How competitive are MBB internships for undergraduates? How much is expected?

Question

I am currently on my second year of my Mathematics Bachelor at Technical University of Munich and I would like to apply for an MBB internship as an undergraduate in Munich. I don't have an MBA or any official financial/business education and all my business/finance knowledge is self-taught. How much of a problem is this for an undergraduate internship? How much is expected/required? On another note, how does the recruiting process for undergraduates differ from the recruiting process for PHDs/MBAs? Is it just the complexity of the cases and different expectations or is there anything else?

Answer 1

Hi Pablo,

Don’t worry; a large portion of MBB consultants do not come from economics or business backgrounds. In fact, engineering and mathematics graduates are very well represented, so your profile definitely fits.

For undergraduate internships, they only expect basic business knowledge, such as understanding concepts like EBITDA, variable vs. fixed costs, ROI, etc. You don’t need deep financial expertise beyond that.

Regarding the recruiting process, I’ve personally interviewed many undergraduates, MBAs, and PhDs for both junior and senior roles. In most cases, I used the same types of cases across candidates. What changes is mainly the level of expectations; interviewers adjust how demanding they are in the analysis, communication, and depth of insights depending on the candidate’s experience. The core challenges, however, remain very similar.

If you’d like more information, feel free to reach out. I have extensive experience with MBB recruiting and would be happy to help.

Best,
Franco