SDA Bocconi MBA Program is offered by the graduate business school of the Bocconi University. It is one of the few schools of management in the world to have earned “triple crown” accreditation (AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA). SDA Bocconi School of Management also has an offshore presence in Mumbai, India, called the SDA Bocconi Asia Center. The school is consistently ranked among the top 3 business schools in Europe. In 2018, the SDA Bocconi MBA Program was ranked #29 by the Financial Times in its Global MBA Ranking. Bocconi University has over 110,000 alumni network worldwide, with 14,000 coming from SDA Bocconi. Some of the well-known alumni of the school include Andrea Illy (Italian Businessman), Giulio Centemero (Member of Italian Chamber of Deputies), Giulio Gallazzi (Chairman & CEO, SRI Group), Ratu Tisha (Former Secretary, Soccer Association of Indonesia), & Kaarel Ots (Chairman, Management Board of Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange).
For the class of 2020, 93 students from more than 35 countries enrolled for the SDA Bocconi MBA Program. 33% of who were female candidates. In this article, we shall let you know everything you need to know about the SDA Bocconi MBA Program.
The SDA Bocconi MBA Program is a one-year intensive program with a summer internship that allows you to improve yourself personally & professionally. The program begins with the ‘Opening Week’ where admitted students get to know about the school, curriculum, community, and the class. It is very much like an orientation week and helps the students to get used to the school environment. The core courses take place in five terms from September to March. Each term consists of 5-6 subjects. Some of the subjects include Business Analytics, Financial Reporting & Analysis, Marketing Management, Organizational Behavior, Banking & Capital market, Operation Strategy, Supply Chain Management, etc.
Along with the core courses, the school offers four functional-based concentrations. Students are required to take two of them. The concentration focuses on specific managerial areas that best fit your preference & abilities. Electives are clustered in these concentrations.
Following are the four concentrations that the school offers:
– Finance & Financial Institutions
– Innovation, Product Development, & Execution
– Customer Marketing
– Private Equity & Entrepreneurship
The curriculum also provides an optional concentration in Luxury Business Management in partnership with famous fashion brands like Gucci, Valentino, & LVMH. It includes a limited number of participants. To join, you must demonstrate specific interest & motivation. From June onwards, the students can flexibly customize their programs by choosing among Individual Internship, Entrepreneurial Project, or MBA Business Project. Or students can also opt to spend some months of the program in another leading business school.
To apply for the Exchange program, students must show a precise demonstrated interest. Some of the partner institutions for the exchange program include ESADE Business School, HEC Paris, London Business School, Chicago Booth, Wharton, Yale School of Management, ISB Hyderabad, NUS Singapore, etc.
Academic Requirement:
Candidates applying for the SDA Bocconi MBA Program must hold a bachelor’s degree in any discipline. There is no minimum graduate GPA required for the same.
Professional Experience:
On average, students in SDA Bocconi MBA Program have 5-years of work experience, ranging between 3 to 10 years. If you do not have this requirement, you can only be admitted if you have an excellent academic background, test scores, & motivation.
Standardized Tests:
GMAT or GRE score is a mandatory requirement for all applicants. The school doesn’t require a minimum score for admission. However, a high & competitive score will give you an edge during the application evaluation process. As an alternative to the GMAT/GRE score, students can also ask the admissions committee for the SDA Test, organized by SDA Bocconi. The rest assesses the quantitative, verbal, & logical skills of the candidates, and the fee for the same is €100. Students, who do not have English as their mother tongue, are also required to submit English proficiency test scores like IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, or CPE.
Course Fee:
The total tuition fee for a one-year SDA Bocconi MBA Program is €59,000 to be paid in four installments. It includes teaching materials & access to the school’s database. Along with the tuition fee, the estimated living expenses of a student come at €1,500-1,800 per month. It includes a housing (€600-900), meals (€450), transportation (€100), & other miscellaneous expenses of (€350).
Scholarships
Multiple scholarships & tuition waivers are available for outstanding admitted candidates for the SDA Bocconi MBA Program. The school offers more than 40 total/partial merit-based scholarships & tuition waivers. Students need to apply for these awards & the decisions are based on a candidate’s academic excellence & demonstrated leadership skills. Some of the awards include:
BCG Scholarship:
One scholarship worth €59,000 is awarded to an outstanding student with at least 3-years of work experience, academic excellence, & International experience.
Outstanding Student Scholarship:
Partial scholarship up to €35,400 is awarded to 9 students with an outstanding profile. It is a merit-based award, and the decision is made entirely based on the merit of the students.
India/South Asia Scholarship:
A sum of €41,300 is awarded to students coming from India or other South Asian countries. The applicants must hold a minimum GMAT score of 680 to be eligible for this scholarship.
Other than the above scholarships, SDA Bocconi provides options for low-interest loans to admitted students. Prodigy Finance is one such option. Furthermore, the university also provides international students with information about the possible sources of financing in several countries.
Reportedly, 92% of the students from the class of 2019 received job offers within 3-months of graduation. 80% of the students got placed in Europe, including 40% in Italy. The average gross salary received by the class was €85,862 and other guaranteed compensation of €29,250. The top 3 industries that hired the majority of the students include
Consulting 23%
Technology 18%
Financial services 10%
Top recruiters of the placement session 2018-19 were as follows:
Amazon
Bain & Company
Microsoft
Boston Consulting Group
Emergn
McKinsey & Company
Imperial Brands
Strategy &
GSK
AB InBev
Application Process
The application process for the SDA Bocconi MBA Program is rigorous. It not only determines whether the candidates are qualified for the MBA Program but also whether the program will meet each candidate’s expectations & career goals.
The Online Application checklist includes
Transcripts
Resume
GMAT/GRE score
English Language Test
2 Letters of Recommendations
Application Fee of €100
The school also asks for pre-interview videos for a better understanding of your profile. You will be asked to answer a series of questions while recording a video of yourself; the online platform will guide you through the easy steps.
Interview:
After an initial review of the applications, selected candidates are invited for the interview. The interview is held at Milan at the SDA Bocconi campus, in/near your current city of residence, or remotely through webcam. The interview is blind & conducted by the admissions committee members or alumni in your geographical area. It lasts for 30-45 minutes, and the question generally revolves around your CV. The school recommends students to be genuine & stress-free throughout the interview process.
The SDA Bocconi School of Management application has over ten essay questions every year. Following are the essay questions which the school asked last year:
Essay 1: What interests and occupations do you pursue in your free time?
Essay 2: What do you think you gained from your university studies? Conversely, what important things do you think your studies lacked?
Essay 3: Explain the most significant goals you think you have achieved so far and the reasons for their importance in your personal growth.
Essay 4: Describe your strong points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such
Essay 5: Describe your weak points, personal and professional, explaining why you see them as such
Essay 6: What are the reasons that lead you to apply to the Program at this point in your life?
Essay 7: What other possibilities have you seriously considered, apart from the Program, for reaching your goals of personal and professional growth?
Essay 8: What are your short-term professional goals (within the next 3-5 years)?
Essay 9: What are your long-term professional goals?
Essay 10: How do you expect to finance your Program studies?
(Each answer should not exceed 280 words.)
As you can see, the school covers everything they need to know about a candidate in its essay questions. Through these, you will be explaining every bit of yourself to the admissions committee. These essays can prove to be a major make or break point of your application evaluation process, so make sure you devote an ample amount of time to write the best response. With a small class size of fewer than 100 students & a rigorous application process, making into the SDA Bocconi MBA Program is not an easy task. However, if you think you have what it requires to make it into this school, then go for it.
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