Undergraduate Current Students | Student Testimonials

Name: Kunal Patel

Highlight of my semester abroad:

Traveling around Europe and making friends from all over the world. Academically, I likely learned the same/similar content to what I would have at Stern, but what IBEX gave me is perspective so I tried to take every opportunity to broaden mine by traveling every weekend, immersing myself in Italian culture, and developing friendships with people from a much more diverse set of backgrounds than here in New York.

If you go, you must...:

Every pizza, pasta, and panini place around Bocconi is amazing. You can't go wrong. Join ESN (Erasmus Student Network) Facebook page after the semester starts to keep up to date on clubs and where everyone is going each night. Duomo is a must-see, don't wait until the last minute like me (I went the night before my flight home).

Something about me you might be interested to know:

I spent a semester in Shanghai and did SAW: Abu Dhabi prior to going on IBEX.

What would I say to students considering participating in IBEX:

Course selection is great, strong in finance and economics. Italy is the best, there’s a large proportion of international students, and you'll come back more fashionable.

Contact me about Bocconi:

Kunal Patel - khp258@stern.nyu.edu

Name: Nilay Shah

Highlight of my semester abroad:

Meeting students from all around the world in my dorm!

Who I spent most of my time with abroad:

Americans and other international students–however, if you make a bit of an effort, it's really easy to meet Italians!  They're very friendly.

Something about me you might be interested to know:

I studied at NYU Prague the semester before going to Milan for IBEX.

• Expenses
• Banking
• Housing
• Academics
• Course Registration
• Course Recommendations
• Student Life
• Restaurant, Shopping, and Must-See Sites
• Travel Tips
• Language Skills
• What You Should Bring

Expenses

• Airline ticket to/from IBEX site: $1,000 - $1,400 USD
• Housing: $2,400 - $3,750 USD/semester
• Food: $1,000 USD/semester
• Books: $120 - $500 USD
• Local Transportation: $100 - $300 USD/semester
• Phone: $100 USD/semester

Banking

• "Capital One had great cards without fees that were a great value abroad. Highly recommended."

Housing

• "I rented an apartment near the campus. I lived with other girls from different countries. I found the website for apartment hunting on the school website."
• "I lived in Arcobaleno Residence hall–it's a converted hotel about 30 minutes from school. The location is definitely not the best, but the people here are what make the dorm so incredible. It's largely composed of international students (a lot of Americans, Australians, Canadians, Spaniards, Indians, and Chinese) with a few Italian students here and there. It's nice to be in an environment where everyone gets close so easily and starts planning travels together from week one."

Academics

• "International students have to take all of their finals in 1 week. Exams don't have many questions so if you don't know 1 question you're not in a good position which is different from Stern final exams. The overall course load during the semester was lighter than Stern but the rigor of exams was a little worse than Stern (especially because you don't know what to expect)."
• "The grading system and expectations were not as transparent as compared to Stern. The quality of the instruction was also different because teachers were not as charismatic and classes were much larger.  The workload involved reading and some online quizzes/tests to gauge learning."

Course Registration

• "The course offerings were published before August. My classes were confirmed after the add/drop period, which was two weeks after school started. I registered through an online registration process."

Course Recommendations

• "My favorite class was Introduction to futures and options. The professor explained the concepts very clearly. I recommend this class. I would not recommend financial markets and institutions if one wants to learn something more challenging with little repetition of previous knowledge. Part of the content of this class overlaps with foundations of finance at Stern."
• "All classes are incredible. I particularly enjoyed Public Finance–it was a class that at first really challenged me and became very rewarding."
• "Corporate Finance with Professor Hannes Wagner. He's won a couple of distinguished professor awards at Bocconi and realizes why we're taking the class (interview prep and a career in Finance) so he keeps everything real. He also is German and went to Oxford so it’s refreshing to have a non-Italian professor."
• "My favorite class was ‘The Enterprise and International Markets' with Professor Carlo Alberto Carneval-Maffe. He was an engaging and very knowledgeable professor and used real-life examples from cases and his own career to teach about forming strategies within a company."

Student Life

• "Erasmus Student Network puts on trips basically every-other-weekend that are much cheaper than planning on your own, you go in a big group, and it’s a good way to meet people."

Restaurants, Shopping, and Must-See Sites

• "Lake Como, Italy"
• "The International Student Organization at Bocconi is great at organizing club nights and get-togethers. Old-fashioned is great when they have events there. Fratelli la Bufala is a good chain pizza place. California Bakery (multiple), Stendhal (Brera) / Chocolatini (Duomo)."
• "Cinqueterra and Sicily"
• "DaWilly has huge pizzas that are really good. Cool Clubs: Casablanca, Rolling Stone, Just Cavalli."

Travel Tips

• "Try to fly from the Linate airport since it's much closer to the city center. Take the train when you can."
• "I traveled almost every weekend. Traveling from Milan is an extremely cheap way to explore Italy. You can fly or take TrenItalia or Italo to travel to other countries. And you’ll end up taking EasyJet and RyanAir a lot!"
• "I took 10 trips abroad from Milan–it was very easy. I would recommend booking as early as possible although doing it on short notice isn't horrible price-wise. For cheaper lodging than hotels Airbnb is great although you have to be discerning."

Language Skills

• "Italian is very helpful. High level gives you many more options."

What You Should Bring

• "Clothes for all seasons; it's damp and cold in the winter."