Details

• Italy
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Courses planing It can be hard to get into all of the courses you want. First, it’s a clicker like at WU. It’s also quite hard to select courses that don’t overlap, so you really have to plan. You may need to take 1 or 2 courses as a non-attending student. There weren’t any really specific or unexpected criteria otherwise. Linate as an airport is the best as you can travel with the subway into the city. Malpensa and Bergamo are much farther away and you have to take the train or bus (malpensa) or the bus with Bergamo.

2. Accommodation

Accommodation search experience I would strongly recommend getting an apartment early enough. Do not rely on getting housing from Bocconi. I read through all of the experience reports, everyone said do not rely on it, I though I will get in and i DIDN'T get in. I also know many people who thought they would get in, but it is extremely difficult, almost like winning the lottery. Housing does not get cheaper or easier to find over time. BOOK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Every Exam is finished till the 23rd of december (at least for us), however, if you want to you can take exams also in January or February. I would not recommend choosing Habyt as a landlord. They have very bad ratings and do not really care. I booked through Spotahome, which gives some extra security (they look if the apartments actually exist, help you find a new one if it doesn't fit and help you get your deposit back), however, I didn't need any of this, so I do not know how well they help you. If you do book with Spotahome use the ESN25 Code as you can save 25% (it's from the ESN Card) ⸻ Accommodation type (student residence/private) It was a shared private apartment with five other people. I shared a bathroom with one person. The rent was 850 euros per month. It was a nice room, and overall the apartment was okay and nice. ⸻ Location, safety, and proximity to the university The apartment was in Porto Romano, which is a very nice environment. I really liked living there. It is near the university, located in a nice district, and I always felt very safe. ⸻ Tips I wish I’d known beforehand Get housing early. Do not assume you will get a place in a Bocconi residence. It is very hard. Also, housing does not get cheaper or better over time. Milan is expensive to live.

3. Academic life at host university

I would say overall the campus is definitely not as beautiful as ours, but there's everything that you need. The library is very packed, especially in exam seasons. You have a very strict system of how long you can stay in there, and you have to log in and log out, but still it's very full and it's very hard to get a place. I would say most classes were less interactive than the smaller classes at WU. I would say the professors were good overall. A lot of them also have real experience in the business world. I think that was nice. I would say it's not better than at WU, even though Bocconi is a very prestigious university. I really liked my AI in strategic management course. That was a real highlight for me.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport was fine, but you have to accept that sometimes a tram just isn't coming, and you have to take the next one. They have a lot of strikes in Italy, especially in Milan, which is annoying sometimes. I would say from a safety perspective, Porta Romana and around the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, it was quite nice. There were also some nice other districts. But especially, for example, in Navigli, at night it's sometimes a little bit sketchy, and in some places in Milan, you just don't feel really safe (but I never had the feeling that I am in big danger). But if you know where to go and if you're around the uni and in the better districts, it's quite nice. I would say from social and leisure activities, it was very nice. You can do a lot in Milan. You have a lot of great ESN events in the beginning. You have a lot of bars, a lot of clubs, a lot of nice activities you can do with friends. You will really enjoy the good and cheap coffee. I also very recommended to do some day trips. Go to Lake Como, Lake Garda, to cinque terre, ... You can also visit the Ferrari Museum in Mar. You can visit Turin. There are just a lot of nice places, Florence, and there are just a lot of nice places where you can go, where you can enjoy. You just hop on a train in the morning and then enjoy the day and then go back in the evening, and those are just very great memories. It's very nice to see the north of Italy especially. And yeah, there are also. Use all of the beginning events to meet people. That was really great.

6. Testimonial

It was overall a great semester where I met amazing people from all over the world, enjoyed the time with nice coffee and aperitifs in bars and clubs, and a big highlight have been all of the day trips. The uni and teaching were good, although, I would say they haven't been as special as you would think, based on Bocconis reputation (I still enjoyed the classes and the professors). Milan is a nice city to live, especially as it has the dolce vita feeling, although not as strong as in other Italian places. The only thing that was kind of missing was the beach and maybe nicer weather.