Universitá Luigi Bocconi- Milan, Italy
What made me choose this university: After being one of my top
choices for my undergraduate exchange and not being able to get in, I
considered Bocconi as my first choice for the CEMS semester abroad and was able
to get accepted. The reputation of the university and the course offer were by
far what attracted me the most.
Experience: As I already mentioned, Bocconi's key strength
is it's brand name. A true reference when it comes to European Business
Schools. Sadly, some of the courses I intended to take were no longer offered
when I enrolled, so I had to make the best of the situation.
Here are the courses I'm currently taking:
Block Seminar: Entrepreneurial Finance (Interesting but a
bit demanding specially for your first week. Gives you a broad approach on
topics such as Private Equity, Venture Capital and Mergers and Acquisitions. If
you're looking for a "week-off" just take the block seminar on
"Public and Private Sector". Avoid "Social
Entrepreneurship")
Courses:
Advanced International Business Management: Could be better
if lectured by a different teacher. You basically have a lot of readings to do,
two group presentations (group members are allocated randomly by the teacher)
and you have to take part of a jury evaluating presentations twice as well.
Take into consideration
International Corporate Finance: Great course lectured by a
good teacher. No group works or presentations, but you have a mid-term which
may affect you in case you want to travel during the break week (yes...there's
a break week in late October). Strongly advice you to take it
Global Strategic Management: It's mandatory and that's all
you need to know. The teacher is really good and is able to include some comic
remarks during the lectures.
Management of Fashion and Luxury Brands: I'm going to be
honest: I took this course under the recommendation of an alumni, in order to
manage the overall workload. It's an ok course. You have to deliver one
presentation and you have a final exam. If you're interested on the subject
and/or if you pick some courses with a heavy workload, be sure to include this
into your selection.
Entrepreneurship and Business Planning: Avoid at all costs!!
You're limited to a lousy offer of projects to work on; classes are of no
interest whatsoever, and the weekly presentations you have to give are pure
non-sense (specially when the entrepreneurs and other contacts cannot supply
all the information you need within the required time range). Good thing about
the course: No exam.
Positive feedback: Mergers & Acquisitions; Management
Consulting (both of which were not offered this semester) Structured and
Project Finance; Accounting and Planning in Organizations
Negative feedback: Change Management; Social Movements and Organizations
and Supply Chain Management.
Now that we went throught the boring part; let's move on:
Overall, life in Milan is good. The nightlife is amazing and
getting the ESN card is an investment worth making. But before you have all the
fun, you'll have to find a place to stay: a process that could take months. I,
luckily, found a great place and I'm willing to share the contact of the
landlord to the ones that go to Milan in the following year.
The cost of living is pretty standard and in most of the
cases similar to the ones found in Lisbon, except for taxis and
telecommunications.
Travelling in Italy is easy and relatively cheap. Moreover,
Ryanair and Easyjet are flying from two of the three main airports in Milan, so
might as well take advantage of the opportunity
And surprisingly enough, Italians speak a decent enough
English (even at supermarkets and McDonalds). I haven't learned Italian, since
I didn't have a chance to attend the crash course (which was overlapped by the
block seminar) and thus couldn't take the follow up course.
And that's about it. Any
further questions you may have feel free to ask.
Pedro Correia, Class of 2012/2013
Term abroad - Fall 2012
