Bain

Now that the MBBs are open for Summer 2022 internships, I thought I'd make a thread so everyone's up to date. Does anyone know whether applying for the summer deadline rather than the fall puts applicants at some sort of advantage?

02 Jul 2021

Hey everyone! I've recently accepted an ACI offer with Bain in one of their main offices (non-NY). I absolutely love Bain, the people, and the office as well. However, I would like to end up in NY sooner rather than later to start my career. How feasible is it to transfer to NY within Bain after my ACI experience? Otherwise, for optionality, how do McKinsey/BCG view applications from a Bain ACI? Does this increase chances of an interview or hurt them? All help is greatly appreciated!

04 Sep 2021

Hi, I just did a final around for Bain New York Office (Thursday 4/1/21). I graduated in May of 2020, but they are doing off cycle recruiting right now for AC positions. They are doing final round interviews today and tomorrow. I have two questions: 1. When should I hear back? Did anyone else also interview for this role and have you heard back? 2. Does your first round interview play into the decision to extend an offer? I killed my first round interviews but felt less confident on one of my final round interviews. Will they take all four interviews into account or only the last two? Thank

01 Apr 2021

I am in a very privileged position to have received a McKinsey offer for the associate position in NA. Previously, I had attended the Bain summer program for advanced degrees but unfortunately bombed the final case interview and did not receive an FT offer. The recruiting manager communicated that I was placed on a pseudo-waitlist and that they will reach out to me at the end of August or early September. Now I am in a bind. I know it is easy to just accept the McKinsey offer and never look back, but Bain has always been my top choice and I really felt at home with all the Bainies during my

22 Aug 2020

Hey guys! I'm trying to best understand the main differences between Bain NY vs SF; work culture, hours, industry mix, exit opportunities, etc. I'll be in an intern program where I'll have to state my preferences and can't begin to figure out how I'll go about choosing. I love everything about NYC and it looks like NYC may even be cheaper to live in than SF recently. I also come from IB background and am interested in exiting to PE and know Bain NY has a strong financial services deal flow. However, I've heard from a Bain SF employee that the work culture in the SF office is phenomenal; great

22 Jul 2021

Hey guys, I go to a target (H/Y/P/S) undergrad and we had our final-round interviews for the AC role at Bain (NYC/ Boston/ SF) on Tuesday the 29th. I know MBB typically get back with news within 24h if it's good or longer if it's not-so-good but none of my friends have heard back yet. What should we expect the decision timeline to look like? Maybe we can use this space to keep a tab on when decisions start going out... Would really appreciate any insight on this for this year in particular (have read through previous posts)

01 Oct 2020

Hey guys, Thought I'd start another thread for those of us APDs/ADCs (read: spent too many years in school) who are applying for full time positions either earlier this year in the Spring (BCG) or now during the Summer. Let's try to provide sufficient data so it's less confusing: Current location(Northeast/west/south)/institute(target?): Firm(s) applied (spring/summer): When did you receive an invite/rejection: Additional info (invite or no? when are they scheduling the interviews?): To start off: Current location: southeast + semi/non target Firm applied: BCG (spring) When did you receive an

01 Jan 2017

Hi friends. Recently left MBB after spending 2 years after college there. Always thought it was helpful reading Q&A when I was a student thinking about career-pathing, so wanted to offer this up. Busy in a new job, so will respond when available and might close this thread up early, but for now, please ask away. For context: Target college MBB big US office Based in the US Obviously please keep questions professional and I will try to provide as much insight as possible. Won't reveal anything though that is too personal. Still care about anonymity.

19 Sep 2019

Hi! I'll be brief and please feel free to redirect me to the appropriate place if this is the wrong place. I have an offer at Firm #1. I have a final-round interview with Firm #2 on Friday. Firm #1 wants an answer BEFORE Friday, conveniently. Firm #1 does not know I'm applying to Firm #2. If I get Firm #2, I would likely take that offer (location). Both are MBB. The way I see it, below are my options. Please advise, any help at ALL is appreciated. Take Firm #1 offer and withdraw from Firm #2. Withdraw from Firm #1 and hope Firm #2 works out. Take Firm #1, renege if Firm #2 works out. Renege

16 Dec 2020

Hey guys! Recently accepted offer to join Bain and was wondering what typical salary is at entry (matching BCG/considering recent pay bumps to take hold in October), and at age 30 & 35. I understand progression looks differently for every person, so an estimation works.

