What does it typically mean when a consulting firm like Bain/Mckinsey sends a rejection email that mentions being impressed by your application, encourages you to stay in touch, and invites you to apply for future roles?

Question

I recently received a rejection email from Bain & Company for their True North: Scholarship for Women. The message mentioned they were impressed by my application, invited me to attend future events, and encouraged me to apply for a full-time role next year. I’m wondering if this is a generic message sent to all rejected applicants, or if it indicates that I stood out and they may be genuinely interested in staying connected.

Same was the case with Mckinsey's summer internship. Does that means I still have a good chance or is it just a polite rejection.

Answer 1

Hello there,

It is a bit hard to say without knowing more about the event and until which stage you have progressed within the process at McKinsey.

However, usually this is the content of generic emails. Don’t be discouraged though, as it doesn’t change nothing in reality for you since you will have to go through the entire process again under the same conditions as other applicants.

Keep up the hard work, consulting prep is a resilience game :-) you’ve got this.

Good luck!

Best,

Mari