I'm a senior at UPenn (NOT Wharton, I'm proud to say, nor did I major in math/econ) who made it to the final round with BCG. They flew me to my preferred office, and it seemed like everything went well. I had a pleasant fit/behavioral, I nailed the first case, and I did fine on the second. Then I got a call this morning: no offer. This sucks, since they supposedly hire ~50% of final rounders, but OK.
My question to the experts here on wallstreetoasis is: what the hell do I do now, especially if I want to work as an associate at a top consulting firm? Literally no other firms deigned to interview me. They saw my lack of business experience as a hindrance, I guess, in spite of my high GPA and SATs. I thought I would land the BCG job, and I have no alternatives. I'm a GREAT interviewee, though, and I'm sure that if I could just get my foot in the door, I would do quite well (the BCG rejection, I believe, was based on my lukewarm final performance, but my interviewer was really frigid - it was impossible to establish rapport).
Anyway, can I apply to firms outside of on-campus recruiting? Would McKinsey and Bain still look at my resume?
Any help and advice is much appreciated.
I'd reach out to an alum (again non-Wharton aka someone actually fun from UPenn) at Bain. I've known a couple people who've turned down Bain for BCG & McKinsey so might be worth it. I would do it sooner than later because I'd imagine their classes are filling up. There's one guy on here w/ a lemur as his avatar that could tell you some insane Bain recruiting stories.
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If you don't throw any shit, nothing is going to stick.
It sounds like you are limiting your own opportunities... if you want to work at one of the other two, apply online, network as best you can and do what everyone else here does... persevere bro, and do not limit yourself to applying to only certain places just because of rejection or some idiot on here telling you its hopeless.
First off, one big part of consulting is being very self-aware of strengths and weaknesses...maybe you need to be a bit more self-critical, if it will spur you to work harder. I definitely had at least one "frigid" interviewer at every superday I did in banking and consulting...got some offers, not others...it's the game. And finally, MBB offer rate on final rounds is below 50%...
thanks for the input thus far. @2x2Matrix: I was interviewing at the Boston BCG office, and it seemed as though the format was standard. 2 cases, 1 fit. I will try to locate alums at McK and Bain quickly, but I don't have high hopes.
@MissingNo - this appears to be the most credited response. On-campus recruiting is garbage.
Thanks for all help thus far! And of course, I'm happy to hear more if anyone's got something to say. I have literally 0 experience with this process outside of my BCG interview.
its tough if they have already turned you down for a interview.. your strategy works real well if they dont recruit at your school but if they do they will know they rejected you and alums can do very little about that... i have been in your shoes before.
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