Internship

1. Will it “backfire” if you get the interview and decline?

Short answer: No, as long as you handle it professionally.

Firms understand that timelines shift, academic schedules change, and priorities evolve. What does create issues is disappearing or declining last-minute without context. As long as you communicate early and respectfully, this does not hurt your chances for a future full-time application.

2. What are your options now?

Option A — Withdraw before interviews are scheduled

Just email recruiting saying something like:

“Due to a change in my academic and career planning, I won’t be pursuing internship recruiting this cycle. I remain very interested in the firm for full-time roles and hope to reconnect next year.”

This keeps your relationship positive and avoids unnecessary stress.

Option B — Take the interview anyway

You could reconsider taking the interview anyway, but you would have to prepare properly and this takes time (as you know). But at the same time, you would take this out of your way and an internship is a great way to secure a full time offer later on, and spend the rest of you college having more fun knowing you already have a great job. You can prepare properly in less 2 months - don't listen to anyone that tells you otherwise.

3. Will skipping the internship hurt your full-time chances?

Not really. MBB hires a huge portion of their full-timers externally, not just from interns. The only thing that matters for full-time is:

• Strong interview performance
• Clarity of motivation
• A mature, well-thought-out story

Withdrawing early does not put a black mark on your profile.

Hi there, 

Do I understand this correctly that the internship would be in June 2026 (start date, so interview process obviously before that) and the application for the full time position in August 2026? 

I personally believe that in the grand scheme of things the difference is not that big if you are really interested in consulting and motivating to get eventually a full time role. Of course, I am not aware of your personal circumstances, so I cannot judge your individual opportunity costs there but ... it might be worth considering applying & hopefully doing the internship anyways. 

If not, as Tiago already mentioned, I would agree it will not be a bad sign if you decline the interview offer well in advance and are overall professional about it. 

Hope this helps, 

Ariadna 

Hi, all good answers! 

One nuance to add: Depending on where you are geographically you might even directly discuss with them changing to the full time process. At least in Germany at BCG we have had that a lot (e.g., for people that initially wanted to a gap year between Bachelor and Masters).

Best,
Lukas

Hey there :)

If you get the interview, you can simply withdraw politely. It won’t backfire at all as long as you communicate early and professionally. MBB sees this all the time, and it won’t hurt your chances for full time applications later. Just send a short note saying your plans have shifted and you’d like to be considered for full time instead.

best, Alessa :)

This is a common thought process, especially when you are trying to minimize stress and structure your final academic year. However, you need to understand how the recruiting funnel works before making this strategic pivot.

Here is the fundamental reality: The internship path is the high-probability path to a full-time offer. If you get the internship, your odds of converting to a full-time position upon graduation are typically 80% or higher. If you skip the internship and apply directly to the general post-MBA/post-undergrad FT pool, your success rate drops dramatically—often into the low single digits. The general FT pool is far more competitive, and the firm would prefer to hire a known quantity (an intern) than an unknown external candidate.

My strong advice is to take the interview seriously. If you receive and accept the internship offer, you solve your full-time recruiting problem a year in advance. You can then spend your final semester focusing on "other stuff" without the immense pressure of securing an MBB FT offer. The preparation time now saves you ten times that amount of stress and uncertainty next year.

If, for external reasons (e.g., you accepted a specific non-MBB offer or have a mandatory commitment), you absolutely cannot take the internship, the least damaging approach is to withdraw your candidacy before they extend an offer. Rejecting a formal offer uses up firm resources and creates an internal flag in the applicant tracking system (ATS), which can sometimes lead to extra scrutiny during future FT applications. Withdraw cleanly by emailing the recruiter and stating your priorities have shifted. But honestly, view the internship interview as your golden ticket to achieving your August full-time goal early.

All the best!

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your situation:

• First of all, if you get the interview and decide not to go through with it, I would advise you to inform the recruiter early and professionally. This won’t backfire as long as you’re respectful and transparent. Just say your plans have changed and you’d like to focus on full-time recruitment next year instead.
• Moreover, I would strongly advise you to rethink skipping the internship. The internship is by far the easiest path into consulting full-time roles - conversion rates are rather high. If you get it, you may lock in the offer early and save yourself the pressure next year.
• Lastly, if you’re really set on not doing the internship, you can also ask recruiting whether they can switch you into the full-time process directly, depending on your location and timeline. In some regions, they’re flexible with that.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming pre-interview assessments and/or interviews, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen