The Internship Chronicles: How I got into the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
The month was July of 2022. IITs have the compulsory internship drive for the pre-final year students around the month of August — September to help them gain industry exposure, and it is often a part of the curriculum too. This is a serious affair, as internships get converted into full-time offers, and this technically serves as the placements for hundreds of students. The phase is a pretty stressful and competitive one, and often students prepare for months to bag an internship. There are multiple factors to take care of while going through the process, and I’ll talk about the most relevant ones here:
First of all, decide the domain you want to work in:
College internship/placement seasons are stressful and students many a time settle for anything just for the sake of having their “Summer Sorted”. I have seen people just go for, “Any internship works; I just need to bag one, be it Software/Machine Learning or Finance.” This is not how it works: For there are x great people each preparing to be specialised in a particular field. After considering factors like what kind of job I want to do, what kind of lifestyle I can sustain and what excites me the most, I chose to proceed ahead with Consulting.
I was not too sure I wanted to sit in the college internship drive (called CDC). There weren’t a plethora of firms for consulting, hiring from undergraduate courses, that too for summer interns. I even applied off-campus to multiple firms before the college drive to ensure intern offers beforehand to reduce the stress and find more relevant roles. A thing I witnessed is that students in Indian universities try to fit into the roles that the companies offer. It’s not bad; it’s just that a guy with a triple-digit All India Rank or 99.9+ percentile can easily discuss with HR/ Tech Leads to carve roles according to their skill set. I did not want to fit into the work expected from the JD writer at some firm and wanted to do something I loved at a firm I admired.
You have to decide on your firm:
In the same field, there might be similar companies, making the decision tough for an individual. For example: McKinsey vs BCG vs Bain. You have the autonomy to choose the firm if you prepare well enough. There are a plethora of factors, including quality of problem statements, pay, project types, industries, company culture, work-life balance, travel requirements, and capabilities you can work on. After discussing with multiple people across all the three firms (MBB), I figured out that the best option for me in the internship drive was The Boston Consulting Group. That might differ for you, so make your calls wisely.
Everything changed when The Boston Consulting Group came to the college for the first time ever for intern hiring! I finally had some suitable opportunities through CDC. The other consulting firms on Day 1 were: Bain & Co. and L.E.K. Consulting. I got shortlisted for all three firms and a couple of Finance firms as well (Deutsche Bank etc.). The initial/buddy rounds began around 20 July (T — 10 days to CDC) or even as late as the last week for some firms.
Gain guidance from your seniors:
Talking to your batchmates wouldn’t help too much, as they are in the same boat as you and have not been through the process. I talked to multiple seniors to learn about the processes. This blog is also reciprocating some of the knowledge they shared with me, and I am always grateful to them for their guidance. I have acknowledged them at the end of the blog. Now let’s start with the case prep:
Case Preparation:
The most hyped and essential part of a consulting interview. You need to be a “Structured” problem solver. Your CV might show how you have rocked in the rest of your life, your case prep will show how do you incorporate your learnings in a structured and consolidated manner by making MECE (Mutually Exclusive & Collectively Exhaustive) decision trees for solving business problems. The resources I recommend are:
- Victor Cheng: I watched all the videos while travelling and post-work, just to understand what exactly consulting is and how a consultant approach problems. I did not start practising post that; I just noted the key learnings and practical behaviour expected from a good consultant.
- Day One (IIT-M Casebook) or Case Interviews Cracked (IIT-B Casebook): I found both the books good. Personally, I proceeded with DayOne. I read through it a couple of times and then practised all the cases given in the book. Once the book was finished, I moved on to Case Interviews Cracked and started practising the cases from there. The books cover profitability thoroughly and some aspects of finance & guesstimate prep as well.
- Guesstimates (Includes Market Sizing): I referred to the IIM-A Casebook for this and found the guesstimates a bit unorthodox and highly structured and concise. You can also try the guesstimate cases in Case Interviews Cracked.
Generally, an undergraduate consulting interview will have profitability and guesstimates, with an aim to see the communication and thought process of the student. I have seen people practices cases for months and not get in, and some people do cases for a week or after the shortlist and still get in, therefore I wouldn’t say that x number of cases would help you make the cut, rather a structured approach would.
They can also include some market entry or conventional cases to assess the open-ended problem-solving capabilities of the interviewee.
Finally, I worked on some Human Resources (HR) preparation:
I figured out some questions: Why everything (Introspection Stonks)? Why me? Why BCG? Why consulting? Why not finance? These questions serve twofold: help in the interview and provide more clarity in your mind. You don’t need to fool the HR, you need to convey your story in the most articulate manner, and if you have what it takes, then you won’t need to mug up the same 3 negative hobbies students reply in a job interview.
