What are the chances of a serious well-prepared candidate getting an offer at a specific MBB?

Hi there,

Well, all you have to do is look at the success rate of top coaches! 

Look at top coaches MBB rates of around 60-70% and you can even round up a bit (because we invariably get candidates that don't do the right prep or aren't serious or aren't capable).

From what I've seen, when I get to a point with a candidate where I think they are fully prepared, they have about an 80% chance of getting an MBB offer. (It can never be 100% due to inherent variables). 

Compare that to the typical 5% rate and that's quite a difference!

I would argue that this question can't be answered as MBB or even consulting specific.

“If you did all the right prep” and “learned cases and interview formats well”, then you are doing everything in your power - for any job you are applying to. And you have to do that regardless if you want a chance of getting it.

The rest depends on human factors at the hiring company, your competition for the role as well as random factors that happen on a specific interview day. Those are not in your control.

The more you prepare, the better your chances are to perform well during any given interview but it doesn't make sense to give you a percentage range of success as answer to this question in my opinion. Being well prepared is a pre-requisite and only a competitive edge against those who don't. But not against others who also do the “right” prep.

Best of luck

Hi there, 

I believe that if you set yourself the target to get into consulting and are willing to put in the work, assuming an average profile and a timeline of up to 6 months, you have a 100% chance of getting an offer.

There are multiple things that you can do to optimize for that:

1. Apply widely - don't go for only 1-2 firms. My success rate is 60% for candidates who only applied for McK for instance, but if they interviewed with at least 3 firms, they all got at least one offer. It just shows you that if you diversify risk, you end up avoiding bad luck. 

2. Make the preparation process a personal project. Invest in it both time-wise and financially to make it work. Set time aside. Plan, schedule, and strategies. Inform yourself about the roles and the industry. Talk to people. Practice. 

3. Get expert support. I was quite cheap as a candidate and thought that coaching is an outrageous expense. Now that I have grown some grey hair I realise that it's a no-brainer investment. The average amount you pay a coach is less than the first month's salary or the signing bonus and in return your chances of getting an offer increase tenfold. 

Best,

Cristian

If you are a well prepared candidate, then the chances of getting an offer from one of the MBBs are actually quite high. One does not really need to be brilliant / a genius to get an offer.

However, stating it this way makes it look like it is easy. Unfortunately, it is not. 

Hi there,

I share the same view as most other coaches here - if you're well prepared, you have high chance of getting in.

Now, noone will be able to guarantee you can get into 1 specific firm, as one suboptimal interview can be enough to get rejected - it just takes 1 interviewer to dislike you, so there is a bit of a luck element to it of course.

However, if you get invited by all 3 firms and are really sufficiently prepared, it becomes very unlikely that you walk away without a single offer. It's to an extent a numbers game and quality always succeeds, in my experience.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

Just like with anything else in life, a lot of the process is in your control but ultimately you can’t control for all factors. There is a chance that the most prepared candidate gets an interviewer that doesn’t like them for a strange reason. It could be that they bomb the interview despite being really well prepared. Some things will always be out of your control but from what I’ve seen doing this for 12 years is that more than 80% of the time if you are well prepared and work hard the outcome tends to be positive.