Breaking into T2 consulting firm from non-target school

Question

Hello,

I go to Boston University, majoring in finance and accounting. My GPA is a 3.85 (Top 3% of my class) and am a rising senior. I worked at Pioneer Investments my Freshman summer, Central Bank of India my Sophomore summer, and PwC (Assurance) my junior year summer. I recently got in touch with a friend's dad (A principal in charge of a national service line) and he/she got me into the interview process for Deloitte S&O. The recruiters got back to me and said I would be a very competitive applicant. I have studied extremely hard for these interviews. Already have 40 live cases under my belt and have just started preparing for the behavioral portion. My interviews are in September. Finally, I also have an offer for Assurance as a back up from PwC.

1) Given all the preparation I have done, I would like to also apply to other firms in the event I do not land Deloitte S&O. I would love some guidance from you guys on which firms (ie ATK/LEK/Accenture) to apply to given my circumstances and how to go about applying - I find it very difficult given their sites to find the correct avenue to apply.

2) Furthermore, I would love to apply to PwC's Strategy& given I already worked there over the Summer. When I asked my recruiter she said she wasn't sure if they'd be able to consider me. Should I tell her I am being considered for Deloitte S&O in order to show I am a competitive applicant or is this a bad idea for a couple potential reasons?

Thanks so much in advance

Answer 1

Hi Val,

I have reported below some suggestions:

Don’t apply via website – rather try to find a referral for each company. At the link below (second post) you can find some steps to follow to identify a referral: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311
Apply also for MBB – there is no reason why you should not target them with your profile. It may be challenging to be invited applying via the website, but so far that you can find a referral for them as well it is worth trying. Besides MBB, I would consider also ATK, Strategy& (see point 3 below) and OW at least. In case you have interest for specific niches, you could add to the list other companies (eg ZS Associate for healthcare, Accenture for IT, etc.)
I would suggest not to mention to PwC that you are being considered by Deloitte for an interview – that would not be a strong enough validation and they may feel to be your second choice, given they already extended an offer. Rather, I would go back to them once you have received a consulting offer - which ideally you consider more valuable than the Assurance offer from PwC - saying you would love to interview with them for strategy as well given the opportunity.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi there, Congrats on your progress through Deloitte recruiting process! Unfortunately, Big4 recruiting process are n... (read entire answer)

Hi there, Congrats on your progress through Deloitte recruiting process! Unfortunately, Big4 recruiting process are not very standardized so you can expect several scenarios dep... (read entire answer)

Answer 3

Hi there, 1) Jan’24 means mid Jan then I expect partner round to happen? It could be anytime in January, most likely... (read entire answer)

Hi there, 1) Jan’24 means mid Jan then I expect partner round to happen? It could be anytime in January, most likely after Jan y. 2) From partner round to offer any idea how muc... (read entire answer)

Answer 4

Hi there, Exciting times! You’ve ask a couple of good questions. Let me try to answer them together. At some po... (read entire answer)

Hi there, Exciting times! You’ve ask a couple of good questions. Let me try to answer them together. At some point, the firm needs to take N number of applicants and disti... (read entire answer)