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How can I get off the waitlist of an MBB after final round interviews?

Bain BCG boston McKinsey New York second round USA waitlist
New answer on Oct 16, 2020
4 Answers
2.8 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Oct 13, 2020

Can I do anything to improve my chances? This is for the full-time undergrad role at an MBB office in the North-Eastern United States.

Also, what are my odds/ chances?

Thank you.

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Robert
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 14, 2020
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

Hi Anonymous,

Not really that much you can do.

Only thing possible is to call your HR contact and discuss your situation - especially if you have other pending offers from other tier-1 firms and still would like to join this specific priority 1 firm, you can play this game and try to increase time pressure for your application process. No guarantee it will work, but it won't bring you in a worse situation either.

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 14, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

No, nothing you can do but wait.

In the future, to maximize your odds of not being on the waitlist in the first place, make sure to network aggressively and make sure your resume + cover letter are as good as they can possibly be.

We can't really speak to odds/chances....they are not high though.

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Mehdi
Expert
replied on Oct 16, 2020
BCG | Received offers from all MBB & Tier 1Firms | Supporting you secure your top tier consulting offer

Hi there,

In general you cannot do much to change this situation, but you can do the following:

  • Inform HR that you are flexible and that you are happy to consider joining another office of the firm if it is not possible to do it in the one previously selected
  • Keep applying for other firms. Being shortlisted in an MBB is an important indicator that you have what it takes to join a top firm, so keep applying and try your chance elsewhere until you hear from your targeted firm!

Al the best,

Mehdi

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Gaurav
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 16, 2020
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

First of all, congratulations, if you have made it to the waitlist!

Because the MBB offices mostly have honored the waitlist. So, waitlist only means that you come through campus hiring (bulk-hiring) and at this point of time there is no space for you to join. But it also means, that as soon as space opens up, you are in. You don't have again go through the interview process. So you are almost in. I know the wait is painful, but that's the fact.

Can you do anything to reduce the wait time?

There is no silver bullet, which I can give here, however, a few things that I have seen my clients were trying and getting some success:

1st - Let's say, you are on a waitlist for a particular office, but if you want to release, you open up yourself and communicate that it's not just this office, but 10 other offices and you are fine to join any of these offices. That might just give you an entry point to some office a little bit faster, then the one office, for which you are waiting. and once you are in MBB, moving from one office to another office is not that difficult

2nd- Especially for those, who have applied after engineering, MBA, the question is what do I do in the waiting time?

I've seen people taking up short internships, which are relevant - Corporate Strategy, Ventured Capital, Investment banking, related small jobs, and keep on informing the recruiter and the partner about updates, just to keep them warm to tell them that you are keeping sharp

3rd - that I see equal offering is an internship possibility. Yes, you can take it as full-time work, but there are many ways in which you can support a project in the capacity of an intern. This might give a chance to be with a consulting team earlier than your waitlist, and secondly, just offering it might have created good equity in that particular office.

So, you can try a few things, that can't guarantee to reduce the waiting time, but at least you applied your best.

GB

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