Bocconi MSc

Question

Hey guys! I got a disappointing 580 Gmat score (q40 v30). I plan to apply to Bocconi MSc in Accounting, Financial Management and Control. Do I stand any chance ? Unfortunately I don’t have enough time to try the Gmat again, so either i submit the 580 score or I try the Bocconi Test

Thanks!

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Thanks!

Posted from my mobile device

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

If you are Italian by any chance, you should try for Bocconi test, only if you really want to be in Bocconi.

Leonitas · Answer

Yes, I’m Italian! That’s also the main reason I’m considering the Bocconi test, but as I have understood so far, it’s fairly tricky, so I am not sure if it’s the right choice..
(I am also applying for the MSc in Accounting, Financial Management and Control taught in italian just in case)

CArbitragePM · Answer

Hi,
The Bocconi test is hard, and with your GMAT score, the former would only make your overall application profile worse. Through my overall profile, I actually got an invite to apply for the Masters in Quant Finance. Even though I scored well and eventually declined their offer, the test was extremely demanding in comparison to the GMAT. I do not think it is even possible to study for the Bocconi test, so do NOT take the chance.

Regarding your score, 580 is not a competitive score for Bocconi, unless you have a lot of top tier internships. I even know a guy who got admission from LSE with that particular score. However, he finished top 1% in class, and I also interned with him at Blackstone in Private Equity.

May I ask why you do not have time? Atleast last year, I applied in mid-summer?
If your overall profile is bad, you definitely should take the GMAT again. The Bocconi fee is around 80-100 Euros, so expensive!!

However, based on your Quant and Verbal scores, if you do want to take the GMAT again, you should really undertake the EMPOWERgmat course. I think with a little bit of changes to an easier approach and strategy like the aforementioned course presents, you can atleast go up by 40 points within 14-20 days. The RC and DS strategy is insanely good.

Anyways, good luck my friend. If you have any questions regarding Bocconi or my own personal experience with EMPOWERgmat and another highlighted prep course on GMATclub (of respect, I won’t mention it here), just ask

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Leonitas · Answer

Thanks for your reply!
To give you some background, I have done two internships in two boutique management consulting firms and I have a 4.0/4.0 GPA.
I don’t have time because admissions close next Wednesday and I have to choose between the GMAT and the Bocconi test.

Can you give me some more details about the test? The Bocconi website states that more than half of the test is about concepts learned during your undergrad studies, wheres the remaining part is made up of verbal and quantitative reasoning problems (seems like the gmat)

CArbitragePM · Answer

No problem! First of all, build up your confidence. Assuming that the two firms you had an internship position at are reputable, respected, and well-known in the Italian business market, I would at least bet a grand that you will get admission with your current GMAT score. However, do not take my word for granted as I do not know your overall profile or if there are any hidden things that I am overlooking. What makes the BT harder than GMAT is mainly the Quant-section. GMAT does not really test you on complex formulas, but you need to be able to compromise a lot of information. In total, the math operations are regarded as easy, thus the math portion of the GMAT is easy. The percentile and scoring in the Quant-section is like it is for a reason. Considering your choice of master's program, you most likely have a business and administration undergrad degree? If so, the basic math in your undergrad school is really the curriculum for the test. I remember questions about revenue, and trust me; a lot of graphs and functions. Oh, and pre-calculus was also presented on my test. Yeah, so as you can see, you just have to perform advanced operations and remember formulas on the BT, unlike GMAT where you actually can test 75% of the answers in the Quant section by just putting in the right numbers. That is actually a strategy from the course I recommended earlier in this thread. The verbal section is relative. It is already hard on the GMAT (since the test is actually designed for native speakers), so you will most likely find the Bocconi test easier on the verbal section. The big catch here is it is hard to actually study for the verbal section. On the other hand, the verbal is predictable on the GMAT, which I think suits most people, who invest enough time in mastering the strategies and implementation of these on the questions. Just let me know if there is anything else

You may even see me at Bocconi if Oxbridge rejects me

Leonitas · Answer

I know, honestly I was not doing so bad in my gmat mock exams, the last three were 650 650 and 710, but I really had a terrible test center experience. I was placed near the door and people were entering and exiting every 10 minutes. The monitor was even slightly blurry and because of all of that, soon after the beginning of the test I had a mental block. But I don’t want to dwell too much, I should have performed good anyway.

Yeah, I think my internships are pretty solid given the fact that among most of the students I know I would say ~70% has no internship experience. But the problem is, Bocconi doesn’t look at the CV that much. As I have understood and as they have said, they look at the CV and at the Motivational Letter just in case there are two or more candidates competing for the last spot.
For the GPA kinda the same story, since the test weights slightly more. 😪
Back to your reply, your test was made up of just quant and verbal problems?
If so, I think it’s different from the one I have to take, which is more oriented towards testing undergraduate knowledge. The quant I bet it’s hard, but hopefully doable. I think I’ll reach out to the admission office and ask if I would be better off taking the Bocconi test rather than presenting a 580. It’s a really bad situation ahaha

And yeah, you nailed it, business administration.

