BCG SEA (Associate) - I had my 1st interview for first round of interviews last Friday, but I haven't heard back for the 2nd interview schedule.

Take a breath. A few days of silence after your first interview is completely normal.

BCG's scheduling depends on a lot of things. The principal who interviewed you needs to submit feedback, the recruiting team needs to coordinate calendars for the next interviewer, and all of this takes time. Especially in SEA where the team is spread across multiple offices and time zones. Friday to now is not long at all.

"Interviews In Progress" is actually a fine status. If they had decided to reject you, the portal would usually update to reflect that fairly quickly. The fact that it still says in progress just means you are still in the process, which is exactly what you would expect.

Here is what I would do. Give it until the end of this week. If you still have not heard anything by Friday, send a short, polite follow up to your recruiting contact. Something like, "Hi [Name], just checking in on the next steps for my first round interviews. Happy to work around any schedule that works on your end." Keep it simple. Don't sound anxious or pushy.

One thing to keep in mind. Sometimes there is a delay because they are still deciding whether to proceed or because they are batching candidates together for the next round of interviews. That is normal and not something you can control. The best thing you can do right now is stay calm, prepare as if the second interview is happening, and wait a little longer before reading too much into the silence.

Based on my experience with BCG SEA, they can take between 1-3 weeks

This is a completely understandable place to be stuck. The wait after a positive interaction is often more stressful than getting a direct rejection. Here's the reality of what's likely happening inside the BCG recruiting black box right now.

When you're dealing with a multi-interview first round, especially in a complex hub like SEA, scheduling delays are almost never an indicator of your performance. They are logistical headaches. You interviewed with a Principal, and securing 60-90 minutes from the calendars of other Principals or Partners for your second slot takes coordination. The recruiting team is trying to balance your need for a quick turnaround against the need to fill the slot with a suitable senior interviewer who has capacity that week. Your file is literally sitting in a scheduling queue, waiting for the system to identify the right match.

The "Interviews In Progress" status confirms you are still active and have not been filtered out yet. Since it's only been a few business days since your follow-up, hold tight. For a firm of this size, my guidance is to not send another follow-up email until at least 7-10 business days have passed since your initial interview. Pushing too aggressively now risks being flagged as impatient, which is a minor but unnecessary risk to take.

Focus on getting your two core cases for the next interview polished. The scheduler will contact you when they lock down the Principal's calendar.

All the best with the final push!

Hi!

This is quite normal, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

Timelines can vary, and most of the time it's due to trying to get the interviewer's availability, and then to match yours as well. 

A few thoughts to share:

• Hearing back can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks
• It’s reasonable to follow up (which you’ve done); I'd wait till mid next week to follow up again if there's still no response
• At this stage, the best use of your time is to continue preparing as if the next interview is coming and you don’t want to be caught off guard if they reach out at short notice

All the best!

I know the wait is frustrating but it can take a while before they get back to you. 

Anything in the 1-2 weeks is absolutely standard.

It gets a way strange when it hits the 3-4 week mark. 

If almost a month has passed and they haven't reached out, follow-up with the recruiter.

What's important to know, and maybe that puts your concerns to rest, is that they don't do 'silent rejections' by default. They will tell you if they decide not to continue with your application. 

Hope you get good news soon!
Best,
Cristian