What students say

SDA Bocconi fulfilled all my expectations: practically oriented courses, a highly stimulating intellectual environment and a first rate managerial education. While studying for my MBA, SDA Bocconi proved to be a fertile ground for establishing strong connections, both on the personal and the business level. This degree from a business school of such excellent reputation opens valuable business opportunities in Europe, even in a turbulent economic environment.
Amir Jacobi, Israel, MBA 2009

Well, the MBA experience could be described as a big load of new influences coming your way in a very short period of time. There will be professors asking you to read hundreds of pages of assignments for each course. There will be expectations to contribute to MBA life by actively engaging in club activities. There will be countless hours spent on group work with people from truly diverse backgrounds and with different attitudes. There will be tempting invitations to spend a weekend in Rome or Venice with some classmates. Finally, there is your non MBA life to be managed: your friends will pay a visit now that you're studying in such a nice country. My personal advice on this is to set your own priorities, think about how important all the different elements of an MBA experience are to you, and make sure you block time for those things that matter to you by focusing your efforts and enjoying Milan.
Peer Reumann, German, MBA 2007

You'll be anxious to know what is awaiting you at SDA Bocconi.
After evaluating various rankings and reading extensively on the top business schools, SDA Bocconi probably caught your attention because of its high standing, but also because of its location and program duration.
Your head will be buzzing with invitations to various activities organized by the school and/or the students, from sailing to prestigious guest speakers or trips to Venice.
Most of us do not realise how intensive this 12-month program is. Time management is crucial in learning how to balance everything. You will never forget spending close to twelve hours per day with the same 60 people, at least five days per week, every week. It seems a lot, but with such talented people from all over the world, you become a large, interesting family. You embark on this journey together, and you complete it together, having created
precious long-lasting relationships.
Karina Paradis, Canadian, MBA 2006

In accepting my slot at Bocconi, I knew I had made the right decision.
But, it has taken the full academic year, with all its challenges, to realize how right the decision was for my personal growth.
Why do it? I enjoyed my job, I enjoyed making money and I enjoyed being in charge.
However, without a formal education in business, I wanted to learn.
It was sometimes easy for me to lose sight of this purpose as I struggled through corporate finance and accounting. It’s not just the subject matter one needs to learn, but also processing information differently. I have been required to virtually disconnect my mental switchboard and reconnect the wires against my innate sense of logical reasoning.
Your experience will be unlike anyone else’s, whatever your expectations.
Welcome to the Bocconi adventure, which I hope you will find as positive as I have found mine.
Katie Lewis, Canadian-American, MBA 2006

Studying your MBA at SDA Bocconi offers the opportunity to grow as a person and as a professional in the business world. You can attend seminars where you interact one-on-one with executives from leading Italian companies, you can knock on a professor’s door and invite him/her for a coffee to discuss the course topics. However, most importantly I am sure you will make friends that will last a lifetime, whether you are from Canada and they are from Asia, South America, Australia, or Europe. Take advantage of every moment you have at SDA Bocconi, because before you know it, the wind will have changed and you will be in the same position as I am now – writing a letter to the following year class, trying to put into words the
incredible experience you have had.
Marcelo Almeida, Canadian, MBA 2006

Dear friend,
Most probably you decided on the MBA and left a promising job to boost your professional career. This is a fair motivation, I guess everyone who did the MBA started out driven by this desire to achieve. But my personal opinion is that besides your professional development, these 14 months will have the biggest impact on your personal development.
And I am not talking about time management skills or long-hour studying and pushing the limit of sleepless hours - many of you come from demanding jobs and know that sometimes to achieve a goal you have to spend a night. It is not only about refining your skills for cross-cultural communication, as many of you have gained work experience in international environments. No, I am rather referring to the fact that this MBA experience can question what you are, where you want to go and how to get there.
You will meet more than 120 other students, you will share with them your experience, your background and your interests. You will discuss cases, strategies and approaches with external guests from the business world. And you will be challenged by the faculty members and challenge them in return. You will start conquering topics you most probably never thought about before and you will deepen your know-how in areas which you thought you knew everything about.
You are doing the MBA to move to Management Consulting? Well, you might decide otherwise while you are discussing Marketing and Technology issues with a Drilling Engineer from Indonesia. And please, do yourself a favour: do not limit yourself to the plans you have mapped out now. If the wind whispers in your ear about blowing you somewhere else, spend some time listening to it. The MBA presents you a world of opportunities you have never thought of. Allow yourself a close look into all these opportunities, take the time to evaluate them and should you find that you want to do something completely different from what you planned when sending off your application - congrats, it looks as if you got the most out of your MBA!
M. Lee Greene, American, MBA 2005