Strongest Groups at BCG
I recently received and accepted an offer to join BCG as a Summer Associate in one of their main offices (NYC,Boston,Chicago) from a non-target school. Previous SAs have told me that we will be asked to rank our top 5-10 industry and capability (Strategy, Large Scale Change, etc) preferences before we begin our employment and that, typically, SAs are placed in one of their top 3 choices.
I'm more or less industry agnostic (excluding healthcare) and have vague interests in the following capabilities (in no particular order): Transformation & Large Scale Change, Strategy, Growth, Turnaround, and Corp Dev (M&A). I'm also open to exploring other capabilities. Given that I don't have strong preferences either way, I thought it would be prudent to look into what BCG is best at.
Generally speaking, which teams (industry or capability) are considered to be best in class at BCG? Also, which do you think would best position me for a (possible) transition to PE/banking sometime down the road (2-6 years)?
I don't know enough about consulting to give you a definitive answer, but this should be a good start. See the rankings by practice area...
http://www.vault.com/company-rankings/consulting/
I'd think Corp Dev/M&A isn't their strongest practice. Bain and McKinsey dominate this space (along with PE) from what I know.
Also, if you're joining as an SA, moving into PE will be very difficult. 99% of consulting to PE transition happens pre-MBA AFAIK.
As far as I know, Associate is the entry-level position at BCG, so a Summer Associate position would be pre-MBA.
Oops. You're right. Got confused with how the other MBBs call them. My bad
Didn't you say you got an offer? What was the position then?
Not sure what you're asking. I was thinking of the wrong position because McKinsey and Bain call their summer MBA interns Summer Associate/Associate Intern. I work at one of the MBBs at the undergrad level and have friends at all three.
Repeating I (and others) have said above, BCG lags its competitors in PE.
Ah ok. I got you mixed up with the OP.
They're asking you not because you're going to get placed in a practice, BCG uses a generalist model. They're just trying to make sure they staff on a case you won't hate over the summer.
Strengths are really regional and specific at all consulting firms. For example, when I was at MBB, I worked in a really great office for consumer and retail, but my impression was that we were weaker in apparel than our competitors.
My advice would be: pick what you're interested in, and use your Fridays in the office over the summer to gauge whether you think there's a strong practice. As long as your universe is reasonably broad, you're going to find that all of MBB are strong in what you're interested in.
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