Bristol vs Bocconi Bsc
Hey everyone, I’m in my final year of the IB and have been accepted into Bristol for a BSc in Economics. I also expect to get into the BIEM program at Bocconi. I’m unsure which one to choose. I don’t speak Italian, but I do speak Portuguese and Spanish. Bocconi has excellent placements, but I’m concerned as since I am not Italian, I might not reap the full benefits. My ultimate goal is to break into investment banking in London. Could anyone give me some insight? Thanks
Not sure what Visa issues you might have and I cannot advise in that regard. In terms of pure university Bocconi > Bristol without question. The only caveat is that there are always seats open to Bristol students at banks so you might be able to be a “large fish in a small pond” whereas at Bocconi you’re competing against all very strong candidates, similar to LSE.
Hey, thanks for the reply. With that being said, if you personally had to choose between one, which would it be?
To be honest mate I can’t stand the guys from Bocconi. Come across countless alum who have 0 personality, absolute hardos that care about nothing else (this is coming from an Analyst at an EB) and impossible to have any form of decent chat with. In comparison the guys from LSE (who have this rep) have the most interesting, magnificent personalities in the world. Sorry to all the bots at Bocconi.
Literally for the reason of happiness at uni alone I personally would go with Bristol. Have a great shot at IB and decent student body. If you’re British I would seriously consider if you would A) get along with the type at Bocconi (I say this as a lot of my mates feel the same way), and B) if you are comfortable being an international student there. Don’t underestimate how weird it will feel being an international in a place like Italy where it’s not as common as somewhere like the UK
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Bro im an international too and I am in the exact same situation as you. Bocconi definitely has the stronger brand name, but as the other comments have pointed out you will be competing against very very strong candidates. On top of that, as an international student, breaking into the UK job market is already tough, and studying at Bocconi means that you won't even have a UK work permit visa, which makes even harder. Thats the main reason why I choose to study econ and management at bristol over bocconi. Also a friend of mine who studies at bocconi told me that he struggled to find an internship in London cuz of the visas, whereas his friend from Bristol was able to secure one (we are all internationals).
Yeah I guess Bristol is the way to go.
tbf if you go to Bocconi and are looking for a London internship in the first place you are massively confused. EU offices recruit from EU schools, and UK from UK ones. There are a massive amount of spots essentially reserved for Bocconi students at EU banks, it makes no sense to pursue a London internship (nor is it even possible, UK companies will not sponsor you for a summer internship), gain experience in the wrong market, create connections with the wrong people etc. As you said, if you want London go to a uk school.
Do I need to be fluent in Italian/ French /etc to be recruited in EU offices? I’m interested in applying to Bocconi too, but I’m an international student from Southeast Asia so I’m concerned if I could fit in. Thanks!
I think as far as far as learning experience goes Bocconi is unparalleled and placing is also top notch across IB/PE/HF. The fact that Bocconi students don't have personality kind of makes sense (on average) but at the same time during my time there I met some of the coolest people around. In any case, it's not the Uni's job to make you interesting out of Uni. If you start uni as a boring guy with no interests you will probably come out the same. One thing is for sure, technically very few will beat Bocconi students but if you sacrifice all your time just to study that's on you.
Honestly the fact that you guys are even considering Bristol vs Bocconi if you have a chance of getting in is mad.
My 0.02$, go to Bocconi, travel italy, pick up skiing in the alps, have crazy parties in Milan (what are you doing in Bristol anyways?)... study hard but take time to do cool stuff too. It's all up to you how you use your time.
As you’ve gone to boconni, I’d like to know if you have gotten internships or work experience in London Ib. If yes, how difficult was that for you? Also, are you Italian? Thanks
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Going to prefix this with I am a current student at Bristol so may be biased, but honestly, from everything I have seen, Bocconi is definitely leagues ahead of Bristol in many ways, but just from observations and networking with bankers, I honestly think that Bristol may be better at recruitment straight out of UG. I have spoken to an AS at a BB before who has said that he has only seen one Bocconi student who broke in at UG at his BB and that they basically all do MS's. Also more anecdotally on LinkedIn I have very very rarely seen any Bocconi grads in banking that didn't do a MS.
So if you plan on doing a MS, then I would 100% go Bocconi, better brand name and cheaper for international. However, if you are trying to break in at the UG level, then I would put some consideration into Bristol, I would encourage you to do some of your own research though as I am sure others know far more than me.
Will also echo this with the caveat that if you’re doing a top MSc Finance then it really doesn’t matter whether you do Bristol or Bocconi. The MSc uni will be weighted more
I'd advise you to choose Bocconi (I'm biased though as I'm applying there), but I looked at top employers in the finance industry for bachelors at both unis between 2020-2025:
Bocconi: UBS, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, EY, Citi, Mediobanca, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, PwC Italy, BNP Paribas CIB, Rothschild & Co
Bristol: Deloitte, EY, Lloyds Banking Group, KPMG UK, PwC, Hargreaves Lansdown, NatWest Group, Barnett Waddingham, Evelyn Partners
This is the main reason why Bristol students are less hardo, it's just a less competitive uni due to the placement difference, and as they pointed out it's an advantage if you have a real personality and don't care about job prestige that much, btw I'm Spanish and Italy is much more similar to Spain and Portugal than the UK in terms of culture and lifestyle
Yeah, I see where you're coming from, but I had a look just now and most of the ones that go to bocconi and get into IB are Italian, thus Im not too sure as to whether that would be the right decision for me. What do you think?
While it's true that most are Italian, you also need to take into account that around 50% of students are Italian even in the English courses, and you are looking at people who got in when more Italian-only courses were offered and the percentage was even higher, so I think for London you won't be at a disadvantage especially being from the EU. However, for Milan IB you'd need to learn Italian, but that's much easier for us who already speak romance languages.
I mean IDK where you got your information about Bristol's placements, but I have personally met some from Bristol who have placed at each BB in the past 3 years.
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