It would be great! Ahah

CArbitragePM · Answer

Leonitas 
Honestly, it is a bit tilting to see students like you who have proved to be talented, through a good GPA and relevant internships, not realizing the BIG impact a Master's from a target school has, regardless of your plan to work abroad or in Italy. Even though the competition for scholarships is overwhelming competitive, the ROI makes up for it. 
Your overall profile looks good. Since you already have an Italian undergrad degree, you really should consider challenging yourself to a higher extent by taking your Master's abroad. 2 MC Interns, 4.00 GPA, and a 650+ GMAT score would certainly put you in the upper brackets for target schools;

Management Consulting, i.e.: Imperial/INSEAD/LBS
Investment Banking/Asset Management, i.e.: Oxbridge, LSE

Target schools are of course subjective , but I listed all the schools my network of London-based MBB-consultants and Bulge Bracket analysts/associates have degrees from. 
Considering you probably are interested in a career in MC, hold a better GPA, and more experienced than all the consultants/associates in the fifth-tier firms, i.e. PwC, EY, Deloitte, KPMG, you might find this interesting: My friends including my dumb-ass brother received full-time offers from MBB, Capgemini and Accenture, and they all graduated from the listed schools with a semi-good GPA. That is really the advantage these target-schools have. (The top graduates studying Finance gets recruited in hedge funds, private equity or ib at a bulge bracket naively thinking of a better life with a good salary, where in reality they are slowly developing depression with no work-life balance by doing boring, repetitive tasks, e.g. LBO -- DCF and Valuation Modeling every day). Great on you, MC > Banking

On the real note, EMPOWER is like 85 dollars through GMATclub per month, guarantees 100 points improvement or refund, discounts on OG and OG prep, and they also have customized 1-month,2-months, and 3-month courses. Cheap, interactive, effective, strategy-oriented, and also utilizing official materials, are some of the reasons why this prep-course probably will have the majority of the market share in the following years. 
I paid like 300 dollars for e-GMAT and an overall bad course which presents hard questions. You can probably relate to this, but e-GMAT presented a strategy, implemented it on 2 very easy questions, and then presented a 700-level question. One thing I have noticed is that there often is a correlation between the course-creators and the "verified reviews" nationality. To demonstrate, e-GMAT has teachers from India, and all the individuals who are "verified reviews" are also from India. Bad reviews about e-GMAT tend to include weird non-sense like for instance fake marketing/fake reviews, but they are so narrow-minded: 
since these courses are MADE by people from India, they often adapt their courses in accordance with the learning pace and structure to which they are used to; the Indian school system. I would not say that the following is a bad or mean generalization, but I think it is conventional that countries in East-Asia, e.g. India, is among the nations that completely outclasses in math, programming, and critical thinking. One thing is that they have a notorious strong work ethic, but another factor can be the school system; courses who are made by Indians probably are based on HOW they learned in India. Thus, the effectiveness of these courses would not work as well for us from the West.

This led to me trying EMPOWER since they have American teachers and are cheap af. I started right away with the 1-month plan, and I really got a good impression since it was mandatory to take at least 6/7 CAT during the prep course, to track your progress. My first CAT was like 600, where I had to rely on my strong Quant background (even though I used e-GMAT for 1-2 months), but after a week on EMPOWER and solely focus on strategies, I took my second CAT and scored a 700. 
Considering your GPA, mastering the strategies rather than memorizing comprehensive and complex formulas like other prep courses presents, would be extremely easy and would not take much time.
My GMAT is on 14th April, and if you do change your mind on the GMAT and applying for other schools, let me know. Would be beneficial for both to have a study-buddy to share strategies and for concept enhancement purposes.

CArbitragePM · Answer

In regards to your problem; the course ESPECIALLY focuses on eliminating the risk of getting caught off during an exam setting. They are continuously making sure that you adapt to the test center conditions. For instance, they are probably the ONLY course that uses the same yellow paper which you get at the test center for all their lessons. Yeah, I took the BT for the MAFINRISK - Master of Quantitative Finance and Risk Management, which is a specialized master so I think the test was more quant-heavier. For instance, a calculus question which I got caught off by was with the 𝜖−𝛿 definition of limits, especially for non-linear functions, which is not basic undergraduate economic curriculum, well at least not in Norway.
If you are familiar with the following concept in calculus, or if this rings any bell:
"For any given 𝜖>0 ∃𝛿>0 such that |𝑓(𝑥)−𝐿|<𝜖 whenever |𝑥−𝑎|<𝛿".
|𝑥−𝑎|<𝛿⟹|𝑓(𝑥)−𝐿|<𝜖.

Then 1) you would ace my exam, and 2) the undergrad level in Italy>Norway

Leonitas · Answer

Thanks a lot for the time you have taken to reply. Really appreciate it! I will think about retaking everything you said

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gw05 · Answer

hi can someone give tips on how to prepare for the bocconi graduate test for msc

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