What it takes to be a Bocconian?

The key to secure admissions in
SDA Bocconi’s International Master in Business at the Asia Center

To embark your journey at SDA Bocconi Asia Center, focus on the critical points below to prepare yourself diligently and kickstart your management career.

CV  

“Painting an attractive self-portrait is hard, but that’s the key to crafting an MBA resume. A powerful resume grabs admissions officers’ attention, which may bring applicants closer to an acceptance letter.”

• Provide examples:

MBA applicants should give admissions officers a reason to say “yes” by demonstrating a strong desire backed with purpose on their resume.  

• Demonstrate leadership skills:

Portray your leadership skill as it is a necessity on an MBA resume. You’ll further groom your management abilities during your MBA program, but the admissions committee wants to know that the foundation already exists. 

• Describe extracurricular activities:

Admission officers lay emphasize on the meaningful impact of the candidate on organization and community and not so much on the number of activities the candidate has participated in. Hence, avoid listing a large number of activities without explaining your accomplishments or admissions committee will suspect that you’re either padding your resume or stretching yourself too thin.

• Offer specifics:

An MBA resume should have a detailed description of one’s accomplishments mentioned in concrete language. Admissions committees like to see action words and results-oriented phrases in a resume, so for every bullet point, try to quantify results in amounts or percentages whenever possible.

• Highlight soft skills:

The best MBA resumes are focused on soft skills which are also called power skills that are essential to business leadership and critical in the workplace. Teamwork skills are worth highlighting. Think of examples of when and how you united people behind a common goal, capitalized on others’ talents and skills, instilled a vision, identified a new problem or prioritized the project’s needs above personal ones.

• Focus on career advancement:

Applicants with significant work experience should focus on positions that are more critical to their professional success. Experts say “When applying to a business school, you’ll need to show the admissions committee a clear path of professional growth. “Hence, one should avoid looking stagnant at the admissions wants to admit students who continually seek to learn and advance their skills and leadership abilities.

• Keep your resume streamlined. 

Applicants with significant work experience should focus on positions that were most critical to their professional success. “When applying to a business school, you’ll need to show the admissions committee a clear path of professional growth, ” Avoid looking stagnant, as the admissions team wants to admit students who continually seek to learn and advance their skills and leadership abilities.” Ultimately, a successful MBA resume tells a coherent story and clarifies why business school is the natural next step. 

• Add value to the application:

Your resume should add new information but maintain the consistent impression you’ve given throughout the application. It’s the applicant’s job to make sure each part of their application brings out their values.

• Remove jargon:

Eliminate industry jargons from your resume and use terms that an MBA admissions committee can understand and comprehend. 

• Keep it short:

An MBA resume should ideally fit on a single page and not exceed two pages.

• Tell the truth:

A big part of an MBA admission officer’s job involves judging applicants’ credibility. It is not wise to inflate credentials on your resume. Just be honest.

• Become informed before you apply:

Conduct in-depth research and know all about the B-school.

 Bocconi Test

Tips for the Bocconi test from Sayli Mhatre, IMB Batch 2020 – 2022

“The Bocconi test is an adaptive test with a pattern similar to that of CAT and NMAT. It is divided into 3 parts; Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, and Logical Reasoning.

A few tips to ace the Bocconi test:

• Be thorough with data interpretation and logical reasoning shortcuts which is similar to CAT.
• Time management is key. Develop a habit of reading and comprehending the questions quickly. Read articles from The Hindu and attempt practice tests.
• Practice abstract reasoning to identify patterns efficiently.
• Since the exam is adaptive, focus on accuracy in solving questions to score high.
• Practice meditation for better concentration.”

For more information, watch the video below.

Personal Interview 

An interview is the first time where you can make a lasting impression. Strategise and prepare thoroughly and bring to the table all the skills and experiences you have to become an MBA and what change you will add.

• Before the interview, you must:

Be well-versed with the video interview software-

For seamlessly navigating through the software, look at the meeting link shared with you and identify the software that is going to be used for the interview. Update to the latest version and look up all the controls- unmuting, screen sharing, leave call option. Check for any video and audio disturbances. It is recommended that you do a test run to see how you will appear to the interviewer.

Place your laptop at an appropriate angle. Stack up a few books under your laptop to adjust the height if required so that you are not ‘looking down upon’ the interviewer. It is lowkey psychology associated.

Turn off notifications on your laptop and keep your phone on silent mode. Log in to your laptop from a ‘Guest Account’ to eliminate all notifications

Keep your laptop charged and request your household to limit their wi-fi usage, also, as a back-up, turn on your mobile hotspot to interchange connection in case of any internet disruptions.

• During the interview:

Background and lighting- Declutter your background and opt for natural or artificial lighting that lights up your face. Avoid back-lit backgrounds.

Keep essentials handy: notepad, pen, water bottles and any documents.

• Tactical approach to appear confident and relaxed: Do’s – Your Comfort zone

When you’re talking to a screen, it may be more difficult to pick up on social cues or think about your own. Above all, let your personality shine throughout the interview, even if it’s not face-to-face just like how you would do face-to-face

Look into the camera and maintain eye contact- the interviewer will feel more connected

Be attentive and alert to display your responsiveness and interest in the course.

• Tactical approach to appear confident and relaxed: Don’ts

Don’t look at yourself- as you may lose focus

Keep hand gestures minimal but not loud as it might distract the interviewer

Restrict others in your house from moving into your room to avoid background noise and shifting the spotlight from yourself to them.

Don’t navigate through windows.

• When you want to be a Bocconian, prepare for the future that you would like to be in

Practice prominent questions

Know your CV well and all the key highlights to share with your interviewer

Be relevant, crisp and connect all the answers back to the organisation/institution you are interviewing for to demonstrate your learnings effectively with examples

Write down questions that you can ask the interviewer.

If you did not understand the interviewer’s question, politely ask them to repeat instead of making assumptions by yourself and providing wrong answers.

Address every interviewer in your Goodbye Note

With utmost professionalism and confidence, focusing and answering the questions appropriately will interest the interviewers. Assure them with your display of passion to excel in the field and they may have no reasons to say a no.

*The CV and Personal Interview tips were shared by Nirja Patil and Shreyansh Mittal from the Placement Committee – IMB Batch of 2020-2022. 

Authored by
Ayushi Dixit and Padmavathy Srinivasan