Hi Sam,
Sorry to hear the interview didn't go well.
First of all, I would not target BCG only when you apply again.
It is very risky to put all your eggs in one basket. Unless you are strictly interested in BCG only, I would apply to all MBB + Tier 2 to maximize the chances to get at least one offer (after few years in a Tier 2 it is possible to move to MBB).
In terms of practice: I would recommend the following steps to maximize the likelihood of an offer. You have probably already covered some of them since you already prepared.
- Define a calendar for your preparation. Check the deadlines for the applications. Then identify how many hours you have before that and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. Many people need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview so you can keep that as a benchmark.
- Read Case In Point or Case Interview Secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Don’t focus on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays.
- Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (Insead is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insights. Try to read a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
- After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only. Keep track of your mistakes and see if you repeat them. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback of experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the behavioural part and the case part. The case part should also cover market sizing, math and graph analysis.
- Before your application, be sure to review your CV and Cover, so that they are in the required format for a consulting application.
- At least 3 weeks before the application deadline, start networking to find referrals for your target companies.
- Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer –great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression.
If you have to do the Online Case, you should also consider preparing for that before the test day.
If you want to spend few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program to do precisely that. You can click on the following link to find more:
https://u.preplounge.com/63phuq
After this program, you will know exactly what to expect in your interview, what to work on, and how to focus on the real differentiators to land a top consulting offer.
Please feel free to PM me if you need more information.
Best,
Francesco
