Is any of the MBB more easier than other to get in for Summer Associate Internship.

Hi Kish, 

I would argue there is no universally right answer to this. However, the hiring is more competitive in some of the regions than in other, e.g., 

• London is very competitive (one of the few offices in GB + high number of skilled applicants)
• Germany has a lot of offices and potentially less concentrated talent

However, do pay attention to the interview process, which might differ for Associate Internship positions, where some firms/ offices have differing standards, e.g., 

• Number of interviews you have to pass
• Enrollment on a rolling basis vs. for select time periods
• Partner interview included or not
• Numerical test included or not

Hope this helps!

Best

Jonas

Hi Kish,

How easy it is to get an offer depends on the supply and demand for a particular office and company. The main factors influencing that are:

• Office location. Some offices have more demand (eg London, SF, NY)
• Projects ongoing for that particular MBB. Some offices have less supply due COVID / lack of projects (eg McK was hiring more than BCG in recent months in Germany)

While the first point is pretty easy to guess, for the second only consultants in a particular office can really tell you what’s going on there.

My recommendation would be to apply to all MBB and target less competitive offices if possible.

Best,
Francesco

Hello!

This is honestly a good question. 

The bar is as high in all of them, this is for sure. However, it´s also true that some offices have more spaces than others, and since it´s a first-come first-served... 

In any case, the winning strategy here is to apply to all of them. It also gets better with practice. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Hi Kish, 

There is no clear answer to that question when it comes to MBB offices, but it can vary depending on:

• region / city - some are more popular, hence there's more applicants aiming there -> less chances to get through CV screening without a referral, for example

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

GB

Hi Kish,

Not at all. Some would argue McKinsey is the hardest, but I've seen plenty of graduating classes have a larger McK cohort than Bain/BCG.

It well an truly depends on country, office, recruiting location (i.e. what school), year (i.e. business success), etc.

Hey there,

There is no universal answer. This depends 

• on the office/ region (you can even argue that there are differences within firms and regions)
• supply/demand economics (applicants vs. open positions), which appear to be equally unfavorable at the moment due to COVID

In sum, there is no hard data on this. In any case, apply to all three to

• spread your eggs into several baskets
• maximize your chances to get in
• have more 'practice' opportunities and more real-life interviews

I would even argue it's not very efficient to just apply to one MBB.

Cheers,

Florian

On average: no. At a specific moment in time: maybe - based on office demand and supply. But there is no way to anticipate and direct your application accordingly. Unfortunately there is no rigging the system ;)

Hi,

agree with all other coaches. Mostly dependend on (1) office location, (2) structure of interviews (e.g. Bain required ppl in Germany to take part in a group discussion / group case - not sure if they still do that during COVID). 

Something to consider too - very subjective and personal - I never applied for MBB internships, I went straight for full-time interviews. Some ppl prefer to do it the other way round. Getting in may be easier, but there is risk associated with the case you are staffed on / ppl exposed etc.

Would help if you could name the country we are talking about - e.g. going for smaller local offices would be easier for BCG or McK perhaps, but Bain recruits centralized out of Munich mostly, irrespective of the office you are going for.

Best,
Denis

Not sure whether anyone would have a factual answer here but my guess would be that it's location/office dependent. MBBs use the summer internship as a way to source talent early from top MBA schools and so each office will have a headcount in mind. At the same time, the reality is that some locations (e.g., NY, SF, London) are more popular than others!