04 Sep 2021

Hi, I'd love to hear some advice from folks familiar with MBB's recruiting processes. I'm currently at a target school on the west coast with a history of sending undergrads to SF MBB offices (particularly Bain). I'm not sure whether this is due to cross-coast recruiting disadvantages or many students' desire to stay on the west coast. After spending the summer in NYC, I'm fairly certain that it's the city I'd prefer to live in post-grad, but I'm concerned that my candidacy won't be as competitive for NYC offices as it would be in SF. Does anyone know if there are material disadvantages to

24 Jun 2021

Hello monkeys, I wanted to get an impression on the best restructuring experience in London in terms of skill building and exit opps. I assume that specialist programs like Evercore/HL/RS prep analyst better for distressed roles than generalist places like PJT/Laz/Moelis, even though PJT is top notch in RX. Another thing that caught my attention after a quick linkedin search is that the London offices of Oaktree and other loan to own / distressed for control places hire mostly from GS/MS and not candidates from restructuring backgrounds. Is this simply a statistical phenomenon since the

04 Jun 2018

I'm lucky enough to have Full-Time Analyst offers for Investment Banking from both Evercore NYC M&A and PJT NYC M&A. I know I'm splitting hairs here but I'm just wondering if any of you have thoughts if one firm is slightly better positioned in terms of exit opportunities into PE mega-funds (Apollo, Blackstone, Warburg, KKR, TPG, Bain, Carlyle) as well as top MBA programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton)? Appreciate any insight!

23 Aug 2019

Conventional wisdom here would suggest that you need to go to a M7/T10 school to give yourself a decent chance of making it to MBB, You can make it from a T15 school, but the chances are lower. However, I've noticed on LinkedIn that people from UW Foster (USNR #27) & UM Twin Cities (USNR #32) do make it to MBB (I'm not talking about sponsored MBB kids, but career switchers). Although it seems like they're always in the Seattle or Minneapolis offices. I'm not talking about 1 or 2. These schools seems to send a few grads to MBB every year. I know those are not Kellogg numbers, but what does that

15 Nov 2017

Just wanted to start this forum topic since I know a few of us are feeling antsy about Bain final round decisions. I would be interested in hearing about your ACI final round calls and the turnaround time to receiving an acceptance or rejection. Please post if you have or have not received an acceptance, and for which region of the US! Also let us know how your overall interview went from your perspective, and how well that matched the outcome. Thank you!

10 Oct 2020

In deciding between MBB, would you guys offer any insights about differences between the three firms or things to think about while making a decision? All three offers are from the same city. McKinsey vs Bain vs BCG If you've worked hard enough to secure an offer at all three firms then congratulations. These firms are the most prestigious in consulting. All of these firms offer great exit opportunities and pay. However these firms still have their individual strengths and weaknesses. Lets take a look at each firm in terms of pay at the first year associate level. The following figures are

30 Nov 2014

Figured it would be helpful to create this as a way for everyone to update each other when/if they receive offers for this summer's program. In 2019, decisions were released May 8th (Wednesday), while last year decisions weren't released until June as a result of COVID. Appreciate everyone's input/info when they get it!

06 May 2021

Hello, I will be attending cal next year to major in data science. How can I best prepare myself to work at MBB and potentially gain internships at these firms? I am not in Haas. thanks!

19 May 2021

I'm new to this forum (in the posting sense - been reading it for a while), and was hoping I could get some advice. I have a friend that just got a job at Disney's Corp Strategy group and seems pretty excited about it. I have been pretty interested in Technology and Media myself for a while, but was planning on originally entering consulting to figure out what I wanted to do (I'm currently a junior thinking about career opportunities for next year). The disney job seems pretty exclusive and do some interesting work (Strategy & M&A work in Media). I wanted to see if you guys knew anything about the opportunity and how it stacks up against other opportunities in the consulting space such as McK/BCG/Bain.

03 Dec 2009

I'm a senior in a top school in Asia graduating in 2016. I've grinded through school, networked like crazy and completed internships in consulting, VC and Asset Management. I have an MBB offer in Asia (think Singapore/KL/HK) and a BB Equity Structuring offer in London. I need to decide between the two by end of January, and would really appreciate any advice on the pros/cons of either. In the long haul, I would like to end up in PE/value investing - where there's a mix of operational understanding and finance. The positive for MBB is the operational experience, but most of MBB Asia's exits are

