What are my chances at MBB/other top firms?

Hi everyone,

I'm a senior in undergrad looking to hopefully get into a top-tier consulting firm as an analyst next year after I graduate.

My junior internship was done at a law firm, as I had previously wanted to go to law school after undergrad, but after reassessing my options consulting looks like it may be a better field for me

specs:
School: Rutgers Business School
Majors: BS in Management, Double major in Political Science
GPA: 3.75

Am I screwed because of my somewhat irrelevant internship? Or does my GPA give me a shot at top-tier interviews? How should I spend my last semester and a half at school beefing my resume? Finally should I start applying right now or do I have time? Help is much appreciated!

 
Best Response

have you already applied for MBB? Don't they have a pretty standard timeline and aren't you probably a bit behind? perhaps I'm wrong on that one - I thought they moved on a timeline similar to that of the banks...

I'll venture out a guess on your chances, though it's not particularly informed:

  1. MBB: 5% chance of interview, 2% chance of hire
  2. Tier 2 Consulting (Monitor, Booze, etc): 50% chance of getting an interview, at 30% chance of hire
  3. Small consulting firm (no name, but still in the game): 75% chance of interview, 50% chance of hire

anyone actually know and have a better guess?

 

For MBB the firt step will be your on-campus recruiting schedule. Given your GPA, there would be ne reason why you should not get an interview from one or more firms you may be interested in, assuming you have not missed the deadline. If you have missed the deadline, clearly you did not have your act togehter and your shot at an interview gets slimmer. Regarless, your internship in law has nothing to do with it. You are supposed to explore and you having done so and found your "calling" is a perfectly valid reason for turning to consulting.

 

Puddingj - don't put too much stock in the percentages...they are someone's best guess..who knows..you can walk in ...the guy likes your tie...you have a nice chat..rock the case and you are in...apply and take your shot(s) and let the cards fall where they may

 

Yeah... don't put a lot of stock in those percentages, Seekingalpha is correct. In some ways it may have been unfair of me to even put them forward, but I tried to include a disclaimer that they were just guesses! Anyways - they're my best guess, which is probably better than an average person's best guess, but is definitely not an expert opinion or anything like that... You've got a good GPA - perhaps you have a more real chance at MBB then I had suggested.

 

rutgers isnt a target for any MBB i'm pretty sure and you're pretty behind the deadlines, especially for a non-target.

Applying online won't get you anywhere, especially cause you missed all the US deadlines. start reaching out to alums and see if they'll help you. I wouldn't worry about the law internship, very few people have internships that are directly relevant to consulting.

 

I know a few people in MBB which is why I'm holding out hope

@breakinginnew what do you think of my chances at getting in 2nd-tier firms via off-campus recruiting? Do all firms have similar deadlines?

 

MBB does do off-cycle hiring, so if you can get a referral that will go a long way. Also that being said, despite deadlines have passed I know they are still interviewing for next year.

2nd tier firms had similar deadlines (Monitor, LEK, Booz, etc), but I think the smaller the firm the less strict they will be about it and the further connections can get you. Rutgers is huge school so I imagine you have alums in MBB.

If you have personal contacts at MBB go for it. If they are partners I'm sure they can get you interviews, it's just a matter of finding out which offices are still hiring. (I bet you'd have a better shot at international offices)

 

This comes up in every thread. It is no easier, and often harder, to get interviews/offers at boutiques.

If defined as those companies that do the same type of work as MBBs, "boutiques" have the same hiring standards as MBB because, well, they do the same type of work, for which they need to attract the same type of people, and those people can be found in only so many places.

Two factors can make it harder to get offers. The first, as many people mention, is budget and/or scale to reach out to all but a handful of schools. A second reason, not mentioned as often, is that recruiting success at any given school is in part influenced by their existing presence at the school. It is easier to get people to accept offers if there are multiple people getting offers, if they know recent alums who went to a place, if they have heard of the place because they maintain an active presence, etc. It is much more productive to do a few schools somewhat intensively than any sort of skimming strategy. If a diamon in the rough falls in their lap, they will take it, but it's just not worth the hassle to go out looking.

If by "boutique" you mean a company that doesn't do MBB-type work, e.g. revenue per consultant is much lower, then probably, because they simply can't convert the same type of people, and there are limits on them paying up (if they make much less, there is less leeway to pay up and compete on salary).

Pymp's numbers are far too high. Maybe 10-20% of getting an interview at MBB or boutiques. Unclear if offer rates were condition on the interview or not, but either way too high. I would say that there could even more a higher hurdle to clear for a non-core candidate. If there is any doubt at all, why take the risk, and if they were good enough, they would have gone to a core school (unless they had a compelling reason not to -- a highly specific area of academic study, a non-merit scholarship, some personal situation ).

 

Booz 30% offer is waaaaay to high. They are just as hard to get an offer from, if not harder, than MBB. They have a diamond structure where they higher more grads than undergrads. Getting an offer from them undergrad is tough, but doable. This year I know they interviewed at Stanford, Princeton, Columbia and UT.

 
consultingwiz07:
Booz 30% offer is waaaaay to high. They are just as hard to get an offer from, if not harder, than MBB. They have a diamond structure where they higher more grads than undergrads. Getting an offer from them undergrad is tough, but doable. This year I know they interviewed at Stanford, Princeton, Columbia and UT.

I'm not in consulting but I can't see this being entirely factual. My buddy got an offer from Booz from the most non-target of all non targets. He wasn't anything spectacular either.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
consultingwiz07:
Booz 30% offer is waaaaay to high. They are just as hard to get an offer from, if not harder, than MBB. They have a diamond structure where they higher more grads than undergrads. Getting an offer from them undergrad is tough, but doable. This year I know they interviewed at Stanford, Princeton, Columbia and UT.

this is just plain wrong. Booz is difficult to get an offer from, but getting an offer from MBB is much more difficult than any other consulting firm, hands down

 

Talk about percentages is not particularly helpful for OP. Bottom line, as many people have mentioned in their posts is:

  1. You missed MBB recruiting, but if you're heart is set on MBB, network your ass off and try to get noticed off-cycle (very unlikely). International offices might have different hiring cycles as well.
  2. Some smaller and less prestigious firms are still recruiting (I know Parthenon hasn't filled its classes yet) so make a list, network your ass off, and nail any interviews that come your way.

You have to capitalize on every interview you have. That means polishing your fit responses to perfection and mastering case interviews. Don't worry about your chances at this or that. Just focus on getting as many interviews as possible and performing well in them.

Good luck

 

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