BCG 2nd Round - Mixed Feeling - How bad are the mistakes?

Question

I just had my second round with BCG and have mixed feelings after. I did well in R1 with no specific areas of recommended improvement, just to keep consistency. I feel I completely bombed interview 1 in R2 and had no chance for the second interview.

R2 I got a nontraditional case regarding a utility company assessing the feasibility of a plan in the public sector. The Partner mentioned I may not have experience in this industry (which was true) so my structure was a bit exhaustive. My first bucket was Market/Demand, but Partner ended up telling me demand had nothing to do with the case because the utility company was a monopoly (was not explicitly in the prompt, only that the co was gov regulated and this is a public sector project). So some time was wasted there and then we moved onto the math portion (cost focused), where I fumbled a bit on aligning the calculation but bounced back and aligned quickly and calculated correctly. I made it through the entire case with a recommendation but I think in the beginning was lacking business judgment in depth as I was unfamiliar with the industry. Do interviewers take case difficulty into consideration?

Second interview was with a MDP and he really drove the interview and cut me short frequently. It felt 100% like an interviewer led case vs the standard BCG candidate led and had no opportunity to drive the case. Thus I feel the performance might be sub par (finished the case and had good structure, decent judgment, good calculations, just overcomplicated a few calcs which he walked me through). Do the interviewers talk to each other beforehand? I felt my performance in the first was poor that the MDP didn't want to waste time and was rushing me. Am I overthinking this?

Answer 1

Clearly you have reflected hard on your performance and have found areas you could have done better- this is the most important part! So work on this, focus on giving your best, keep improving and keep learning.

Stop overthinking and psycho-analysing what the interviewers did or did not do. Maybe they were putting some pressure on you to see how you perform or maybe the partner had an urgent meeting straight after. There is no way to tell. I have had candidates who didnt feel they did well but ended up getting invited to next round and eventually getting the offer.

Wait to hear back and accept the feedback gracefully- whatever the outcome.

Fingers crossed for you.

Answer 2

Hi there,

I'm really sorry but there's no input we can provide here other than "time will tell"!

I know you want an answer now, but you really won't know until they call you. We are very very bad assessors of our own performance, so please do yourself a favor (no matter how hard) and stop thinking about this until that call comes.

Easier said than done, but there's really no use wasting time thinking about it. In the meantime, try to enjoy your weekend!