Dear all,
I believe that I'll need all the help I can get here. Any replies would be much appreciated and I'll lay out my situation here as succinctly as possible.
Background: I was informed that I was accepted for a 1st round interview at Bain's LA office for an ACI position. This was through early recruiting, and since I'm studying abroad, I thought it would be a good idea. I understand how difficult it is to even get an interview at one of the three top tier consulting firms so I've been caught completely by surprise. However, as a persistent, naive, and optimistic top 35 nontarget kid, I always believed in the back of my mind that there was a glimmer of hope. However, this has brought me a whole host of issues.
1.) To be honest, I feel inadequately prepared for interviews. I've been reading Case in Point since the summer, but only a little there and a little here. What can I do from now until Wednesday to improve my interview skills and be as prepared as possible? I've never been so nervous in my life.
2.) They are willing to do a phone interview with me since I hail from the East Coast. However, I think I should just use some of my savings and purchase a plane ticket out to LA for something as important as this. What do you all think?
3.) My study abroad program at Oxford officially ends June 25th while the internship begins June 13th. Has anyone else faced a similar situation.
I am pretty overwhelmed and rushed at the moment so I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors. Please feel free to fire away. This board has helped me land an interview, and I believe I could even take that one step further with an offer.
Thanks.
LOL, no worries about seeming overwhelmed. A lot of us have been there before. I remember I too applied for an ACI position with Bain and got a first round, and in the lead up to the interview was scrambling - practicing interviews, cases, getting a haircut, buying a nice new shirt...etc. So don't worry...this is normal and the nervousness is good.
1) To improve your skills in cases, you need to practice them cases bro. Practice your ass off. CIP is an excellent tool - go over each and every one of those 30-odd cases, read through them, understand them, analyze them, and then do em all over again without looking at Cosentino's answers. The more you practice the better equipped you will be. Also, read up a lot on what Bain does - a lot of your post-interview questions should be specific, honed, and impressive - conveying to the interviewer that you mean business and did a hell of a lot of research to prove your ability as a potential Bainie. BUT - it all boils down to - can you kick ass in the case or not?
2) Up to you. If they're fine with a phone interview, you can be too. If it's bugging you, call them and ask if they'd prefer you to fly over there. For a first round, I don't think its necessary to splurge so much money. For a final round, yes, but a first...nah.
3) Don't tell them when your course at Oxford ends. Get the offer, and then talk about start dates. Should not be too big a problem...after all Bain would recognize how good a university Oxford is, and would be willing to take your late start into consideration. But this is only if you get an offer - so ACE THE CASE my friend.
Haha. Thanks for being supportive and putting it all back into perspective. I'll do my best to do everything you mentioned and more...still feeling nervous, but the kind of nervousness that motivates you.
Above poster gave good advice. Two things to add:
Phone - firm very unlikely to fly candidates out for first rounds, and not really worth it for you either
In my and my friends' (limited) experience, consulting internships are pretty inflexible with start dates, since there's onboarding and training.
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