Got Talent? Bocconi Can Help You Discover It

The students walking around Bocconi during the last two weeks of June are not just the university students finishing up final exams, but they also include promising secondary school students who have just finished their junior year and have decided to dedicate one week of their longed-for summer vacation to trying out university life.

After the first day of confusion, these students can be recognized by the ID they wear around their necks which identifies them as participants in the eighth edition of "Discover Your Talent," the orientation initiative promoted by Bocconi to identify both recognized and unknown bright students among young high schoolers.

715 students applied, 608 Italian applicants and 107 international applicants, 87 of which were from abroad. CVs and cover letters were examined and the Bocconi Guidance and Recruitment Office accepted 532 Italian students and 77 international students for a total of 609.

Italy was well-represented, with 32% from Lombardy, 12% from Emilia Romagna and 8% from Puglia, but students also came from all over outside of Italy, with students from schools in Germany, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Serbia and others.

The event inlcuded a week of classes with university faculty to learn more about economics, finance, marketing and law, all subjects which they may study as university students here in Milan if they choose to take the Bocconi admissions test a year from now.

"I was really curious about attending university classes a year early," said Myriam Giuliano, a student in her fourth year of scientific liceo in Novara, "and to sit in on lessons held by professors about issues that are completely new to me."
"I have no idea what degree program I'm going to enroll in next year," said Maurizio Dall'Ava, a student at a scientific liceo in Treviso, "and this is an important opportunity that will help me decide."

The objective of listening to student feedback, set by the organizers, was fully achieved. Students discovered the basis of economics and law studies and they were introduced to faculty and innovative teaching methods. In addition, they discovered university life and everything it has to offer, challenged individual skills, competed with themselves and learned to work with others.
When all is said and done after studies are over, fun and friendships are created between far-off countries and nearby regions, just like at university.