Non-target undergrad vs. target grad
my friend, a rising senior, goes to a non-target for MBB but has a solid 4.0. the school is a great school in terms of ranking but it is just not a target. He does not have any internship experience in business/consulting either. He now has two options 1. take a gap year, do internships, network, and apply for 2022 full-time roles 2. apply to 2021 full-time now and if it does not work out -> apply to grad school, which will very likely be a target school based on his stats and experience.
what would you guys do? personally came from a non-target for finance and it sucked for me to network my way into finance. will he have a larger chance after taking a gap year or going to a target grad school?
I’m in a similar situation myself, taking a gap year and applying for target school master programs as well as SA 2021. In my opinion is the best thing you can do due to lack of brand name on CV.
makes sense! best of luck mate
1. This probably won't work out. Once you graduate, you convert from a graduating student to unemployed, which are very different recruiting pipelines. They would be competing against people with a couple years of experience, and that type of hiring is very limited to begin with. A wiser move would probably be to get a good, non-MBB or non-consulting job. If your friend is at a highly ranked school there should be lots of other good opportunities. Also, most good internships don't take graduates
2. There's no reason not to at least try for FT recruitment now, but it'll be extremely difficult to get an offer right now. I'd exercise caution in choosing a grad school, because there are fewer masters students than you may think in consulting, so please make sure they are certain that the firms they want to work for recruit from the program before they enroll
Thank you! I have also been told that grad students are in the pool of experienced hires but I personally know a friend who got her master's at UCB and got a job at Mckinsey through OCR. Does it depend on which grad school you go to? I know a few others who got their master's at Columbia and Dartmouth and later got jobs at MBB not sure through OCR or not
I wouldn't typically consider grad students in the experienced hire pool (they're typically recruited to the same level as undergrads and through OCR), I'm saying that if you graduate from undergrad you're in that pool and it'll be tough to get out of
For grad programs, there is some OCR but it's a lot less than you might think. School absolutely matters, and program as well. I don't know who recruits from which grad schools, but I wouldn't count on having access to OCR just because it's a target undergrad or business school - it'll take some digging to see who recruits from what programs
got it. thank u
I work at BCG and came from a non-target.
My advice
-Don't go to grad school unless you are really interested in studying more or have a backup plan outside of consulting that would require further education. Its a waste of money if your set on doing consulting, you would be better off going into finance, making some money and then going for a lateral. If your friend has visa issues then that is a different story...
- Here is how I would think about the gap year. Getting into BCG 1% acceptance rate. If our acceptance rate doubled this year or if it halfed it would still be hard to get in. You might as well just prep like everyone else and give it your best shot. Always have a backup plan though.
- They should apply to as many strategy firms as they can. A lot of people only think only about MBB but there are several really prestigious shops out there that are also looking for the best and brightest talent. There are probably 30 or so firms that do similar work ranging from LEK and Partenon to smaller boutiques like Altman Vilandrie, Mars &Co, Keystone Strategy, OC&C, etc. etc. These shops are well recognized in the industry and many go onto similar exit ops as those in MBB
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