The decision comes down to BCG and Bain.  I’m not sure if I would’ve turned McKinsey down (the international strength and flexibility appeals to me), but there are many attractive aspects to these two choices.  For those (like my parents) who aren’t all that familiar with the firms, the generic reputations go something like this:

McKinsey: The largest firm (9k consultants).

The most well-known of the firms with a strong reputation (although, one damaged slightly by the Enron scandal).  Known for the “McKinsey Way” (a process that is effective, but sometimes criticized as rigid and template-driven).  Strongest international presence, targeting and capturing most of the work for foreign governments and NGOs.  Viewed as a “burn-out” with little work-life balance.  Unlike the other two firms, encourages consultants to specialize as soon as they enter.

BCG: The nerdy firm (4.5k consultants).

Known for cutting-edge insights, academic books and articles, and “thought leadership”.  Also seen as “too theoretical” and more about the technically insightful, but less actionable, recommendations.  Medium international presence and medium work/life balance.

Bain: The cool firm (4.5k consultants).

Reputation for strong impact and only focusing on what counts.  Staffing structure involves a 1 : 1 Undergrad : MBA ratio, which leads to a younger firm with more social drinking / partying (versus the typical 0.5 : 1).  The strongest of the top 3 firms in serving Private Equity clients (the most demanding client type?) with a market share 4x the next firm.  Lower international presence with the best work/life balance.

All of the interviews were in hotels (either the Doubletree or the Charles).  It’s kind of strange – a recruiting person leads you to a chair outside of a room, then the Partner / Manager comes out and leads you into (his/her?) hotel room!  You sit around the little hotel desk and conduct the interview.  The Doubletree is particularly odd with its large open atrium.  You can look across the center of the hotel and see 50+ HBS students sitting in suits in chairs outside of each hotel door.  Quite the bizarre picture:

Interviews at Doubletree

Consulting firms are after brains, not people.  Consistent across all the firms (even the boutique one I interviewed with) was a very quick jump into the case interview.  I’d say about half of the interviewers didn’t even ask me a typical “behavioral” question!  Part of me agrees with this process – after all, most behavioral responses are so polished and refined that they say very little about the person.  On the other hand, it does make it feel a touch impersonal. 

Just a quick rundown on each of the firms:

1. BCG (Mon): Friendly and open, surprisingly diverse.
2.  Bain (Tues): Very friendly, managing partner was one of the interviewers.
3. McKinsey (Weds): Abrupt and obviously reading a script.

 I was impressed with BCG and Bain, but a bit disappointed with the McKinsey one.  It’s always hard to tell, but I doubt I’ll get a callback.  The first interview went OK (although it was very scripted).  The second one was more fluid, but had this odd bar chart that we talked about for a while (too long).  The interviewer was obviously waiting for me to see the insight, but I don’t think we were talking about the same issues.  It’s discouraging because I’m actually a bit of a chartophile, and I love well-designed, Tuftian data presentation.  This did not fall close to that category. 

Ahhh well, you take some and you leave some.  I’m probably hopelessly biased now, but I don’t think the McKinsey interview would’ve left me with a great impression regardless of outcome.

It’s called the “case interview”.  Firms like this didn’t recruit at my undergrad, but it seems to be something a bit more common at Ivy-class colleges.  Instead of just checking out the cut of your suit, developing rapport, and listening to your prepared stories, case method interviews try to figure out how quickly & effectively you can think.  The recruiter spends 30 second laying out a situation, kind of like this: 

Our client is a private equity firm that has recently acquired a struggling shoe manufacturer.  They design and manufacture shoes for the US market and have recently been experiencing declining profits.  They would like to increase profitability while tripling the size of the business.  How would you diagnose the declining profitability and what growth strategies would you recommend they pursue?

Then they stare at you.  And you’re supposed to spend the next 45 minutes trying to figure out how to setup the problem, what questions to ask, and what recommendations you’d give.  The interviewer often has charts and data available, but you have to ask the right questions to be given them.

In the end, I really think it’s just about being smart and thinking quickly, but there are DOZENS of courses over the next week that try to familiarize you with the process, help you memorize frameworks, etc… 

I think there’s definite value in practicing (after all, there are only so many business problems that you can talk about and diagnose in 45 minutes), but I just haven’t had the drive to prepare lately.  It’s intimidating to know that some of my peers have been preparing 3 cases / day for months now!  That’s a crazy level of preparation, but what else do you expect from HBS kids?  I have a few practice case interviews set up this week (with the Big 3 firms & classmates), but it won’t get me anywhere near the level of some people!

Maybe I should just skip this stressful mess and stick with industry?

This is a great time for business schools.  Applications skyrocket, ivory-tower professors are looked upon once again for advice, and “expert” panels are formed left and right to diagnose the problem.  In recruiting news, BusinessWeek had an article recently about the shift of MBAs from investment banking to consulting.  I’m a bit dissapointed in this… while I’ve tossed around the idea of doing some sort of financial engineering for a hedge fund, I think I had set my sights on a consulting job with McKinsey (at least for the summer).  There’s still the possibility, but the market just got way more competitive.  Here are the career stats for the top four job functions for the class of 2008:

• 45% – Finance
• 22% – Consulting
• 11% – General Management
• 7% – Marketing

Those 45% of HBS grads have to go somewhere.  It’ll be very interesting to see what the breakdown is for this upcoming year…  (As a side note, this may be one of the “good” outcomes of the whole financial mess… talent will reallocate from being highly concentrated in finance to more productive uses throughout the economy.)