FAQ

1. How and when do I apply?
You have to apply exclusively through the on-line application procedure which is available here from 2 October, 2023. The deadline for submitting your application is 16 January 2024 at 23:59 CET (1 February 2024 at 23:59 CET for the PhD program in Statistics and Computer Science). This deadline is not negotiable.

Detailed information about the on-line application procedure can be found in the website section Starting your application.

You are allowed to apply for more than one PhD program, using the same ID and password; however, if you apply for more than one program, separate on-line procedures shall be used.
The application is free.

2. What are the requirements for application?
For the PhDs in Business Administration and Management, Economics and Finance, Social and Political Science and Statistics and Computer Science:
Applications can be submitted by candidates of any citizenship who:
- have completed or are completing their graduate studies and
- have at least a “proven” B2 (CEFR) level of competence in EnglishGraduate qualifications accepted:
- Italian degrees: second cycle degrees ("laurea magistrale")
- non-Italian degrees of equivalent level (e.g. level 7, European Qualification Framework), recognized by the Admission Board

For the PhD in Legal Studies:

Applications can be submitted by candidates of any citizenship who:

have completed or are completing their graduate studies and
have at least a "proven" B2 (CEFR) level of competence in English (for both curricula)
are Italian native speakers or have at least a B2 (CEFR) level of competence in Italian (only for the curriculum in Business and Social Law)

Graduate qualifications accepted:

Italian degrees: second cycle degrees ("laurea magistrale") (e.g. five-year degree in Law)
non-Italian degrees of equivalent level (e.g. level 7, European Qualification Framework), recognized by the Admission Board

Applicants whose required Italian or non-Italian degree qualifications are still pending on the final application date can take part in the selection for all PhD programs and will be admitted conditionally. They must be awarded the required degree by 31 October 2024, or their enrollment will be void.
Certifications of required qualifications must be provided by 10 December 2024.

For other information about the requirements for application, see the section Requirements.

3. What are the selection criteria?
For the PhD programs in Business Administration and Management, Economics and Finance, and Statistics and Computer Science, the assessment is based on a candidate’s:

curriculum vitae (indispensable);
academic records (indispensable);
international graduate admission tests scores (GMAT or GRE);
statement of purpose (indispensable);
up to three reference letters.

For the PhDs in Economics and Finance and Statistics and Computer Science, the assessment criteria are as follows:

a maximum of 50 points for the applicant’s curriculum vitae and academic records;
a maximum of 10 points for GMAT/GRE;
a maximum of 40 points for statement of purpose and reference letters.

For the PhD in Business Administration and Management, the assessment criteria are as follows:

a maximum of 45 points for the applicant’s curriculum vitae and academic records;
a maximum of 20 points for GMAT/GRE;
a maximum of 35 points for statement of purpose and reference letters.

The Admission Board may decide to conduct a brief online interview in order to get clarification about the student’s qualifications.

A minimum of 60 total points is required to be elegible for admission to all the above PhD programs.

For the PhDs in Social and Political Science and Legal Studies, the Admission Board will first evaluate the suitability of the applicants’ qualifications and, after a first step of selection, the Board will interview some candidates in order to better assess their qualifications (second step of selection).

For the PhD in Social and Political Science, the first step assessment is based on a candidate’s:

curriculum vitae (indispensable);
academic records (indispensable);
international graduate admission tests scores (GMAT or GRE);
statement of purpose (indispensable);
up to three reference letters.

The qualifications assessment criteria are as follows:

a maximum of 50 points for the applicant’s curriculum vitae and academic records;
a maximum of 10 points for GMAT/GRE;
a maximum of 40 points for statement of purpose and reference letters.

The Admission Board will interview (online) candidates who have obtained at least 70 points in the qualifications assessment.

The second step assessment is based on the online interview, whose maximum score is 30 points.

A candidate will be eligible for admission if he or she has obtained at least 70 points out of 100 in the qualifications assessment and at least 20 points out of 30 in the interview.

For the PhD in Legal Studies, the first step assessment is based on a candidate’s:

curriculum vitae (indispensable);
academic records (indispensable);
statement of purpose (indispensable);
research proposal (indispensable);
up to three reference letters;
other relevant documents (e.g. thesis’ abstract, publications).

The qualifications assessment criteria are as follows:

a maximum of 50 points for the applicant’s curriculum vitae and academic records;
a maximum of 40 points for statement of purpose, research proposal and reference letters;
a maximum of 10 points for other relevant elements.

The Admission Board will interview (online) candidates who have obtained at least 70 points out of 100 in the qualifications assessment.

The second step assessment is based on the online interview, whose maximum score is 30 points.

A candidate will be eligible for admission if he or she has obtained at least 70 points in the qualifications assessment and at least 20 points out of 30 in the interview.

For other information about selection criteria, see the section Selection
Criteria.

4. What are the documents for the selection?

The following elements are considered:

Personal curriculum: Full CV (education, work experience, language skills, study/work abroad, other relevant skills and experiences);
Academic records: : transcript of exams and certification of undergraduate and graduate degrees awarded and final grade (if any); if the graduate program has not been completed*, an enrollment document with the full study plan, the exams taken and the grades achieved;
International Graduate Admission Tests score: the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) with date and results. These tests are not relevant for the PhD in Legal Studies; IMPORTANT: date of the test: not before 1 October 2018. GMAT/GRE score reports must be uploaded by the candidates in the online procedure; score reports sent to Bocconi University by GMAC Customer Service (GMAT) and ETS (GRE) are not accepted;
Statement of purpose: short description (max 1200 words) of your motivation for enrollment in Bocconi PhD programs, your research interests and professional goals; only for the PhD in Legal Studies: short description (max 1200 words) of your motivation for enrollment in Bocconi PhD program and of your professional goals;
Reference letters: up to three reference letters uploaded by referees appointed in the on-line application procedure. Referees can be academic (first best) or non-academic (second best);
Research proposal (only for the PhD in Legal Studies): detailed description of research proposal coherent with one of the curricular disciplinary fields (see the Short call on the website);
Other relevant documents (maximum five) (only for the PhD in Legal Studies): e.g. abstract of the thesis, publications, other programs attended, etc.

