BCG Interview Stages

Question

Hi there,

I'm currently in the process of interviewing for a SA position for BCG Vantage/Knowledge Team.

At the moment, I've gone through 3 rounds of interview, recruiter, manager, senior director (hiring manager), all which I think have gone pretty well (some gave me informal feedback and told me they're advancing me to the next stage). So I've got 2 questions here:

1. Do BCG interviews work on a pass/fail system? As in if I messed up my last one, my application basically gets discarded/not considered, or is it a more holistic overview of all the interviews and the deliberation comes after everything (would be quite interesting if they did make the MDP conduct 20 interviews to go through the candidates, that's what my thought process is anyway)

2. Apparently I'm not meant to have a case interview, but my next interview will be with a generalist consultant (currently all my interviews have been with the Vantage/KT people), would anyone have any insights on how I'm meant to prep for this? The previous interviewer mentioned it could be a deeper dive into concepts but it could also vary as everyone conducts interviews differently

Hope the questions make sense, thanks all in advance!

Answer 1

Hi,

To answer your questions:

BCG's interview process is designed to be holistic rather than strictly pass/fail. So each interview assesses various competencies, and feedback from all rounds is collectively considered to make a final decision. The interviewers and the HR team will all chat together and deliberate.
Interviews by generalists will usually follow the generalist interview style. It might be a normal case but with vantage topics. You should prep as if you're doing a standard case.

I'm not sure how well prepared you already are but start by reading this https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/case-interview

What I would do i'd find a coach - do a cold case, and iron out what your weak areas are and what your strengths are. Or find a friend and do this with them.

Remember, BCG cases are candidate led, which means you drive the case. So make sure you practice those styles of cases.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi there!

Congrats on making it this far.

To take your questions one by one.

1. It's holistic. Of course there's a progression from round to round, but the whole point of having multiple rounds is to assess your consistent performance rather than your one-off performance.

2. I'd recommend you clarify this with the recruiter. Make sure you understand whether there is any case component and if not, then what is the likely structure of the interview. The better you understand this upfront, the better prepared you can be.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 3

hey there!

BCG tends to look at interviews holistically, especially for non-consulting tracks like KT or Vantage. One weaker interview may not kill your chances if the overall picture is strong.
For the generalist interview, be ready to speak clearly about your experience, problem-solving approach, and how you think. It may be more conceptual or behavioral than a classic case. Good to brush up on business intuition and be structured in your answers.
Hope this helps! Alessa

Answer 4

Each round is pass/fail, but considers the whole performance, i.e., they don't ignore how you performed in previous interviews.

Answer 5

Congrats on your progress!

1. It’s holistic but each round is pass/fail, as others have mentioned

2. Your best bet is to speak with a recruiter to understand the case component

Good luck