Talk about school projects, and try and make them sound as technical as possible. The idea should be to brand them as "research" projects. If you spin it right, you can make them sound like good experience. Also, heavily emphasize any community involvement, leadership, or clubs you are in. Even you don't have a lot of experience in these things, just remember you can make anything sound impressive if its phrased correctly, even it is just "owning your own lawn-mowing business' or something like that. Try to underplay your service jobs as much as possible, it absolutely should not be the focus of your letter, they will not impress a recruiter and may even hurt you

 

I think that you need to be a strong student, but from looking at the resume profiles of Queen's commerce students and looking at the coop positions achieved by UWO Ivey students (undergrads in Ontario), it seems like there are many positions to go around in the summer.

 

I'm not so sure about that boz928. A have spoken with quite a few people who have worked as actuarial consultants and the opinion I get is that actuarial consultants tend to work a much more relaxed work week ( often ~40) but they still get paid over 100K. The work that you talk about is all done up frint at the beginning of your career doing the SOA exams.

 

Sorry this is getting off topic. The advice that I've gotten about getting a consulting position is to talk to your school's career services office and they may know someone who is from your school who is a firm that may hire you. The idea is that they won't be able to hire you, but they may be happy to help our someone from their school to learn the process by which they might be able to get hired.

 

I would take the stance that there is a gpa cutoff def, as these firms, McK in particular, are looking for genius-level candidates. I cannot speak to HYPSW, but I can speak to the University of Virginia. Bain abd BCG it's somewhat easier to get the first interview, and as you know, after that it is all on you to kill it; resume does not matter anymore. So I think you are probably in great shape there.

McK, however, prbably gave out about 8-10 first round interviews in totality, for Summer BA, across the entire 3rd year class of the state school. Pretty remarkable. Essentially have to be a Jefferson Scholar to get in the door.

M/B/B internships are pretty tough to come by anytwhere just because there aint shit for you to do there over the summer. Best you can do is stop worrying about who you aint and be positive and hope for the best. If Bain and BCG come knocking, then you are in good shape for full-time recruiting. If not, focus on getting something else good.

 

My impression is that each firm hires 3-5 interns per office in a good year (smaller offices may take less). In other words, it's ridiculously competitive. If full-time recruiting this fall is any indication, that number will likely shrink for juniors applying for internships this year. I'm not too sure about how much connections are going to help you.

To be honest, I think that GPA is going to hurt your chances quite a bit in a normal year, but my guess is that it's going to be way more competitive this year. What kind of leadership positions are we talking about? Do you walk on water?

 
BananaRepublic:
My impression is that each firm hires 3-5 interns per office in a good year (smaller offices may take less). In other words, it's ridiculously competitive. If full-time recruiting this fall is any indication, that number will likely shrink for juniors applying for internships this year. I'm not too sure about how much connections are going to help you.

To be honest, I think that GPA is going to hurt your chances quite a bit in a normal year, but my guess is that it's going to be way more competitive this year. What kind of leadership positions are we talking about? Do you walk on water?

They definitely take more than that. McKinsey is the top employer at my school and I know we have a spring internship program with them and they put on a huge presentation once a term for summer internships. It might be different (well probably will be) this year, but in the past they're pretty big.

As for your GPA, the fact that you go to a top school is a given. I mean, they're the only people they really look at anyway. All the people I know of who got McKinsey had at least 3.5s and one of them had a 4.0. I actually know of a girl with a 3.8 who didn't an interview even.

You should be good for a lot of firms - and definitely still apply - but I'm not sure its going to happen.

 

I have heard that a certain mid-tier BCG office (would rather not name but it is a real office not like Miami or something) is not taking any summer interns this year.

To reiterate a truth that was said before, BCG and Bain are much more generous in giving out 1st round interviews and after that they are evaluating how you did in the interview, not stacking your resume up against the next guy.

 

Thanks for the answers. It serves as a reality check and a reminder not to put all my eggs in one basket.

At my school, there are around 50 first round interview slots, I believe. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there were 500 people vying for them.

Speaking about offices actually brings up another question I'm not sure about: Is recruiting done on an office-by-office manner? Are some offices easier to get into?

 

Effectively, yes the recruiting is done on an office by office basis. Even though they ask you to list "top 3" if you make it to 2nd round the people that are evaluating you are senior people from your top choice office (they usually fly you there) and if an offer is given it's for that office.

That said, once you get an offer for a certain office it is possible in some cases to transfer to another one. That usually depends on what kind of yield they get from the office you want to transfer to. Bottom line, choose your first choice office carefully and make sure it's the one you really want to go to should you get an offer. Even if you have no preference, bear in mind that your top choice will likely be where you end up.

 

A few thoughts to each of your questions, mr.memphis:

This year and the next few years will be atypical in regards to applicants. summer internship programs are already small in consulting and will be even smaller - not surprised that a few offices won't be making offers.

And yes, recruiting is done on an office-to-office basis. This is a long topic in itself, so feel free to email me if you're interested in learning more.

Connections will help in getting interviews depending on a few factors - how senior the person is, the closeness of your relationship. Where those connections help the most is getting more attention on your resume (but tough to help you get the actual first interview), and getting you from the first interview onwards (since then much of the discussion is judgmental and impression-based).

As I usually say, the GPA cutoff is around the 3.5 level for MBB (and comparable for leading boutiques and Top 10s). This isn't cut in stone and depends on factors such as major, school, etc

And finally, yes extracurriculars and work experience help a lot. Particular roles of leadership, and where you've shown entrepreneurial initiative (eg starting a student group).

Hope all this helps.

Management Consulted www.managementconsulted.com

 

Not to be discouraging or anything, it will be hard for you to get an interview with less than 3.5

I had interviews with all MBB and went to final rounds, the competition is very tough, especially this year. At McKinsey most people I know have a GPA of 3.8+.

This doesn't mean you have no chance, it's just that you should also try to apply to other consulting firms, Booz, Deloitte, etc.

You still have a shot full time.

 

Honestly, You're going to have a lot of trouble getting an internship with the information you've laid out. And your GPA may be below the minimum that most consulting firms will accept (I'm currently a rising junior too so I'm not 100% sure)

I would focus on getting some kind of professional work experience and raising your GPA. Also try finding alumni in consulting and getting their feedback. They may be able to help you develop a better path with more details on your background.

 

A1j is spot on. I wouldn't waste time applying to consulting firms at this point. Find a smaller company (through a family friend or relative) that you can intern for to gain some professional experience. Work for free if you need to. Even if you get 4.0's each semester this year, it's going to be difficult get a consulting gig in the near future. Your best bet is to work your ass off the next few years, get a good full-time job at a F500, and then get into an elite business school.

 
F. Ro Jo:
very very tough. it is tough enough to get a FT spot, and there are about 25% as many interns as FT.

^This. Just try your hand and quit worrying about things that you can’t actually quantify/measure even though I know that’s in most/all of our nature. Good luck!

No pain, no pain.
 

At my public target, MBB each gave out 3-4 initial internship offers. It varied because certain firms had more nearby offices they sent interns to, plus some kids out at international offices. I say initial because some were snubbed by finance/each other and ended up taking people off their alternate lists. For full time, they gave out 4-6 each.

 

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