*Applicants who have not achieved a degree are allowed to apply, but they must obtain the degree by 31 October 2024, or their enrollment will be void.

For other information about these documents, see the section Documents for Selection. Should you need information about data and/or documents, contact phdadmission@unibocconi.it

5. How and when will my referee(s) submit their reference letters?
Your referee(s) will be required to upload their letters by 16 January 2024 (1 February 2024 for the PhD program in Statistics and Computer Science).
You are advised to enter and save referees’ names and e-mail addresses well before the deadline, so the referees will have time to write and upload their letters.
Once you have entered your referees’ names and e-mails, click on SAVE. An automatic e-mail will be sent to the referee e-mail address. Therefore you are required to check the accuracy of the addresses you are providing.
We warmly suggest you to contact your referees to make sure that they received the automatic e-mail and paid due attention.

You can indicate a maximum of three referees and one e-mail address for each referee.

Before submitting data, you are allowed to:
- change the e-mail address(es) of your referee(s);
- add new referee(s) (not exceeding three);
- change the referee(s).

You can access the online procedure to check whether your reference letter(s) have been sent by referee(s) even after application’s submission; this information will be shown in the section “Referees- Contact details” as soon as the referee uploads his/her letter. We invite you to access the on-line procedure again to check.

Please note that:
- as soon as you change a referee, the former referee will be not able to upload anymore (please, contact the former referee in order to inform him/her that you changed the referee);
- as soon as the referee uploads his/her letter, you will not be able to change the referee anymore.
Reference letters are not mandatory but they contribute to increasing your score in the final ranking.

6. How will I be informed about the final result of my application?
Applicants are ranked according to merit.

The ranking of each public competition is published on http://www.unibocconi.eu/admissionphd in compliance with data privacy laws (privacy is guaranteed).

By 14 March 2024 you will be sent a personal e-mail to the address provided on-line in which information about the final outcome of the application will be found.

You will be able to access the on-line procedure using your ID and password, accessing more information, in particular:

if your status is “with fellowship”, “with tuition waiver” or “with payment of tuition fees”:
points awarded, ranking and financial conditions;
if your status is “in the waiting list”: points awarded and ranking
if your status is “not admitted”: points awarded.

Please read carefully the Full Official Call — art. 9 – of the PhD you are interested in for detailed information about the organization of the ranking.

7. Can I get financial support if I am admitted?

Bocconi PhD Programs - Handbook (https://www.unibocconi.eu/phds) gives detailed information about:

fellowships, merit-based tuition waivers (granted for some programs only) and tuition fees;
financial aid for PhD students, PhD candidates and fellows (remuneration for research assistantship and teaching assistantship/teaching; budget for study/research activities; financial support after completion of the last official year and for job market placement,...).

In particular:

1) With reference to fellowships, merit-based tuition waivers and tuition fees:

Bocconi merit-based fellowships (see Places and financial conditions) are awarded to the best ranked students, in relationship to the number of available fellowships.

The fellowships merit–based amount to € 23,000 per annum.
Fellowships can be renewed in the following years if the requirements to be admitted to the following year are met.

For study and research activities abroad (at least one month, full months only) authorized by the PhD Program Director, the fellowship is increased by 50% of € 16,243 (ministerial amount), in proportion to the duration of the stay abroad and for a maximum total period of 12 months (saved exceptional cases provided for by the law).

Income from the fellowship is tax free.

The amount of the fellowship is subject to INPS contributions (INPS = National Social Security Institute).
Part of contributions are borne by the University (currently 23,35%) and part by the student (currently 11.68%).
The amount of the student fellowship is gross; the part of contributions borne by the student is directly deducted from each monthly gross instalment of the fellowship and transferred to INPS.

All PhD students (with fellowship, with tuition waiver and paying students) are required to pay the current annual regional tax of € 140, whose amount may be modified by law at a later date.

Fellowships based on merit and financial conditions are managed by ISU Bocconi (Student Assistance and Financial Aid Center), as per DPCM (Italian Prime Minister Decree) 9 April 2001, without prejudice to further modifications. Applications shall be sent to ISU Bocconi following the 2024-2025 public competition instructions, which will be published at: www.unibocconi.eu/isu

Tuition fees for students without fellowship and without tuition waiver amount to:

€ 15,000 for year 1 and 2 and € 5,000 for year 3 and 4 for the PhDs in Business Administration and Management, Economics and Finance, Social and Political Science, Statistics and Computer Science;
€ 15,000 for year 1 and € 5,000 for year 2 and 3 for the PhD in Legal Studies.

2) With reference to financial aid

PhD students may work part time and be paid for the following activities:

research assistantship from the second year (as an exception, during the first year, subject to Dean’s approval);
teaching assistantship /teaching from the second year.

These activities must be previously authorized by the PhD Director, as students are above all committed to their PhD research and activities.

For other information about the other types of the financial aid, see the section Financial matters.

8. Are housing facilities for PhD students provided?
Yes. Please find here some information about housing options provided to Bocconi students.