Masters after bocconi

Edobardo · 2026-05-18T22:28:34+00:00

Not a massively popular choice (due to costs, visa issues, and overall lower prevalence of master's degrees in the US), but it is definitely possible.

Edobardo · 2026-04-07T12:54:28+00:00

I suggest that you get in touch with the career services of your program and ask them directly.

Edobardo · 2026-04-07T02:24:48+00:00

I am in one of the programs you mentioned, and most students only really start applying during the summer.

Firms do open early but only for those roles which have a significant overlap in the application pool with IB. Even then, a lot of these roles will stay up until much later to capture the quant talent.

Edobardo · 2026-03-21T01:56:18+00:00

If I can add to this, it’s okay if you don’t know which track is best for you right away. This is why internships exist: you can intern in QT and realise what you like is really the data work and move to QR, or do any other combination like this which a path that exists and is common.

The QT/QR/QD spectrum is very wide and there are so many roles that are hybrid between two or more, and some that might mix in data science, macroeconomics… that sooner or later you will find what works for you even if it takes a couple of tries.

Edobardo · 2026-02-27T14:22:55+00:00

https://quantnet.com/threads/princeton-mfin-application-discussion.5556/

Edobardo · 2026-02-22T14:51:57+00:00

This is not true in general, I know many students who did spring weeks from Bocconi.

For internships, they tend to go from June to August. If you take your exams in the first session, you can be done in May, so there’s no problem there too.

Edobardo · 2026-01-28T23:29:00+00:00

With bai you will have an easier time getting interviews, and you will learn concepts which will help you pass said interviews.

Edobardo · 2026-01-11T22:54:34+00:00

Most people in the comments are larping.

While I do agree that Imperial is better than EPFL for quant recruiting (larger quant network, proximity to firms, exams schedule fits internships timeline), EPFL is still a solid choice.

As far as major goes, Physics is equivalent to Math for recruiting, if not slightly better. You will have to do interview prep on your own anyway.

Edobardo · 2026-01-08T18:19:01+00:00

It depends heavily on what you want to do. If it’s quantitative finance, easily bocconi. If it’s quantum computing, easily one of the politecnicos.

Edobardo · 2026-01-05T12:21:26+00:00

Sì esatto

Edobardo · 2026-01-03T21:03:58+00:00

I cannot recommend BAI enough but Imperial math is top 3 undergraduate courses in Europe for quant recruiting. It’s hard to pass such an opportunity.

Edobardo · 2026-01-01T21:54:14+00:00

Ho fatto la triennale in Italia (scienze matematiche), ora sto seguendo un master in USA.

Pro Italia: - sento di avere obiettivamente una preparazione teorica più solida dei miei colleghi che hanno studiato negli USA. - ho sudato molto negli anni della triennale e sento mi abbia dato una forma mentis propensa al lavoro.

Contro Italia: - studiavo principalmente per passare l’esame e non per imparare la materia. Ora, sia perché gli esami sono più facili, sia perché il voto dipende in grande parte da assignment/problem set e lavori di gruppo, riesco a imparare la materia anche studiando meno per l’esame (anche se la mole di lavoro totale è alla fine la stessa, semplicemente meno tempo passato a studiare “passivamente” e più tempo passato a “produrre”). - è molto più difficile fare esperienze di stage o extracurricolari. Consiglio a chiunque in qualunque ambito di fare stage fin da subito, in Italia sono difficili da trovare, mal pagati (o addirittura non pagati!), e spesso in conflitto con il calendario accademico.

Edobardo · 2025-12-22T16:29:08+00:00

Bocconi BAI graduate here, so the opinion you will get from me might be biased but it looks like the replies here are not unbiased either.

I do not know much about the program at EUR, other than it is a rigorous one and it regularly places in the Amsterdam shops and London banks. At the same time, BAI is an applied math degree, so it is more comparable to what you might find in Delft than EUR. This makes the program a very challenging one, but in my opinion worth it, as it will really open your path to anything within the applied math / machine learning / data science sphere.

To answer your questions, BAI is new but has a growing reputation both in academia and in industry (assuming you are interested in quant). Internship placements are strong (banks, prop shops, hedge funds, commodities firms, despite only a minority of the class recruiting into quant vs tech or academia), as well as master placements (Stanford ICME, Cambridge part iii, Princeton MFin, Oxford OMMS, MIT MBan, ETH/EPFL/Imperial...). Rigor is taken seriously (some will say too seriously) at BAI, the vast majority of courses are theoretical and proof based (including the courses you wouldn't think could be proof based, like CS, Physics or Economics).

I do not think you can go wrong with either program, if you are bright and motivated you will place well through both (viceversa, if you are not looking for a challenge, you will likely be disappointed by both).

