BCG 1st Round
Has anyone interviewed with BCG United States for the Summer Associate/Associate position (first round)? If you have, did you find that the interview was more interviewer-led rather than candidate-led? How much of the 'driving' of the case did you do? I'm asking because for Bain this year, they were leaning more towards interviewer-led.
BCG is heavily candidate-led at both the undergraduate and MBA level (USA). They will carefully evaluate your ability to drive the case - last year, the interviewer pretty much just sat in front of me and answered questions as I solved the case. That being said, if you excel in the case, they may make it more conversational (e.g. by adding in additional brainstorming/stress test questions). At the undergraduate level (USA), Bain can really go either way but tends to become more conversational during the final rounds, especially if you're interviewing with Partners. I'd say for 1/2 of my cases last yr, I had to drive them, whereas for the other 1/2, the interviewer had specific questions (e.g. "Let's start by sizing the market for X").
Source: Got jr summer offers at both last yr (NY)
Received a BCG offer for Summer Associate role last week. From my experience, it's a healthy conversation, not too candidate-led or interviewer-led. You need to ask for information and they will interject with qualitative/brainstorming questions.
Interesting, thanks for the comment. If you don't mind me asking, was your 1st round a (diagnosing) profitability case? or was the case super out of left field?
It was out of left field, but with the preparation I did I felt fine going through it. It was structurally the same as any case, but the central problem was not your standard market/product entry, M&A, profitability, or sales.
EDIT: To give some more clarity, I have heard that BCG cases tend to be more unique and less focused on profitability/sales than say a Bain case.
Do you have any tips on practicing for the unique cases that BCG gives? Have a first round next week as well
practice non-profit cases since they're not as straightforward to frame as a a profitability (e.g. rev, costs) or market entry (market, profit, entry method)
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