This is a follow-up to my earlier post about consulting myths. Fair warning - this is going to be quite detailed, so please bear with me.
I want to share my thoughts on how consulting firms actually select candidates for interviews. I’ll focus mainly on top tier firms like MBB and second tier companies, with some insights about Big 4 and strategy practices. Keep in mind these are my personal observations and your experience might be different.
Let me break this down into summer internship and final placement processes. They’re pretty similar but finals have some unique aspects.
For summer internships, everything depends on what you accomplished before business school since your resume gets locked just 2-3 months into the program. There’s basically no time to add meaningful achievements.
Getting selected depends on your undergraduate college reputation, grades, work background, certifications, exceptional activities, unique profile elements, and most critically, what the market needs right now. There are also some unexpected factors I’ll cover here. Let’s examine each one.
Undergraduate College Rankings:
Top Tier - Premier engineering institutes like IITs (old and new), top NITs (around 6-7), BITS Pilani main campus, Delhi University colleges like SRCC and St. Stephens, leading design institutes, medical colleges like AIIMS, research centers like ISI and IISc.
IITs and BITS Pilani are considered the gold standard here. Having these on your resume definitely gives you an edge.
Second Tier - Other NITs and good engineering schools, top state colleges like DTU and Jadavpur, private institutions like VIT, respected law schools, other DU colleges, St. Xavier’s, etc.
Third Tier - Everything else basically.
Academic Performance:
If you have any score below 6.0, unfortunately MBB and tier 2 firms are probably out of reach (unless you’re from IIT Bombay/Delhi in computer science or electrical engineering)
Being in top 10 of your undergraduate class can really help with MBB selection
McKinsey - They want 9.0 across all three phases typically. They might consider 9/8/8 combinations if you’re from IIT, are a CA, or a doctor, but 8/8/8 is usually the minimum. They care a lot about college prestige, so even if you top your MBA class, they might not select you with a 6.0 somewhere in your profile. Even 7.0 makes things uncertain.
Bain and BCG - Slightly more flexible but not by much. They like consistent academic records. A well-rounded profile like 9/8/7 or 9/9/7 usually gets selected if you have good undergraduate credentials.
MBB firms, especially McKinsey, give equal weight to your undergraduate and MBA grades.
Tier 2 firms - Less focused on academics. A couple of 8s or 7s in your profile (with at least one 9) works fine if you have solid work experience and good undergraduate background. These firms care more about work experience quality than pure academics, though 9/8/7 was still common in their shortlists at top business schools.
Big 4 and Strategy practices - Definitely possible with 8/8/7, 7/7/7 or even 9/8/6 combinations. These give you the best shot at consulting with average academics.
Professional Certifications:
Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries have excellent chances in consulting. McKinsey and BCG especially love CA toppers and high rankers.
Other certifications like CFA, FRM, Six Sigma, PMP don’t really matter much for management consulting. You can pursue them if you want to show interest, but they won’t help or hurt your chances significantly.
Work Background:
This is where things get really interesting. Your work experience can completely change your consulting prospects. It can overcome weak academics or put you ahead of someone with better grades and college pedigree.
Special case - MBB and tier 2 firms absolutely love entrepreneurs. If you’ve started a company, grown it meaningfully, got VC funding, or appeared on shows like Shark Tank, you’ll definitely get McKinsey and Bain interviews. They really value entrepreneurial drive, and your academics or college won’t matter as much.
For everyone else:
McKinsey loves brand names like big tech companies, tier 2 tech firms (Salesforce etc.), previous consulting experience, high frequency trading firms like Jane Street, investment banks like Goldman Sachs, consumer goods leaders like HUL, and top companies in their respective industries. Startup experience at unicorns like Zomato or e-commerce giants like Flipkart also helps. Basically they want highly impactful roles at market-leading companies.
BCG and Bain are somewhat more relaxed but follow similar patterns. Bain particularly likes candidates with family business backgrounds or any entrepreneurship experience. Don’t lie about this though - they’ll easily catch false claims.
Tier 2 firms will select you with good experience, especially previous consulting, tech experience at product companies, Big 4, startups, financial services, and growth/sales/marketing roles in retail/e-commerce. Even impactful experience at lesser-known firms can surprise you with a shortlist.
Regarding experience duration, McKinsey and tier 2 firms prefer 2-4 years of experience, especially if you can show career progression and leadership. They’ll also take freshers or low experience candidates with outstanding credentials.
Other firms including Bain and BCG don’t have strict requirements. They’ll consider 0-4 years of experience.
Big 4 and strategy practices prefer freshers a lot. You have good chances with 0-2 years of experience.
Extra-curricular Activities:
National level athletes, state level players, accomplished classical dancers, high-rated chess players, scholarship winners - we had all these profiles on campus and they got consulting interviews. You get the idea, right?
Leadership positions in important clubs also help distinguish yourself, especially for freshers.
Bottom line: if you have strong performance in 3 or more of these 5 areas, you can expect MBB and tier 2 interviews. MBB looks for consistency across all factors. But there’s one more crucial element.
Market Conditions (most critical) - Market changes determine what projects firms are getting, and projects determine what candidates they want. This drives their entire recruitment approach.
BCG in 2024 hired many candidates with central government experience because they won several government contracts in India and other countries.
One tier 2 firm only selected people with banking experience (public and private banks) because they had many NBFC and financial services clients.
McKinsey in 2024 finals prioritized candidates with energy sector experience (HPCL, IOCL, BPCL) because clients were moving toward green energy consulting.
McKinsey shortlisted only software development and product management candidates in their 1-year MBA program because they needed technology consulting profiles.
In 2022, due to easy monetary policy, MBB and tier 2 firms hired (actually over-hired) tons of candidates. If those same candidates applied today, many probably wouldn’t even get interviews due to current market conditions.
So this factor is completely beyond anyone’s control.
For final placements, your MBA grades and top 3 finishes in major case competitions like HUL Lime, InvicTAS, Flipkart WiReD become important. Institute rankings and winning these competitions will definitely boost your profile for top consulting interviews.
Also, people with tier 2 firm offers use them to get MBB interviews, or someone with a BCG offer might use it to get a McKinsey interview (dream company concept), since these firms always try to poach talent from competitors.
So your interview invitations depend largely on these factors. If you get them, great, hope you succeed. If not, there are many other good opportunities out there.
The only thing you can do is be prepared, because getting selected involves many variables, and unlike business school admissions, there are no published weightings for these factors.
Note - Nothing is guaranteed. You might have everything in your profile and still not get selected, or the opposite might happen. Exceptions are part of life. Good luck!