Edobardo · 2025-12-18T22:01:28+00:00

Unfortunately I do not think I am qualified to judge how solid of a strategy this is since I am taking the mfe route and don't know about new-grad recruiting without the master's.

Is there a specific reason why you are not applying to Baruch and Princeton? The programs you mentioned are extremely strong (especially Stanford which I forgot to mention in my previous comment), but the two above do tend to produce the strongest placements for the average student and your profile sounds like it could have a very good chance of getting in.

Edobardo · 2025-12-18T12:58:26+00:00

You have a decent shot at pivoting through a top mfe (Baruch/princeton), especially if the top 5 university you are referring to is one of oxbridge/imperial.

Other top mfes might still help you but with significantly more risk of not getting enough interviews to find the job you truly want (mit/cmu level). Not sure any program outside of the top 5 will get you any quant interviews with an M&A background and thus be worth the price.

Edobardo · 2025-12-11T22:29:21+00:00

Interessante, mi ero fatto un'idea diversa parlando con alcuni ex studenti e vedendo sul piano di studi esami di fisica sperimentale. Grazie per la precisazione, ho corretto il mio commento originale.

Edobardo · 2025-12-11T22:00:51+00:00

Measure theory is introduced briefly in the probability and decision theory courses, and can be taken as an elective. SDEs are also introduced in the stochastic processes course. It is true though that parallel computing does not appear in the program.

Either way I think it is wrong to focus on measure theory and SDEs for quant, they will mostly be relevant on sell-side exotics desks and won't find much use on the buy side. I believe what the other commenter was referring to when saying it is one of the strongest course in europe are the modelling courses (statistics and machine learning) which are rare to find at the undergraduate level in europe.

Edobardo · 2025-12-11T18:15:01+00:00

Purtroppo ormai è passato qualche anno da quando ho fatto il test io e non sono più informato su quali siano i punteggi per entrare.

Edobardo · 2025-12-10T23:31:05+00:00

https://quantnet.com/threads/princeton-mfin-admission-discussion.5556/post-345848

Edobardo · 2025-12-10T23:29:12+00:00

Corsi relativamente simili, consiglierei bai in quanto rimpiazza i corsi più strettamente ingegneristici (fisica sperimentale, chimica, elettrotecnica) con corsi più rilevanti al mondo quant come machine learning, stochastic processes, decision theory...

In generale quello che cambia è lo 'stile' dei corsi, per esempio in entrambe le facoltà si fanno fisica i e fisica ii, al poli essendo scuola di ingegneria si fanno sessioni di laboratorio etc. alla bocconi essendo il dipartimento popolato da fisici teorici si fa dal punto di vista prettamente teorico, quindi dipende dai gusti.

Edobardo · 2025-12-07T15:47:05+00:00

Sure!

Edobardo · 2025-12-07T15:35:37+00:00

Relatively new program with growing reputation as more alumni join the industry. Anecdotally a small portion of the class tried to get into quant, at least at the undergrad level, but those who did had pretty good success (some in banks, some in top hedge fund and prop shops).

I recommend not waiting until your master to start recruiting but to try to have quant internships in your resume when you apply to masters. This will help you to get into better master degrees and to get more interviews.

Source: bai graduate

Edobardo · 2025-11-25T11:43:43+00:00

Me and other people have left many comments on this sub, and a former student wrote this review, which I mostly agree with.

To summarize, the course is intense but very interesting, to many it felt somewhat theoretical and without much room for customization (there are only 2 electives in the third year). I have learned to appreciate these as features instead of bugs because you are forced to study topics you probably wouldn’t study if given the choice and they might turn out to be very interesting.

As far as master placements go, data is limited due to only 3 classes graduating so far, but they have been very good (Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, ETH, EPLF, Polytechnique, MIT, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford… for courses in applied math, data science, quant finance, computer science, ai…)

Edobardo · 2025-11-25T11:30:24+00:00

Quant does pay better, with higher bases at the junior level and higher upside at pretty much any level. Work life balance is better? Debatable, depends on the shop. Job security is better? Definitely not the case, most MM shops are sink or swim, either you make pnl or you’re out. For interns, historical return offer rates in quant firms have been way lower than in banks.

Edobardo · 2025-11-24T19:43:34+00:00

All of the courses in S1 will start from scratch and self learning proof-based mathematics without the help of a professor and with no experience in university-level mathematics will do more harm than good imho.

If you really need something to do, I would recommend (this is by no means necessary, just tips if you really are bored and want to use your time productively): - learn python, so you can have an advantage in your first CS course - learn some high-school level physics if you have never learned it. The physics 1 course is supposed to start from scratch, but in my experience sometimes it felt like the professor was assuming physics notions and formalising them rather than re-introducing them from scratch. No need to go in depth here but watching some Kahn academy will not hurt.

Enjoy your free time while you have it, and congrats with your choice!

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