How to get into Bocconi

Every applicant to a Bocconi Bachelor's programme is given a single combined ranking score. That score determines whether you are offered a place in the programme you applied to, and whether you are considered for any scholarships. The formula runs the same way for every applicant, in every session.

The 55% test component

The test score element is your standardised admission test result, converted onto a common scale by Bocconi. You can meet this requirement through the Online Bocconi Test (the university's own entrance exam), or by submitting an SAT or ACT score. For Law programmes, Bocconi also accepts an LSAT score in place of a general aptitude test. All are treated as equivalent inputs to the formula.

The 45% GPA component

The GPA component draws on your school grades from Years 12 and 13 (or Grades 10 and 11 in the US system), rather than final results. That means Bocconi is reading predicted grades and interim performance, not the final A-Level or IB certificate you will receive after your application is decided. For UK students, this shifts real weight onto strong AS-level or first-year sixth-form performance, and onto the predicted grades your school reports.

What Bocconi does not consider

Bocconi is unusually direct about what falls outside its formula. Recommendation letters, motivational letters, CVs and résumés are not read as part of the selection. Extracurricular achievements are not scored. This is not a case of them being read but weighted lightly. They are formally excluded from the assessment. What can be included is a short motivational note in your application, but this serves an administrative rather than evaluative purpose.

Bocconi runs two selection rounds each year for international applicants, and a small third round for students seeking credit recognition. For competitive UK applicants, the choice sits between the Early Session in September and the Winter Session in January.

How the rounds actually differ

The two rounds use the same formula and the same programmes, but they draw on different pools of places and, critically, different scholarship allocations. The Early Session opens with the full complement of places and the vast majority of scholarships available. The Winter Session opens with what is left after the Early Session has run, which for the most competitive programmes can be dramatically less. This is a genuinely rolling system, not a two-round system where both are equal.

Non-admission is not the end

If your Early Session application is not successful, Bocconi allows you to reapply in the Winter Session. That is genuinely useful in practice, since it lets you sit the Bocconi Test again and improve your score if the first attempt underperformed. The reverse is not true. A Winter Session non-admission is the end of the road for 2027 entry.

Which session should you target?

The Early Session, if you can. Two conditions matter. First, your school must be able to provide the interim transcripts and predicted grades you need in time for the September deadline (most UK schools can). Second, your test score must be genuinely at its strongest by then. If you know you can raise your Bocconi Test or SAT score materially by taking another sitting in November, the Winter Session may be the wiser bet. If not, apply Early.

Below are the confirmed dates for the 2026–27 application cycle, for September 2027 Bocconi entry. Bocconi publishes these early, and they rarely shift, but always confirm on unibocconi.it before submitting.

Test booking deadlines matter separately

The Online Bocconi Test uses a separate webtesting platform. Test slots must be booked in advance and fill up quickly close to application deadlines. The platform closes several days before each application deadline, so plan test sittings well in advance. For Early Session applicants, this typically means booking a test slot by early or mid-September at the latest.

The Bocconi Online Test is the university's own admission exam, taken via a proctored web platform. It is available in English or Italian, and can be booked from anywhere in the world with a reliable internet connection. Most UK applicants sit the English-language version, regardless of whether they are applying to an English or Italian-taught programme.

Structure and scoring

The test runs 75 minutes and contains 50 multiple-choice questions across four sections: Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Numerical Reasoning, and Critical Thinking. Scoring is straightforward: +1 mark for each correct answer, -0.2 marks for each incorrect answer, and 0 marks for each blank. The maximum possible score is 50. The minimum score required to be considered is 17, though this is nowhere near a competitive threshold.

Test attempts and cost

Applicants may take up to four attempts at the Online Bocconi Test in a single cycle, at a cost of €60 per sitting. Multiple attempts may not be taken on the same day or on consecutive days. Bocconi considers your best score, so multiple attempts carry no downside beyond time and cost. For most competitive applicants, two or three sittings is the norm.

How to prepare

The Bocconi Test is described by the university itself as "SAT-oriented," and the mathematical section is closest in difficulty to the SAT Math section rather than to A-Level Mathematics. UK students preparing for SAT alongside Bocconi Test often find preparation compounds well. The Reading Comprehension and Critical Thinking sections reward the same skills that a strong GCSE English record and general reading habit will have already built. The section that catches most UK students off-guard is Numerical Reasoning, which rewards speed and pattern-spotting rather than raw mathematical knowledge.