Qualitative Factors:
One thing that very few people told me: Communication & Confidence > Case prep. How you convey each pointer, how you introduce yourself and CARRY YOURSELF when stress questions are asked makes a lot of difference. Students often underrate the introduction, and I observed that most of the folks at IIT KGP prepared the KGP hall/society introduction. To be honest, I believe that is not the best interview introduction, and it should revolve around who you are, how you are a suitable fit, and how you can engage in a conversation based on your intro.
Preparation Partners/ Case Buddies:
Your case partners are crucial for your preparation. This is the tricky part: You need to be with people who are serious about the thing and be consistent with the process. Also, being with people more likely to get shortlisted is highly critical, as the buddy rounds begin 1 to 2 weeks prior to the final rounds, and you need partners who go with you through the entire process. Therefore practising with someone who does not get shortlisted somewhat hinders the preparation.
Finally, let’s come to the process:
Pre Placement Talk: The firms came and talked about their culture, roles and procedure for hiring interns from IIT Kharagpur. The students can discuss their concerns and learn more about the right fit and the kind of life they want in the longer run, as well as their expectations from the internship and, subsequently the prospects of joining as a full-time employee.
Shortlisting: The resume has done the play. To be honest, most of the shortlists were overlapping, and assuming that they were performed in independent organizational settings; therefore, the shortlisting procedure can be somewhat predicted based on the spikes in your resume/CV. There is a luck factor in play too, but life tests the tough, so keep going, and you’ll do good.
Initial/Buddy Rounds:
Generally, consulting firms organize a buddy round, where they introduce the undergraduate students to the concepts of consulting and students are allotted a buddy (mentor) to practice cases with and learn about the firm. The rounds might be evaluative and lead to another shortlist for the final day. Then begin the rounds.
The first round was taken by a Project Leader at BCG from an IIM. My first round started with my interviewer asking, “Aur kya kya machaya hai life mein?” The introduction was kept short and concise, and we started with a case. I was asked a case to diagnose the reasons for the decline in profits of a multinational IT giant compared to peers. I went down the generic framework, considering the costs for an IT company and 8–10 minutes into the case, my interviewer was satisfied and told me to straightaway get my second round at the earliest.
This round was taken by a Managing Director and Partner at BCG. He was an IIT KGP alum, and this was the trickier interview. He also took a quick introduction and went on to ask about a profitability case. I was asked to look into the business model of a supermarket chain and find the reasons for declining profits in the past years. The tough part of the interview was not the case but his expressions. He did not let anything come on his face, and I got no clue how the round went. Whenever I asked for a number, be it the revenue or the price, he said “1000” and “Take 1000 here too,” and this was really a psych factor. I figured out the reasons, and it involved some calculations too, and I calculated the breakeven point and mechanisms to achieve the same. After the case, he asked me. Finally, I asked him: “I think about what I will do in the next 2 years and am very confused. You have been in BCG for 22 years; how did this conviction come?”. He explained his reasons politely, and we called it a day.
Final Rounds / Day 1: There are some rounds taken by consulting firms on Day 1 of the internship drive, and the number of rounds varies from person to person, depending on how strong a viewpoint the firm prepared in the buddy/initial rounds.
I got suited up, went to the meeting and after the rounds, I got an offer from The Boston Consulting Group! It was a happy day, my family and friends congratulated me, and we had some pizza, and all was good. BCG is a great firm, and I look forward to learning from the revered leaders at the firm and creating a progressive impact for the firm!
There are a few things to be kept in mind. There is no right path to a particular role, for everyone has to pave their own journey. There will be a whole lot of random variables, but the right mindset will always take you places. Getting an internship is not the end of the world; being happy is ;)
For what is visible on the surface is not always the truth. It would never have been possible without the guidance of a plethora of people. Finally, thanking all the people who helped me:
Thank you, Parth Lohomi, who was not there on Day 0/1 but had been guiding me since Day -900 on how to proceed to achieve my goals and vision.
Thank you, Tiyasha & Alok, for the case prep advice.
Thank you, Divyam & Anusha, and the entire BCG Team for the smooth process and constant support and the great party!
Thank you, Alok & Ashish, for reviewing my CV.
Thank you, Amol & Yashasvi, for sharing your experiences.
Thank you, Vineet, Tejaswi & Priyansha, for being amazing case partners.
Thank you, Navya, for all the support and guidance and case prep and money you send!
Thank you, Sakshi, for being there and helping me roll!
“For you define the role, the role does not define you”