Bain or BCG for Summer Internship??
Need help deciding. Really liked the people at both offices and don't yet have any specific industry niche or exact exit opp in mind. Are there any notable differences between the two in terms of exit or prestige or MBA schools????
I work at one and my roommate works at the other. There's no difference between the two in terms of exits, prestige, or business school. If the offers are for the same city, there will likely even be minimal difference in case variety as well. I would choose based on culture/fit, staffing model, promotion timeline, and interest in PE.
Culture fit: Both are great. If there's one you click with more, this should be your first filter and deciding factor.
Staffing model: BCG has a regional staffing model whereas Bain is local. If you're in BCG New York you could work with consultants from Boston, Philly, and DC as well as NYC. If you're at Bain New York you'll work with just other consultants from New York. Note this does not affect how far you actually travel for casework (both have local and travel cases).
Promotion timeline: BCG's is faster. You can get promoted to the post-MBA role after 2 years, and to the project leader role at 4 years. For Bain it's 2.5-3 years to post-MBA and 5-6 years for project leader. Really not sure why Bain's is slower, but that's something to consider.
PE interest: Given you're posting on WSO, you might be interested in PE/Finance and want to recruit for PE once you start. If that's the case, Bain has an advantage. It's PEG practice is the best in the business, and they send more people to PE than either McK or BCG. That said PIPE at BCG is growing and BCG does certainly place people into PE, just not like Bain does.
Would prefer not to disclose location, but I'll answer broadly for Bain and BCG because I think the answer is basically the same. Staffing model shouldn't really affect which city you choose. Cases might be a little different (more TMT in LA, more healthcare in Boston, more gov't in DC, etc.) but if you're in one of the major offices (NY/SF/CHI/LA/BOS/DC ) you'll have plenty of cases to choose from. Pay is the same across the board, so the folks in low COL office like Dallas are making a killing vs. NYC. For quality of work and prestige, it's largely the same, with maybe a quarter point extra given to those major offices I mentioned. You can imagine it's tougher to recruit top talent to Philly as opposed to NYC, so there might be a slight dropoff there but I don't think it's material.
All in all, location really doesn't matter that much. Pick where you want to live.