How My Business Degrees at Bocconi Opened Doors to a Research Career

Bocconi University graduate Alessandro Izzo admits that his career in economic research wasn’t planned. “Research only came late for me. Honestly, I didn’t even know you could do research in economics,” he admits.

“If anything, I dreamed of working at the European institutions, but I had no idea what role I could actually enjoy or which path would get me there.”

Instead, he credits the academic environment at Bocconi University – the internship opportunities, his classmates, and passionate professors – with nudging him toward his current path, a PhD in Economics at the prestigious Boston College in the USA.

“When I applied to Bocconi in high school, I had no idea what economics, management, or finance actually meant, let alone the differences between them,” he says.

“Universities like Bocconi give you the priceless opportunity to try multiple paths and adjust along the way.”

From Bachelor’s to Master’s at Bocconi University

His first of two Business degrees at Bocconi University was the Bachelor’s in Business Administration. “Since I wasn’t fluent in English, I only considered programs taught in Italian,” he explains. “Among those, Business Administration and Management seemed like the standard yet flexible choice.”

His degree provided a foundation in management, while offering a breadth of starting points for future study. “Today, I still think it’s a good starting point for students who don’t have a clear idea of what these fields are about or what their interests might be,” he says. Alessandro completed two internships during his Bachelor’s: one with a nonprofit foundation and the second as a research assistant for a public management professor at Bocconi’s management school, SDA Bocconi.

The broad focus of the Bachelor’s degree, and the unintentional alignment between his internships, paved the way for his Master’s in Government and International Organisations. “My Master’s was quite a natural continuation for students who enjoyed public management classes during the Bachelor’s. It’s formally a management degree, but with a strong focus on public administration and policy analysis,” he says.

One highlight of Alessandro’s Master’s was his internship at the European Commission. “It felt like a dream come true,” he admits. “It also showed me that research was far more fun for me, and that I wanted to give it a shot. That realisation, combined with the people at Bocconi, is what pushed me toward research.”

A comprehensive Master that opens doors

The Master’s in Government and International Organisations is a highly interdisciplinary programme that combines policy, politics, and management, which initially presented a challenge for Alessandro. “Compared to more math-heavy economics programs, I had some catching up to do with coding, math, and statistics,” he admits.

However, the programme’s wide focus enabled Alessandro to consider different perspectives and build valuable problem-solving skills.

“Having some knowledge of public accounting, institutions, and policy, on top of a solid quantitative toolkit, can be quite useful to foster creativity, asking innovative research questions at the intersection between different fields, connecting approaches, and finding new solutions,” Alessandro says.

In particular, Alessandro cites a policy evaluation class as being a turning point for his career trajectory. In the summer between his first and second year of the degree, Alessandro worked as a research intern at the Dondena research centre in the Welfare State and Taxation unit, then interned at the European Commission.

These experiences meant that, by the time he returned to Milan for the second year of his Master’s, research was no longer a vague possibility, but a legitimate career path.

“My thesis was the final proof that I actually enjoyed doing research, and I’ve been committed to it ever since. My thesis supervisor became one of the key people who supported the start of my career as a researcher.”

From Milan to Boston for a PhD in Economics

A PhD seemed the next logical step for Alessandro after completing his Master’s at Bocconi. “[A PhD is] a necessary condition for an academic career, but it also opens doors to very interesting jobs in the private sector and institutions like central banks, the IMF, or the OECD.”

However, Alessandro still had time for one more international pit stop in his academic journey. After graduating from his Master’s, he spent one year at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a research assistant – an experience that was valuable in more ways than one.

“Up to that point, my research experience had always been tied to Bocconi in some way, which felt safe – NUS was my first research experience outside my comfortable bubble,” he explains. “On top of the academic side, living in Singapore was an incredible opportunity to experience a society with a completely different structure and culture from what I was used to.”

Then, more than a year after Alessandro graduated from his business degrees at Bocconi, the school continued to influence his academic journey.

“My Bocconi friends played a big role in choosing Boston College,” he says. “Some were already in Boston or elsewhere on the East Coast for their PhDs, and I was happy to join them.”

Aside from the strong seal of approval from his former classmates, Boston was an ideal choice for an economics researcher. In addition to Boston College’s prestigious economics department (ranked 125th globally), the city is home to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and world-class economics faculty at institutions like MIT, Boston University, and Harvard.

Looking back on my business degrees at Bocconi University

Considering that research was never on the cards as a career path, how does Alessandro now look back on his business degrees at Bocconi University?

“I have realised over the years that very few careers are ‘linear’,” he admits. “Most people share the same doubts and go through the same uncertainty, even if from the outside it can look like a clean, smooth, successful path.”

But Alessandro’s non-linear path – through a business degree at Bocconi, to a Master’s in policy and a few research internships along the way – is linked by his transformative experience at Bocconi.

“On one hand, Bocconi gave me a disciplined, extremely rigorous way of approaching things. On the other, it had a deeply interdisciplinary culture, frequent connections across departments and interactions with researchers from different backgrounds, which fed my curiosity over the years. I still notice I carry that attitude with me.”

To students who are equally unsure about their future career path, he says not to discount the value of short summer internships. “They are a great way to get a taste of what a job actually looks like and whether it fits you, and I believe that’s true for any career, not just research.”

Likewise, he also says that uncertainty doesn’t have to be feared – especially if you’re at an institution like Bocconi where diverse career paths are encouraged.

“Being unsure is perfectly fine, and, in fact, sometimes it becomes even useful, as it keeps you open to new opportunities and passions,” he says.