Reflections on my BCG internship
Just accepted my return offer full-time for a big office and wanted to share my experience because this is the middle of recruiting season, and to be honest I think people don't really know what they're getting into.
Pros
People – I think the “best thing about working here is the people” sentence that people throw around is fake BS, but I genuinely liked the people I worked with. Probably 95% of the people I met were extremely intelligent and well-spoken, more-so than any other place I’ve worked at. About 70% of the people were also just really nice and willing to talk frankly about their consulting-related grievances and their future after consulting.
The people were also really diverse in viewpoints and backgrounds. Everyone (interns included) I talked to had a different idea of want they wanted out of consulting and out of their career. Being surrounded by that type of diversity is really refreshing and helpful because it really opens your mind to other careers and reminds you that there's more to life than working at a PE MF.
- Resume – I threw out some applications to PE firms just to see what was out there, and I got a first-round interview 100% of the time. They weren't a MF or anything super significant, but still a huge leg-up from when I was getting basically 0 finance interviews.
- Pay & Expense Policies – It's nice lol and makes the work/hours more tolerable.
Cons
- Work-Life Balance – A 60-hour work week sounds a lot easier than it is in practice. You ever experienced a finals week where you had to spend 8AM-10PM in the library? That's basically what consulting is like. The latest I’ve had to work was 2 AM; most days I got off between 7 to 9; and I was off at 5 every Friday. The nights when I had to push past 10PM really made me think about whether I would accept a return offer. I had to work only once over the weekend, and it was for only half an hour.
- Work – Sometimes I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I was bored out of my mind (usually being surrounded by fun people helps if you're bored out of your mind). 95% of your work is PowerPoint, Excel, or sending emails/slack messages, and you’re usually doing work that the client doesn’t want to do themselves (which makes sense because otherwise why would the client hire you?). I will say though that you learn a ton in a really short amount of time.
Misc.
Travel – Neither a pro nor con. I was able to go to a nice city, expense nice dinners, and stay at a nice hotel. I also got delayed on 3 out of 4 of my flights. I see this becoming a con if I had to travel to Iowa every week, but my case was fine.
Some General Takeaways
- Consulting is for me (at least short-term). Good for my career, good for my bank account, and the return offer is good for my job anxiety, especially in this economy. Also ~60 hours a week is about the max I can consistently work without crashing out daily, so no re-recruiting for PE.
- Consulting isn’t for everyone. Like seriously. The “prestige” of the internship wore off after the first 3-4 weeks of the internship. The hours suck. Work is sometimes painful. If I didn’t really enjoy spreadsheets or find the business world interesting, then I probably would look for something else to do with my first few post-grad years. You're not going to last if you don't enjoy either the people or the work.
Anyways, that's my two cents. I also learned a lot about more in-the-weeds topics like staffing, industries, teams, bonuses, recruiting, teaming, mentoring, etc. that I'm too lazy to type out, so feel free to ask questions.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some key reflections and takeaways from your BCG internship experience:
Pros
People:
Resume Boost:
Pay & Expense Policies:
Cons
Work-Life Balance:
Nature of Work:
Miscellaneous
General Takeaways
Consulting Fit:
Not for Everyone:
Your reflections highlight the balance between the benefits (career growth, pay, and networking) and the challenges (hours, work monotony) of a consulting career. It’s clear that while consulting offers incredible opportunities, it’s not a one-size-fits-all path.
Sources: BCG gives FT offers to all incoming interns, Ex-McKinsey Consultant Here Answering Questions, Bain or BCG for Summer Internship??, Q&A: Former MBB Consultant, 2019 MBB Comparison (Interview Process, Locations, Responsibilities, Perks...)
Nice. Glad you enjoyed it. FYI hours will only get worse when you start FT, as you were most likely somewhat protected by your team as an intern.
Yeah. I think I was working only 80% of the hours of the full-time staff. I do think I could put up with it especially if you mix in beach-time, more of an adult mindset, and getting more efficient at working.
Whats the future for you?
Idk. I definitely want and think I can make it to C2 (220K on target earnings is hard to pass up). So I guess my first four years are planned, but beyond that I think the job would be way too many hours for me (Project Leader, Principal, Partner). So we'll see.
Also just a reminder that BCG has the most generous expense/pay policies out of all the major consulting firms, and unlike other firms, they take protected evenings and Fridays seriously, so what OP means is why they enjoyed BCG, not why they enjoyed consulting (more broadly).
Yeah comparing to McKinsey benefits, BCG employees get the better end of the stick (Bain doesn't really travel so expense policies are irrelevant). I also did really admire the fact that Friday evenings and weekends were heavily protected, and I guess I mistakenly thought this was the norm around consulting. I think also my office had pretty decent culture which was also a plus. I wouldn't at all universalize this to any other firm.
Tbh I could tolerate worse expense policies (I personally find that the BCG policies are kind of excessive), but I probably could not tolerate worse culture or work-life balance, especially with lower pay at like a tier 2.
Idk overall very fortunate because I was thinking BCG vs. McKinsey, but I'm now 100% confident I made the correct choice. Maybe just wish BCG did more in finance... but hey maybe I become a CPG guy.
Could you elaborate on which perks and benefits bcg have that the other two don't? Will be joining BCG London but dont have much info on their expense policies
Could you elaborate on "taking protected evenings and Fridays seriously" compared to McKinsey and Bain?
My ex works there. There's a big focus on something they call "teaming" which is basically you saying you'll be offline at 5/6/7 on one of the heavy days (Monday - Thursday) and everyone respects that. Tbf you make up the work, but the perk is nice.
Every Friday, she was home at 4 or 5.
Bain is pretty good about protecting Fridays and weekends. 90% of Fridays I logged off before 6, and I worked one weekend in 3 years.
Spent time at McK and they take Friday past 5/6 and weekends seriously, in my experience. If your engagement manager / case leader is competent, there's a reasonable point every night past "check-out" where your work is in your own hands and you can log off once you're done.
More broadly, the hours really don't matter when you are on a travel study. It's not like you can get dinner with your SO if you're in some other city anyway, so might as well send it Mon/Tue-Thur. Especially at this young age.
Curious as to what the different things people wanted to get out of consulting were—rising soph trying to learn more about the industry and careers after consulting, thank you!
Dominant theme was uncertainty with a general drive/passion for high achievement. Most of the interns wanted to be really successful (whether that mean high earning, prestigious, or just generally whatever made them happy) but didn’t really know how or what to do to get there. Some people were pretty set on an industry (e.g. healthcare) but others were open-minded to the more “boring” stuff (insurance, manufacturing, mining etc.). A few were not even fully sold on the corporate ladder/being a sell out and were thinking about politics, medical school, law school, or a startup.
Amazing info, thanks for sharing this.
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