29 Nov 2015

From my understanding, the recruiting process starts in the Fall with applications due in August/September. However, there are also July deadlines for undergrads seeking full-time consulting roles at least for McKinsey snd BCG. I have no idea when to apply. Will there still be August/Sept application deadlines as well? Should I go ahead and apply in July? If it helps, I'm applying to NYC, another competitive east coast office, and then probably a southern office that I think is maybe at least slightly less competitive. I'm a social sciences major (not econ) at a low/semi-target school, so I

29 May 2021

Hi wise people on WSO, I just finished my final round interviews with Bain, and sent a thank you email to my interviewers. My friend got a reply from the Partner who interviewed both of us, but I didn't get any response. I thought my interview with him went reasonably well, but I couldn't really tell if he liked me. I've heard a lot about how the interview with the Partner can be the most important one. If the Partner did not reply to anyone, I'd probably feel less anxious. But after learning that my friend got a reply, I just feel my last bit of hope was gone. Did anyone have similar

28 Sep 2016

Recently I've been trying to break into consulting. I studied the sciences in college in pursuit of medical school and after careful consideration now want to go into healthcare management--for the obvious cost/benefits. I want to get into consulting to make headway and have been looking at the top consultancies--McKinsey, Bain and BCG. To make a long story short, after some networking I got a coffee meeting with the COO of Activision who used to work for Bain shortly and knows the managing partner in the LA office well. He forwarded my resume off to the managing partner in LA who forwarded it to the managing partner in Dallas--where I'm living at the moment. A recruiter got into contact with me and now I'm in talks for a possible opportunity.

01 Jul 2011

Got FT offers from Monitor Group NY and Bain Houston. Factors to consider: *I'm from NY and would rather be in NY to be with friends and, uh, be in NY. *I want to do organizational leadership, and heard Monitor does this more than Bain. *More interested in industries covered by Monitor NY than Bain Houston (oil). *I speak Arabic, and heard Monitor is sending a lot of people to Middle East from NY. Didn't get a good answer from Bain about working in the MIddle East. *Know more people at Bain than Monitor, but both seem like good fit. So, in the end, there are a few reasons why I like Monitor, but I also have to consider brand. How important is that? I'd like to move to industry after a 3-5 yrs in consulting.

19 Oct 2010

Hi everyone, I have offers from both the Bain and McK offices in London. At the moment, I don't know precisely what I'd like to do in a few years time. I'm thinking I'd like to stay in consulting and work my way towards Partner. This may, of course, change as I start work and have new experiences and find out more about exit opportunities. I wanted to reach out to you: Which is better in terms of opportunities it provides? What are the different exit opportunities available from each firm? Which would you take if you were in my position with the amount of knowledge I have now? And what are good questions to ask the people there?

20 Jan 2011

Seems like a really interesting fund that's been quite active since inception. Any insight on the associate experience? Level of technical work? Operational influence in portfolio companies? Sourcing relative to rest of work? Comp relative to more traditional funds?

21 Oct 2018

Hi Everyone, I just applied to Bain and received a 1.5hr assessment test. Wondering if anyone knows what provider they use, how to practice, how difficult, what it consists of, or just any insights. Would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

02 Sep 2020

Can anyone comment on the best way to transition from MBB (analyst level) to PE? I'm joining an MBB office in the fall and understand that PE recruiting generally happens very quickly after that (April/May). Would it be useful to learn/practice some financial modeling before I start work so I can even be considered for interviews? Anything I should be doing well in advance to prepare? Any advice or experience is helpful, thanks.

22 Feb 2012

Apologies if this question seems a bit naive but wanted to get this forum's opinion on educating oneself on certain topics in order to hold better conversations with longer tenure colleagues. As a 22-year-old analyst I'm not super interested in or knowledgeable about luxury cars, cigars, watches, fine liquors, golf etc the list goes on. Have people faced this issue before? If so what did you do to address it, e.g. should I start stalking watch and car forums? I definitely don't mean to indicate that people in consulting firms only care about those things-most people are actually pretty down to

09 Dec 2014

You guys are probably aware that McKinsey has 2 divisions that they hire in: Consulting and Research (supporting the consultants). A friend of mine received an offer from McK "Knowledge Network" as a Junior Research Analyst, and wants to know how good are his exit opportunities. I assume not that good, correct? He's not doing any client facing work, brainstorming or anything like that, he will just collect and analyse data that consultants will need/use. I also have a feeling is much easier to get into McKinsey as a researcher than a consultant, it just doesnt have the same prestige, event

03 Mar 2010

Hey guys, I am a senior at a Public University which I think is a target and I have just found out that I got a first round at McKinsey and another at Bain and another at Accenture. I have recently started practicing cases - maybe 10 in total - and I am really awful at them. Any tips on how to prepare in less than a week for these interviews? I get super nervous and struggle with math - I am quite slow and tend to get lost in the details. I am being very honest here. Literally need any help I can get. I just want to stand out and do well.

