Hello everyone, I am an italian undergraduate student at Bocconi University and I am not sure whether I should take a gap year or not.
To keep it short, my medium term goal is to get into a MBB firm, but I would like to have some IBD experience first. I am a good student, but not enough to get into Msc Finance at Bocconi, and having never worked before, I wasn't confident about enrolling into a 1-year programme as I would have only one chance to land a summer intern position, so I didn't applied to any of them.
Due to not having planned as I should my application, I missed the deadline at SSE (which would have been a great option), but I have still been admitted at ESADE for the Msc Finance + CEMS programme. I know this programme is good (especially if combined with CEMS) and it's growing more popular, but I have heard that it's (at the moment) not so known in the City: still, it is definetely the best I can get in as I want a 2-years programme (I know I have no chance for the MiM at HEC and at St. Gallen for the MBF).
I was therefore thinking about taking a gap year to score better on the GMAT and gain some work experience, but I want to be pessimist (better be careful) about the chance I have to improve my resume, so I would say there is a 35% chance of improve it, and a 65% chance of worsening it (not scoring higher on the GMAT, not having good enough internships, increasing competition). As I miss for just a little the academic cut-offs for LSE, Imperial, Oxbridge, my main target could be:
- Msc in Financial Analysis at LBS
- Msc in International Finance at HEC
- Msc in Banking and Finance at St. Gallen
- Msc in Finance at SSE
- Msc in Finance at Warwick
- Msc in Finance at IE
- Maybe Msc in Finance at Boston College/other US schools? But I'd like to stay in London and I'm not sure it can place better than the schools above
GIven that my medium term goal is NOT investment banking but consulting (by the way, McKinsey and BCG are Corporate Partners of CEMS), that I have these chances to improve my profile and that I would have those options, would you advise me to take a gap year or just go for ESADE + CEMS?
Thank you for the attention guys!
The first question for you is which languages you speak? That might eliminate some options for you (Switzerland you need German or French, to get the most out of HEC, you need French). Given that you have a European passport, staying in London won't be that hard for you.
ESADE is a solid school and Barcelona is a great place to study. Not familiar with that program specifically though. Of your other options, IE is well respected and Madrid is a great city. For the British schools, LBS is really a cut above everything else that you listed; it should really be you overall #1. However, outside of LBS (assuming you can speak Spanish decently), none of these is a huge upgrade for you.
Hello GuyFawkes, thank you for the reply! Tbh I do not speak any language at the moment except English and Italian, of course one of the plus of going to Esade would be being able to learn Spanish (at least at a everyday life, non business level). Same way of thinking for HEC. Indeed St. Gallen would be a much bigger problem as I definetely won't be able to learn German, but I believe the brand would still give me a shot in the City.
Yep, I do have a European passport, but my biggest doubt at the moment is that from Esade, even if I take the exchange semester at LSE/HEC/SSE/other target schools I can forgive about landing positions in London. Professors here at Bocconi are speaking quite well of it, but on WSO and other forums everybody says that it's a non-target even for banks such as UBS, CS (I do not even dare talk about JPM/GS/MS/BofA).
So basically what I am trying to figure out is: is it worth to give up a programme which is worth 85, in order to have a 30% chance next year of land a offer in a programme which is worth 100?
Pmed you.
Hi aliasgoldman, I wrote you back. Thank you
Hi Bat_Man,
What did you finally choose? I'm in a pretty similar situation, could I talk to you? I cannot pm you though.
Cheers
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