BCG vs. Bain in London
Hi all - bit of advice needed as am currently trying to decide between offers from BCG and Bain in London. Both are for the entry level graduate role (i.e. Associate vs. Associate Consultant). Obviously I am going to both sell-weekends and am speaking to friends/alumni at both places, but I would quite like to see what your perspectives are on this as well.
The things I am concerned about are:
1) Exit opportunities (MBA/ PE)
2) Lifestyle/ Culture (I know Bain is often thought of as 'frattier' in the States - does this apply to London as well?)
3) Amount of travel
4) Prestige
Compensation-wise, BCG are significantly better but that isn't going to drive my decision.
Many thanks in advance for any insights you can give me!
Very similar firms. Bain has strongers links to PE (cf. Bain Capital). I'm surprised that comp at BCG is much higher.
In some regions, Bain is gaining ground against BCG, in others it is the other way around.
BCG is known to have the best comp package of the three, for whatever reason.
Would recommend Bain if you have an interest in PE or tech, BCG if you have an interest in public sector, healthcare, or retail. I've answered your q's below, but I would make a decision on a people basis - the two firms are very, very similar and the below is basically splitting hairs.
On your first point - Bain exits better to PE, though it's doable to go from BCG to PE of course; BCG exits better to top-tier MBAs in the US, which you may or may not be interested in.
don't know for either on 2
3 - yes, Bain travels less in almost all offices. to be clear - less sometimes means only tue-thurs, sometimes whole weeks in office, sometimes whole cases in office. it's a moving target. BCG - if you hunt it down, the opportunity for low/no travel can exist, but you have to make tradeoffs you might not make at Bain (case type, working with great vs. OK people...).
4 - hoo boy. so... In the US and Europe, it goes McK, BCG, Bain. That's how it is - you'll have various people claim that one is better than the others, but they're self-promoting. It's like saying Cambridge is more prestigious than Oxford; the difference is negligible but at the end of the day Oxford is older and ever so very slightly more name brand as a result.
Now, in Germany, BCG has a better brand; in China, McKinsey; in the MIddle East, sometimes BAH. Your takeaway should be that prestige is not a real factor here.
thanks, that's really helpful!
what is the compensation like for entry level?
For US offices, I heard $90k-$100k all in.
I'd personally go to the sell-weekends and see what I enjoyed the most. My friend is actually at the Bain one now, therefore I'm quite aware of the ridiculously low comp at Bain. In all honestly if you don't prefer the people at Bain that much more I would choose BCG just because of the comp.
The big difference otherwise is probably Bains PE focus, might be worth considering, however it is not like BCG closes all the PE doors. But if one is set to do PE after consulting Bain is the better option. I do however think BCG might give you a wider variety of exit opps. I wouldn't say I'm an expert on the area though, but having interned at one of the top 2nd tier consultancies in London and accepted a MBB offer from another office I hope I do have a bit of knowledge.
Congrats on the offers, incredibly well done, especially in london!
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