30 Sep 2015

Hi all, Before I ask my question, let me fill you in with some info. School of attendance: a university in the west coast; target for Bain, not for BCG. Major: Business Econ Minor: Accounting GPA: 3.85 overall 3.96 for Econ courses Activities: Intern at Merrill Lynch Private Banking Voluntary Income Tax Assistant Case competition experience Past Student Senator I am applying for a summer internship at Bain and BCG. Now, here is my question. The deadline is this Sunday, and I have a feeling my cover letter is not going to be so pretty ( I know it is my fault to put it off until the last minute). With the information given above, do you think I can get an interview with not so great cover letters?

08 Jan 2011

Hi everyone, I just had a Bain AC final round interview yesterday (4/1) and was wondering if anyone else also interviewed on this date and has heard back on decisions yet? How long should we typically expect to wait before hearing back? Thanks!

02 Apr 2021

Just had an interview at a target for 2019 BEL program. Has anyone heard back? Have other schools been interviewed?

18 Apr 2019

Hi all, I'm looking to go into PE. Interviewed with Blackstone, Bain Cap and a few smaller PE firms this recruiting season, but did not get any offers. I did get summer offers from GS ibanking and Bain. Which offer do you think gives me the best chance of getting a PE job next recruiting season? I'm trying to build the best PE resume possible, so any help is welcomed. (Some context: I'm a junior at an Ivy League school with a GPA north of 3.75).

15 Feb 2012

Hello all, I've recently began considering consulting as a possible career path and had some questions regarding the lifestyle of associates.

09 Aug 2011

Let's say you are newly hired MBA graduates of MBB with a salary of $135,000 in USA, and after one year of work at MBB, you decided to move to your MBB office in Europe (Paris or Berline for example). My question is: will your salary in the new Europe office be the same/equivalent as the original $135,000 in euro, or will this figure now be based on the "local rate" which are significantly much lower than the salaries of North America counterparts? It does seem like that the starting salary for MBB out of MBA in Europe is much lower than that of USA, so yeah...anybody has experience before?

14 Feb 2013

I have an interview tomorrow with a top global strategy consulting firm not MBB but just below them, all of the employees I have researched have their degrees from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Oxford, etc. I am in a top 20 business school with a double major and a modest 3.2 GPA. They contacted ME. Many of my classmates have much better GPA's etc. yet were declined. And on their website it says you have to have at least a 3.4 to be considered. They have my cover letter, resume, and transcripts so they are well aware of my 3.2. Why are they interviewing me? Is this normal for companies to state that as a requirement yet still interview below it?

21 Sep 2010

Just another college junior trying to figure out what may be my best option. I have MS summer analyst offer, Citi summer analyst offer and a Bain consulting summer offer. Obviously I have to make a decision between banking and Bain, but I'd love to hear peoples opinions between MS and Citi, which is best at what, what groups I should aim for if I choose one of those firms and which is better at particular exit options. At this point I'm thinking either MF PE or B-school (on the west coast) but I am also a very entrepreneurial guy that has previous summer experience at bay area startups and I could see myself heading to one of those if it were the right fit and a great company. Thanks in advance for any and all thoughts on the topic.

17 Feb 2011

mornin to y'all. i'm a prospective monkey. good for me. i was wondering a few things i was hoping to get answers to if any of you would be so kind (will be much appreciated) i'm studying in an undergraduate program in israel's top uni. majoring economics (considered one of top 3 econ progs in europe) and east asian studies. fluent english, french, hebrew, functional italian and chinese by end of studies. top student and whatnot. some extra curricular activities and leadership, three years experience in israeli military intel, with some leadership here and there... leadership leadership leadership

15 May 2009

Just heard back from the last MBB saying I am waitlisted and have to wait 2-4 weeks to hear if they have an offer for me or not. They never mentioned waitlist but just said they needed more time to get back to me. Any thoughts on what I can do to get off the waitlist at any or what the chances are? I'm from a target and high GPA, etc. I also do not have any offers from anywhere else at the moment. I was thinking of messaging my points of contact and the partners I interviewed with but I am thinking that might just be a dumb move since the partners are the ones who made the decision.

