Details

• Italy
• MASIMC-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 10 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

When preparing my exchange I focused on allocation, planning my studies and course selection. Very helpful was to reach out to students that did the exact same double degree one year before me as they were currently in italy. For allocation I can recommend searching early enough and reaching out in italian if feasible. For travelling I moved there from my hometown place (Stuttgart). Therefore I travelled by train to not be limited by luggage. The connection via Zurich is quite affordable. Also I recommend sending a big parcel (via Vinted) in case one needs more luggage. Otherwise my preperation was not too thorough as I had already lived in Italy.

2. Accommodation

The search was partially cumbersome. Milan is a demanded city and the purchasing power of Bocconi students is quite high, which made it difficult for me. I recommend reaching out in italian and during a time of high availability. Usually it worked for me when I was quick. I think one can find a good appartment 6 months before but also 2 weeks before the start. I recommend to start 2-3 months ealier. My accomodation was a shared appartment together with one italian girl, usually the place is for 3 people but the landlord left one room empty temporarily. For searching appartments I recommend Idealista, Subito & Bakeca. Proximity to the university was my main criteria and I found a place in Corso San Gottardo which I can highly recommend. If not close to Bocconi I can recommend Citta Studi.

3. Academic life at host university

Facilities are okay, crowded during exam season, hard to get a spot for times. I recommend checking also other places in the university like the Posti Studi in Sraffa 13 and Sarfatti 25 or the study room in the basement next to the library. Quality of facilities is okay while I find it questionable that one gets electrocuted here and there when you charge your laptop with short sleeves. I can also recommend the free library at Fondazione Prada. Very limited spots but if you come early enough you manage. Academic culture and teaching style is quite similar to WU for my experience. Courses: Recommend: Innovation in Services & Prof Corrocher in general (Fair grading, good materials, good lectures) Neutral: Luxury Companies in the global landscape (Rather strict grading, but good lectures and high quality guest lectures featuring prominent c level Not recommend: Bank & Fintech (Omarini): 1 Presentation, 2 Reports + Exam. Grading on the presentation and reports very harsh, did not make being an attending student worth, would have been better off for my grade to be non-attending. Took it for the contents, and lecture in very small group was still interesting.

5. Every day life in the host country

Upfront I had very low expectations for the city of Milan. The public transport is quite good for italian levels. Busses I took almost none, I recommend getting the BikeMi yearly subscription. With bikes, walking and tram I did most of my transportation, overall with my good location milan is a very walkable city and often walking is as quick as public transport. Bars arround bocconi are affordable, if one enjoys cinema milan offers a good selection: Fondazione Prada (Cinema Godard), Cinemino, Cinema Beltrade, Cinema Mexico, Aparto Student Dorm. Many people complain about the safety in Milan especially in the parks around bocconi, from my experience I cannot confirm Milan being dangerous. From my opinion it is on a regular european level and not a really dangerous city. As a straight male this may also likely be a priviledge to my situation. Sport options are kind of bad in my opinion. The bocconi swimming was unaffordably expensive for me as well as regular sport subscriptions. Can recommend the intramural soccer tournament.

6. Testimonial

I expected my stay at Bocconi to be high on academic and low on fun and life quality. Turned out to be not like this. The academic programm is demanding but not as much as I thought. People at Bocconi I expected to be very business like and snobby, this was correct but if you go out enough at the beginning of your stay you still manage to find your people. Overall I enjoyed my time surprisingly well and Milan is a city that on the first glimpse does not offer a lot, but here again if you search you will find amazing places and people. My personal recommendation is also: despite coming to a prestigious university, take your studies serious but not too serious, enjoy the life around it!