Big name internship + 4.0 GPA + No first round for BCG

Recently heard back from BCG that I'm not offered a first round with them for Summer Associate... which really frustrates me

A little about me: target school, 4.0 GPA, big name internship in consulting, have a referral, and know a fair amount of people at the firm

Would really appreciate any insights cuz I'm really starting to question if I'm not a good fit for consulting in the first place

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First off, you shouldn't concern yourself with externalities. If you prepared the best possible application, and they didn't select you for first round, it's their loss. You shouldn't question your choice of consulting because of it. The economic landscape is fractured due to COVID and professional services was hit pretty hard; there are things outside of your control. 

Second, one thing I noticed when some friends of mine were receiving interviews when we had near identic experiences was that some big firms used algorithms to look for key words in the candidates' resumes. So even though I highlighted the impact of technical tasks, since I never made a mention of the soft skill, I got filtered out. The point is, sometimes, it's not even the fact that your application didn't make the cut, but the arbitrary process demands you organize it in a certain way.  

 

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