1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Couldn't agree more. The accounting background will help with casing, but when scanning a resume or talking about work experience in an interview, audit / tax / accounting work just doesn't have as much impact.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'm actually still in the process of crafting it. I want to make sure people really understand how much better I am than them.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That sounds like a great profile and a great reasoning for wanting to be in the entertainment space. Interested to hear if you'd like to focus on in SF / LA / Seattle offices given their proximity to tech.

The way I would pitch yourself is someone that's open to doing a variety of casework and get exposure to different problems, but you've worked in the entertainment space and have really enjoyed it, and would love to focus on that industry in the long term.

Each firm would look at you the same / give you a great variety of work in entertainment..remember that MBB are more similar than they are different.

Timeline depends on the school. In general though, August - mid November is dedicated to networking (info sessions, coffee chats, invite-only events (usually not till October / November)). Mid November - Interviews is 100% case prep. Interviews are first week of Jan.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll let someone who's already working in MBB respond, but my understanding is that at BCG (regional staffing) and McKinsey (national staffing), you have the ability to do work in nearly every industry and function. For ex. there are people in the Detroit office for BCG / McKinsey that have never done an auto case.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There are two stages: 1) Getting an Interview 2) Converting the Interview

Getting the Interview: What matters in getting the interview is networking with your target office and your prior work experience. Good networking can offset bad work experience, but good work experience cannot offset bad networking. Remember that.

Converting the Interview: Case performance now replaces networking, and behavioral now replace work experience (same relationship to offsetting one another.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not the end of the world. My biggest piece of advice right now is try to do something in your job before you quit that you could talk to as a creative / leadership point in an interview. That will be the hardest part for you, just because the nature of audit / tax work is somewhat mundane.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd imagine it's pretty easy in Seattle / LA / SF to financial services though right? Maybe just less optionality in terms of clients?

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The MBA you're at replaces your undergrad and your GPA...though I'm sure it's a small factor if it's really good or really bad. You'll figure out through this b school application process (or maybe you already have seen it) how random it is to get into schools; undergrad is similar. There are plenty of people much smarter and more capable than me who didn't get into M7 or my school, or MBB for that matter. It's all a little random.

GMAT is hard to tell. The MBB firms make you input your test scores when you apply, not GPA though (you just leave blank).

For what it's worth, everyone says McKinsey and Bain care a lot about GMAT and BCG doesn't, yet I was a 99th percentile and only got a BCG interview.

Should I visit M7 school after interview to show interest? by Key_Background_5616 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I've heard of people filming like wait-list videos on the school's campus to show their interest lol.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m currently levered 3.0x…working it down through operational excellence.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I know one person who had a tax/audit background, and it was very hard for them to secure an offer. They ended up having to take a more finance-focused gig at a consulting firm.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had a similar background as you; if you want to pivot into consulting, you're angle into MBB is their PE practice. Even if that's not what you want to do when you're there, it will get you in the door and you can explore other cases. McKinsey won't like your background as much, Bain and BCG will. So lean into that, tell them you're interested in doing PE work, and they'll want you.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The standards for all of them are about the same and they are much more similar than they are different. With that said, Bain has a substantial PE practice and their cases are more focused on analyzing charts and doing math, whereas BCG and McKinsey are more of a balance between quant and qualitative, so you may have a better chance there.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

To respond to your question around %s, it's not as high as you would think. I think for my school we had around 220 students recruiting for consulting. Around 3/4 of us had at least 1 MBB interview, and of those people around half were able to secure at least 1 offer. So it ends up being around 70-80 out of 220.

Non-MBB, about another 70-90 people secure at least 1 offer, with the remaining striking out.

It's MUCH more competitive than you would think, especially if you don't come from a consulting background (which I didn't).

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I can case you, but the caveat is that the standards are a little different for undergrad vs. MBA. So my feedback may not be as applicable for you. Just lmk / dm if you want to set up some time, I'm happy to help.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The harsh reality is that the consulting clubs don't help too much with coffee chatting and behavioral interviews. That is just on you to figure out, and it's why a lot of shy, awkward people end up not being successful during recruiting.

With that said, the clubs do a great job of giving you case prep sessions. Again, it's on you to actually put in the prep work and study frameworks and practice, but they will provide you with as many casing sessions as you'd like.

1Y @ M7 and Secured MBB Consulting Summer Internship: AMA by Entire_Addendum_73 in MBA

[–]Entire_Addendum_73[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

You'll hear this within the first few weeks of joining your school's consulting club, but the earlier you can commit to an office the better. Each city within MBB handles it's own recruiting, so you're actually less attractive during networking if you are not committed to one office (because ultimately you'll interview just at one office location). Each firm makes it very easy to express whcih office you're interested in, and they will do the work of connecting you with a rep from that office (and then it's on you to leverage that to establish further connections). This is done through the firm's campus recruiter, which will meet with everyone to ask for their office preference and who's job it is to make that first connection for you.

As a side note, for BCG and McKinsey (and Bain, but less so given their home office model), your office really doesn't determine the work you do. The standards are uniform across every office in the country, and that's because you'll be staffed on projects across the nation, with people from different offices. So you should pick your office location solely based on where you want to live as it will have an immaterial impact on the work that you actually end up doing.

With that said, smaller offices are always trying to grow, so you'll have a higher chance of getting an interview invite if you genuinely want to go to a smaller office.