refuses to give you any info on that. I've seen enough irregularities (truly poor people that get nothing, rich people from the south that get a full scholarship etc) to affirm that this process is utterly corrupt.
Reply 17
Thanks for this excellent review of various aspects of Bocconi. Very helpful and concise in highlighting shortcomings and lack of transparency with first hand experience. Good luck on your career.

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