Worth Applying without a Referral?

It looks like Bain is looking to hire some Consultants for the US and Canadian offices. 

They're targeting 4-7 years of experience for non-MBA folks and naturally, will likely receive thousands of applications for the sole Canadian office from every man, woman and child looking to break into the firm. 

With that said, I'm on the fence of applying at all. If I apply for this, I'm locked out of applying for a minimum of 6 months, or longer if they forget to reject me (like last time). And I'm not all too sure how "competitive" my experience will even be.

Does anyone know which particular sector exposures or functions are in demand? Does anyone have insights into how heavily GPA is weighed at the lateral level at MBB? Is it worth applying if I've not yet worked in consulting otherwise?

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