Bain Round 1 - case types

Hello,

I have worked with several people who got offers from Bain and the feedback I received from them is that the first case does involve some kind of market sizing.

That being said, this is not set in stone, and consultants have the freedom to give any case they want as a first case so it is good to be prepared.

Best of luck ! Also, happy to help if you need support during your preparation

Yes, often there is a market sizing in the Bain first round but it’s not guaranteed - can also just be regular cases.

Let me know if you need help practicing.

Best of luck.

No. 

That's really not true. 

It can be anything, including a market sizing exercise. 

Each firm has its own case library, and that's where the cases are pulled from. 

There is also no official 'first round' / 'second round' case distinction. The interviewer rather adjusts the complexity of the case. It's not the case itself that is inherently more difficult. 

Best,
Cristian

Hello!

Yes, that’s true—Bain often includes a market sizing case in Round 1. When I interviewed there, I also had a market sizing as one of the cases, with quite a few exhibits involved. Other cases were more classic profitability and investment-style, but market sizing does show up frequently, especially to test quick structuring and math under pressure.

Make sure you're solid on both top-down and bottom-up approaches and practice interpreting charts quickly.

Let me know if you’d like to go over one together!

best,
Alessa :)

No this is definitely not true as a global rule.

But in some specific offices, Bain indeed almost always do an estimation case in Round 1. For example in the London Office this is a tradition, and they also did this in Zürich for many years.

However, in many other offices Bain are not doing this at all and the Round 1 cases can cover anything. So depending on where you interview, it is either more or less predictable.

Cheers, Sidi

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Dr. Sidi S. Koné

The MBB Offer Machine

Nope I have had coachees who have just had a 'normal' case interview. 

One important rule in consulting -> never assume