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How many candidates apply for one entry-level position at MBB?

Application entry level MBB
Recent activity on May 02, 2019
5 Answers
2.4 k Views
Anonymous A asked on May 02, 2019

Dear community,

I know that the reason for the difficult interview process is largely due to the fact that so many candidates apply for one entry-level position at MBB...

But do you have any rough numbers on the applicant/job ratio?

(perhaps also on the #candidates get invited for an interview/job ratio?)

Would be great!

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Sidi
Expert
updated an answer on May 02, 2019
McKinsey Senior EM & BCG Consultant | Interviewer at McK & BCG for 7 years | Coached 350+ candidates secure MBB offers

Figure from McKinsey Germany a couple of years ago: ~15k applications for 300 openings. So this corresponds to roughly 2%.

Cheers, Sidi

(edited)

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Fabian updated an answer on May 02, 2019

BCG Germany says less than 5 out of 100 applicants get an offer.

(edited)

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Anonymous B replied on May 02, 2019

Varies greatly by office and country. If you remove re-hires, who automatically get the job (analysts who left to study at MBA and return as associates, could be 30-50% of total annual recruits), you probably start at 1 to 100 and can go to 1 to 500. If you don't have to take PST/BCG test etc, or you are from a target school, then application to offer ratio gets to 1 to 50-100 on average.

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Vlad
Expert
replied on May 02, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

It really depends. If you are applying from Stanford or Harvard, you'll easily collect 2-3 MBB offers with almost no prep. In other cases its 1% - 5% depending on the offer

Best

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Guennael
Expert
replied on May 02, 2019
Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

Back when I applied (BCG Dallas), there were 60 candidates for 1 position. Seems to be worse now, and Victor Cheng (and others, including experts here) have gone on the record talking about over 100 for each position.

Either way - this is a competition, you can't just be good but better than the rest. Odds are strongly against you, making preparation even more important

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Sidi gave the best answer

Sidi

McKinsey Senior EM & BCG Consultant | Interviewer at McK & BCG for 7 years | Coached 350+ candidates secure MBB offers
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