Bocconi accepts an SAT or ACT score as a substitute for its own admission test. For UK students already sitting the SAT (perhaps because they are also applying to US universities), this is often the more efficient route. Your SAT score fulfils the test requirement for both Bocconi and your US applications, without a second exam to prepare for.

Competitive score bands

Bocconi does not publish official SAT or ACT cutoffs. What consultancy tracking of admitted students suggests is that a total SAT score of around 1450 is broadly competitive, with 1500 or above genuinely strong. For the most competitive programmes (particularly BIEM, BIEF and BAI), competitive scores tend to sit closer to 1500. ACT equivalents run from around 32 upwards.

Choosing between the routes

If you are also applying to US universities, sit the SAT and use that score for Bocconi too. If Bocconi is your primary or only test-based application, the Bocconi Online Test carries three practical advantages: it is materially shorter, it is cheaper per attempt, and it can be sat entirely online without travelling to a test centre. It also allows up to four attempts within a single cycle, versus the more limited windows for SAT sittings in the UK.

The 45 per cent GPA component of your Bocconi score is drawn from your school grades in Years 12 and 13 (or Grades 10 and 11 in the US system). Bocconi converts UK qualifications onto its own scale, taking predicted grades where final grades are not yet available.

What Bocconi uses from UK qualifications

For A-Level applicants, Bocconi typically looks at AS-level results (where sat), interim assessment grades from Year 12, and predicted A-Level grades reported by your school. For IB Diploma applicants, Bocconi looks at end of Year 12 predicted scores and any Diploma Programme interim data your school can share. GCSE results form part of the wider picture but are not the primary GPA input for UK applicants.

Subject choice matters

Bocconi's Bachelor's programmes are quantitative at their core, even the less mathematically demanding ones. A-Level Mathematics is effectively expected for competitive applications to any Economics, Management or Finance programme, and Further Mathematics adds meaningful weight. For BAI and BEMACS, Further Mathematics is close to essential rather than useful. For IB students, Higher Level Mathematics is the equivalent expectation.

Bocconi offers a wider range of English-taught Bachelor's programmes than most UK families realise. The competitive gap between them matters. The flagship programmes attract the strongest applicant pools and demand the highest test scores. Less headline-grabbing programmes often accept meaningfully lower scores for what is, in curriculum terms, adjacent material.

Programme choice is a strategic decision

Because Bocconi ranks applicants against the pool applying to the same programme in the same session, the programme you choose changes the effective bar you need to clear. A test score that is comfortably admitted to BEMACS may not be admitted to BIEM in the same cycle, even though the two programmes overlap significantly. For borderline candidates, aiming at a programme that matches your genuine interests but sits one notch below the very top of demand can be the difference between an offer and a rejection.

Every applicant to Bocconi's English-taught Bachelor's programmes must demonstrate English proficiency, including native English speakers. This is one of Bocconi's stricter administrative requirements, and it catches many UK applicants who assume their nationality exempts them. It does not.

Accepted evidence

Bocconi accepts a wide range of evidence, and updates its list annually. The most common routes for UK applicants are the IELTS Academic (typically a minimum band 6.0 or 6.5 overall depending on the programme), the TOEFL iBT, the Cambridge English C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, and the Duolingo English Test. In practice, most UK applicants either provide GCSE English Language at grade 6 or above (which some programmes accept in lieu of a separate test) or sit the Duolingo test, which is fast and inexpensive.

Bocconi also offers its own English proficiency test on a dedicated platform. This is the fallback for applicants who cannot easily access one of the external tests.

Deadlines are separate

The English requirement can be fulfilled after your application is submitted, but must be in place by your enrolment deadline. For Early Session admits enrolling in September 2027, this typically means having your English certificate in hand by June or July at the latest. Missing this deadline invalidates an otherwise successful admission.

Because Bocconi's application deadlines fall earlier in the academic year than either UCAS or US Regular Decision, the timeline for a UK student is genuinely compressed. Early Session applicants are effectively applying at the start of Year 13. Here is what to be working on at each stage.

Arriving at the Bocconi conversation later in the timeline is workable but tighter than for US universities. The compressed calendar leaves less room for test preparation to lift a weaker first sitting. For late-starters, the practical priority becomes identifying whether the SAT route (if already sat) or the Bocconi Test route makes the best use of remaining preparation time.

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