18 Oct 2021

Hi guys Thanks for a great forum! I was hoping that you could help me out. I am starting as a Senior Associate at Bain (Europe) in February, and I would really like to be properly prepared. The thing is that my background is a PhD in Neuroscience and I don't know what they expect from me from day one. I have done Business School courses in managerial economics, economics, strategy and statistics, but that's about it. So my question is; what would be the most important to focus on in terms of being prepared. And if you have any experience from the first weeks/months at Bain I would really like

18 Oct 2012

Hello fellow monkeys, I have a few questions that i am hoping a few of you will be able to answer. I am fortunate to have a network of people can connect me to other influential people. The main question I have is what would be the most optimal way. I'll list the scenarios: 1) I have a close cousin who is a manager at Deloitte in the ERS division 2) I have a professor who went to a top mba program in Canada who has friends who are partners at some of the MBB. He said he was willing to refer me to them. 3) I have a pretty close friend who grew up with the recruiter at a mbb in canada. She also said she is more than willing to introduce me. Some overarching questions I have Should I try to meet with as many people from the firm I am most interested in or only a select few?

26 Nov 2013

Hey WSO, I'm a rising senior at a non-target school majoring in Finance. I interviewed with Bain and BCG (Bain was 1 round and BCG was 2, didn't make it past the 1st for BCG) and wasn't extended an offer for their summer internship programs. Thankfully, I still have full-time recruitment coming up in 2-3 months and I'm pretty sure I can secure another interview with both firms since I interviewed with them for their internship programs. Besides practicing cases, what's the best way I can prepare myself for this upcoming recruitment season? I probably did about 50-60 practice cases prior to the internship recruitment session and felt confident going into and finishing each interview. Any advice, tips, reality checks, etc are welcome. Thanks

10 Jul 2013

The gloves are officially off in the battle for the GOP nomination, and Newt Gingrich's toadie Super PAC "Winning Our Future" is taking a page out of the Swift-Boating playbook by hitting Mitt Romney where it hurts the most: his years with Bain. Evidently a 30-minute "documentary" is forthcoming, the trailer for which is below. It is said to include four indisputable examples of how Bain under Romney took over companies and looted them, laying off all the rank and file employees. You can expect this storyline to play BIG in blue collar South Carolina. This bit of propaganda is seriously gonna

10 Jan 2012

I'm an MD currently completing a post-doc in pharma, applied as an ADC to MBB in the fall, made it to the decision round for MBB1 and MBB2. was waitlisted at MBB1, was asked to complete an extra decision round then waitlisted at MBB2, and was ultimately rejected to both though asked to reapply during the off-cycle in spring. Have any other ADCs applied during the off-cycle? - How was your experience? - How did the recruitment process and level of difficulty compare? - Did you experience any pushback in re-applying so soon? - What recommendations would you have for someone else going through

16 Jan 2019

Shout out to all the hopeful boys and girls out there who would eat raw chicken to get an MBB internship! Where do you go to school? Where have you previously interned? Do you know when we'll start hearing back? How good do you think your chances are? Discuss these questions and anything else you'd like to talk about! May the odds be ever in your favor.

08 Sep 2020

Hey, I had a question about the interview process for consulting, specifically for MBB. I've searched but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, but if there is already a discussion on this, please post it and I'll be on my way. I am getting a Master's in Statistics at a semi-target. MBB recruits here, so I guess a "target" but non-ivy level for sure. I realize after getting an interview, a lot of your qualifications go out the window and it becomes a lot more about fit, but it seems more so for consulting. Is this true? Assuming I can get a first round, is the only way to get an offer just killing the case interviews? Thanks

04 Apr 2013

Bloomberg ran this great interview with Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman yesterday, and it covers a lot of ground. Schwarzman goes into why all hope is not lost for Europe (in fact he's still a buyer), why he loves Catholic schools, why 45% of the country should at least pay something in taxes, and how Mitt Romney made him millions while he was at Bain. The interviewer tries a few "Gotcha" questions about taxing the poor, but Schwarzman deflects them with his typical aplomb. I gotta say, he did cast Romney in a different light for me. Enjoy:

01 Dec 2011

Pretty straightforward question that I think might provoke some interesting discussion. At the top consulting firms, who has more to prove: analysts/associates hired straight out of undergrad, or consultants hired out of business school? (For this discussion, let's consider new hires who neither interned nor worked full-time at the firm before business school.) It seems that at most firms, the A's and C's go through similar training, and in many cases, both share the same consulting inexperience. It seems to me there's more downside risk that A's will say something really stupid in front of a client because of their likely lack of work experience. It also seems less likely that A's would have practical experience or expertise they could immediately contribute to a case team.

13 Jul 2011