Thank you so much Francesco, a really helpful answer!
Hi,
I would prepare in the same way for both roles. Interview difficulty will be the same, though the acceptance rates depend very much on a country, particular office, and your school:
Best
Hi Antonio,
in my experience the main differences are in the fit part of the interview and expected client interaction/communication skills, while the case part per se is not significant different. In particular:
Both areas may be covered also for Analysts, for Associates the bar will just be higher.
I agree with Vlad that there may be post-MBA candidates not as well prepared as recent graduates. As the case part is similar, for both the type of interviews you can expect a preparation of 150-200 hours starting from zero on your own to be able to receive an offer (less if you are practicing with experienced peers or expert coaching), which is usually more difficult to reach for someone working full time than for a student.
Best,
Francesco
Thank you so much Francesco, a really helpful answer!
Hi,
First of all Masters (if not MBA) does not guarantee you an associate position.
Second, it depends very much on a country, particular office, and your school. In general, I would not expect BA interviews to be easier than Associate interviews.
To sum up - you should never expect that your interview will be easier for any reason and you should do your best to prepare.
Best,
Thank you so much Vlad, a really helpful answer!
Hi Antonio,
Based on my experience as a Bain interviewer (and interviewee), the difficulty of the case itself does not vary significantly from an undergrad-level interview to a MBA-level interview. However, there are a few key differences:
All in all, the skills needed to perform well in an undergraduate-level interview are the same as those needed for an MBA-level interview. It's just that in the MBA-level interview, the expectations are a bit higher and so those skills need to be a bit more finely-tuned.
(edited)
Thank you for the answer Luke!
For associates (pre MBA) and consultants (post MBA) interviews are the same. There is a different expectation in level of preparation around some business concepts and business sense. For PL and P, a case might or might not be given. More frequently a case situation is given and candidatenis asked on how he would organize the team and case itself: how many people, how many weeks, what are the modules, what are deliverables, what is in initial data requests and so on. Fitnquestions for P/PL are also more oriented around knowledge of industry and ability to develop client relationship and team capabilities.
hopecit helps,
Andrea
I agree with parts of what Vlad, Antonio and Francesco wrote but will add a few things as well.
As for preparation, no one gets a break for not being prepared regardless of whether they have a demanding job, they are writing a thesis or they have 50% free time.
Thank you for the answer Matthew! Really helpful and clarifying.
Hello!
Long story short: the interview parts and competences are the same, but the bar is higher with MBA candidates due to their experience.
Cheers,
Clara