I completely understand/agree with the comments of not having enough time to enjoy my campus and make friends
The purpose for a year would be for this program
http://eap.ucop.edu/OurPrograms/italy/Pages/business_economics_bocconi.aspx
this sets you up to do research on a topic of your choice with a professor at Boccini which is consistently ranked extremely well internationally, and they offer internships after the program is over. The heart of Italy’s financial markets and media/entertainment are in Milan, which is what I want to do.
However, if this is something that I’m unable to do, then I’d elect to do the double quarter in Barcelona and spend the remaining time on campus for reasons that have been brought up already–which I hadn’t completely taken into consideration.
I’m omw out the door so I’ll try to respond to the other posts later, as well as ask a few more questions.
Hello there!
I think I could be of assistance since you’re planning on getting a finance/business internship the summer after your junior year. First of all, studying abroad may not be the best option if you really want a legitimate internship in these sectors. You’ll have fun abroad but the company you’ll work for won’t necessarily distinct you from OCR during your senior year. Also, these kind of internships abroad are usually options second year/sophomore students do because your junior internship will be your important one (the BIG one that you’ll be asked about a lot during OCR during senior year).
I’m not a business/haas major but I’m currently doing a summer internship with a bulge bracket bank. I think Irvine may have the most useful OCR but I’m not sure. Choose wisely!
When I went to a workshop about studying abroad through UCEAP (at UCLA) they said you have to apply at least 9 months ahead of time, so coming in as transfers, the soonest we could study abroad is fall 2016. Just an FYI!
@onmyway8 omg great point! I completely forgot that most of the Spring 2016 deadlines are already over.
@ocnative Congrats on landing a BB internship!!
What classes did you take? what officer positions do you hold? how technical were your interviews?
Although I appreciate the sentiment, there is huge difference between Berkeley econ and Irvine econ. (sadly I was rejected from La and Berkeley despite having a 3.8 gpa)
My rationale is I’d spend my first year at the uc do my summer internship here in CA and then my second year do a year long abroad program. The year long programs give me access to ocr at the school i attend, and for Boccini Bain and BCG heavily recruit there. But please let me know if this logic is flawed, and are you saying you’d choose Irvine over SB? I’ve heard decent things about Irvine but i dont think it would offer anything I couldn’t go out of my way to work for at SB. I feel deep down Irvine is the safe bet, but that I would have a better overall more rewarding experience at SB
@onmyway8 ahh good point, so I’d HAVE to stay my first whole year at uc and then decide what I’d like to do.
I like actuary’s idea of getting all of my classes out of the way my first year and freeing up my senior year to be more flexible to go abroad. I just want to have my cake and eat it too lol, I want Stanford recruiting with the Bruin lifestyle 
Also: I can SIR on June 1st correct ?
@travelabroad I THINK you can, but is always much better to SIR a little earlier, just in case the server crashes or something else happens.