help me with my masters decision

Hi there,

Q: Which program do you think I should go for? The masters in business law at bocconi or the masters in finance at bologna business school?

The Bocconi brand is significantly better than the Bologna Business Schools one. Additionally, the MENA region has several Bocconi alumni in consulting.

On the other hand, at Bocconi you will study something that is not exactly finance or business.

I would divide the analysis for the decision into better exits and personal preference for the topic to study.

1) Better exits

To understand the exits, I would recommend the following:

1. Identify on LinkedIn the number of alumni of the two masters in consulting/IB in your desired location and
2. Adjust for the cohort size

This should give you a data-driven answer as to which option leads to better exits. 

2) Topic to study

Once done that, if you see that the Bocconi master has better exits for what you want to do, you have to consider if you are fine studying business law versus finance. This is a personal preference so it is difficult to provide a definitive answer without more information.

BONUS POINT. If you don't need to join a master right now, you could also work for one year and join a Master in Finance in a target school the following year. In this way, you would be able to get both better exits and your preferred topic.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the offers!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

I would highly advise you to opt for the option that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. In order to make an informed decision, I would advise you to do the following:

• Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you independently of the current options (e.g., prestige, culture, international exposure, location). After that, score the two options based on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores. This way, you have covered the left-brain perspective.
• Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality. This way, you have covered the right-brain perspective.
• By doing so, you will be able to integrate both parts of the brain into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance that you will still be happy with it years later.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi there, 

I would suggest that you work backwards from your essential intent. 

Your essential intent is what you want to achieve within the next X years. It could be 10 years, for instance. 

Then think what would be the core pillars along the way that would make your progress there the smoothest. It might turn out that education is not even the answer. I've seen multiple cases of candidates aspiring to work for MBB, already having a good profile, and yet still planning multiple other milestones between now and applying (additional internships and education).

Sharing with you a couple of articles to consolidate your understanding of the industry and enable you to make the right decision. Hope you'll find them useful:

• What Do Management Consultants Do? 
• How to Survive Your First Year as a Management Consultant
• The Truth About Consulting Work Hours: What You Need to Know

Best,
Cristian

In addition to what has already been mentioned by other coaches in terms of goals/objectives, I'd like to add a few points, based on my own experience studying a non-traditional subject as well as sitting on the other side of the table as a interviewer/CV reviewer:

1. Studying something that you are passionate/interested about makes a -big- difference to not just whether you enjoy your time during school, but also at times how well you end up doing
   • If you have zero interest in the topic, you will struggle to be motivated, and it will be harder for you to really apply yourself and go above-and-beyond (i.e. reading more than what the prof suggests because you are genuinely interested in a topic)

• While branding is important for MBB, do also note that excellence & academic achievement is also recognized and looked for. Lets take a hypothetical situation
  • In an ideal situation, the strongest profile would be #1 ranked university, and a perfect GPA/grade
  • However lets imagine 2 candidates with:
    • Candidate A: #1 ranked university, poor GPA/grade
    • Candidate B: #2 ranked university, perfect GPA/grade
  • In the situation above, I would argue that Candidate B is just as strong if not the stronger candidate (ceteris paribus)
  • Of course, there are many permutations of the above and its hard to have a single ‘rule’ that applies to every situation
  • Thus for you, what is most important to have a POV as to what extent does it matter which school you attend. You few angles to help you come up with a POV
    • Is Bologna also considered a ‘target’ school (i.e. is there Official Campus Recruitment at the school)?
    • Have Bologna alumni made it to MBB?

Whatever decision you make, do your best and don't look back :)

All the best!

Hi there,

my piece of advice would be to not study law if you already know that you don't want to end up working in that field. Pick something you are actually interested in so that you stay motivated, enjoy your time during the masters and also do well in the program. Choosing a masters in a field you don't care about just because of the university's reputation is not a good enough justification in my opinion. 

It also begs the question as to how much companies in the MENA region care about the Bocconi vs Bologna question anyway. 

Best of luck

Hi there,

Please please try to work to get your thoughts (and communication) more concise!

Key Question: x

Key factors to know:x

It helps us helps you and it will help you in the long run as well!

I love Francesco's answer by the way. Fundamentally, you need to take a step back and figure out what you want to do and what will get you there. Don't go to brand if it's in something you don't want to do :)

The one thing to add is that law is one of the most national disciplines you can study. Yes, there is international law but ultimately laws are made by countries. I.e., if you want to go to Dubai, why study business law in Italy?

Hello,

Congratulations on your master's degree offers! My additional two cents on this is that if your ultimate goal is just to get into MBB/IB, then the Bocconi brand will probably put you at an advantage for networking and recruiting there. However, I also encourage you to think more broadly about what you are looking to get out of your master's degree in making this decision - what disciplines do you actually want to study? Where do you want to live, etc.?