How to choose which offices to apply to?
I'm a sophomore who is pretty close to striking out of IB, so I'm considering consulting now. I'm from the NYC suburbs and go to an MBB target school in Boston, so I'm going to apply to both of those offices for each firm, but how do I choose my third one?
Here's some considerations I've had:
- McK and BCG have offices in NJ (my home state); however, I don't have any interest in pharma, and my school has no alumni at either office.
- I have absolutely no interest in tech or government, but my school has relatively strong presence in some of the Bay Area and DC offices.
- I'm very interested in media and entertainment, and my school has strong presence in some of the LA offices, but none of our alumni work in that sector. I also have absolutely no personal ties to SoCal (though I do feel it would be cool to live there)
- There's an office in a tier 3 city that was founded by an alum of my school, and we absolutely pump students into there. I have no ties to the area, though, and it seems that most people who go there are international (which makes sense; regional ties don't matter to them)
Any thoughts on what factors I should use to help make my decision?
The only really relevant decision driver is where you want to live. Trying to game it is a waste of time. Pick the office that's where you want to be located.
So industry focus doesn't really matter?
McKinsey has a global staffing model, BCG is regional, and Bain is local (there can be exceptions) so industry focus by geography matters increasingly in that order for office selection.
But devildog2067 is right, the bar is gonna be the same regardless of location. However, I've heard NYC is more competitive for getting interviews given it gets outsized attention compared to any other location in the world (scale doesn't quite make up for the demand)
Most important factor is where you want to live (+ give some thought to city/regional client mix for Bain/BCG). Based on what you've shared, I'd say LA and SF are your best bet.
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