What are the best MBAs for a consulting career?

To identify the best MBA programs for individuals who want to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain, we analyzed the LinkedIn profiles of more than 1,000 MBB consultants who joined the firms as MBA hires in 2022, along with data provided by the business schools.

To compute this ranking, we considered two criteria:

• The percentage of students seeking employment who joined a consulting firm within three months of completing their MBA studies
• Of those, the percentage who joined McKinsey, BCG or Bain

The top-10 business schools for joining McKinsey, BCG or Bain

* Harvard Business School and University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business are not included in the ranking, as the schools were unable to provide the supporting data. However, our LinkedIn analysis indicates that only a small proportion of graduates from these schools go on to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain.

In addition to the ranking of MBA programs above, we can also draw the following insights from our analysis:

Kellogg School of Management tops our ranking, with the third-highest proportion of students going into consulting and, among these, the second-highest percentage who make it to MBB

In order to achieve results like these, a business school must attract a high number of top-quality MBA students who are interested in a consulting career, and then provide them with robust interview preparation. Kellogg, which has long been known as a strong option for aspiring consultants, appears to succeed on both counts.

According to our analysis of MBB hiring in the US, the total number of consultants hired into the firms’ Chicago offices was second only to the number of new hires in New York. It’s therefore unsurprising that so many future McKinsey, BCG and Bain consultants choose to complete their MBA studies at a prestigious business school in Chicago.

Kellogg provides a robust and highly structured seven-week case training program, which underpins the interview preparation of all its MBA students who want to pursue a career in consulting.

INSEAD’s one-year program produces the highest number of MBB consultants

INSEAD is the world’s top business school when it comes to the number of graduates seeking employment who join McKinsey, BCG and Bain, with 260 hires in the year of our analysis. For those who want to make such a move, the school’s one-year program is a less costly option than the two-year alternatives at other business schools.

In our analysis of MBB hiring around the world, we saw that INSEAD’s MBA graduates join the firms in a wide variety of locations. These include countries in Europe and the Middle East, as well as Australia and various destinations within the US. INSEAD is therefore more international in terms of the destinations of its graduate consultants than business schools in the US.

The Wharton School produces the largest percentage of consultants who join McKinsey, BCG or Bain

The percentage of Wharton MBA graduates who went into consulting (23%) was among the smallest of the schools in our study. However, the proportion of these graduates who joined McKinsey, BCG or Bain was the highest, at 81%. This indicates that while only around a quarter of Wharton’s MBA graduates choose consulting as a career, most of those who do so are successful in landing an offer from one of the world’s top-3 firms. This underlines the quality of both Wharton’s student pool and the case interview preparation it provides to aspiring consultants.

Do you need an MBA for consulting?

While MBA hiring is a significant recruitment channel for McKinsey, BCG and Bain in certain parts of the world, it’s not necessary to have an MBA to get into management consulting. In fact, in our analysis of top routes into MBB offices around the world, we found that in the US – the location in which MBA hiring was most prevalent – only 35% of the candidates who joined a top consulting firm held an MBA.

How to get into consulting without an MBA

In our analysis, the other 65% of successful candidates came through the firms’ three other hiring channels:

• Pre-experience student hiring – for candidates who have recently completed an undergraduate or non-MBA master’s degree.
• Advanced degree hiring – for candidates who have recently completed a PhD, law degree or medical degree.
• Professional experienced hiring – for candidates who are qualified by professional experience, including those who are seeking to move to a top-3 consulting firm from the Big 4 or another tier-2 firm.

Why is management consulting a good choice after an MBA?

Consulting is a natural route for MBA graduates

The work of a consultant provides MBA graduates with the opportunity to apply everything they learned during their studies to multiple problems, industries and functions. Having demonstrated a keen interest in business and problem solving by completing an MBA, these candidates are also highly likely to possess some of the skills required for success in management consulting.

MBA hires receive generous compensation

Top consulting firms recognize the potential of MBA candidates and hire them at a more senior level than those who have recently completed undergraduate studies or a different type of master’s degree. For MBA hires, this translates into generous compensation, which could be used to repay any size of student loan promptly.

In the US, the average total compensation for an MBB consultant at this level is $220-225K. In addition, McKinsey, BCG and Bain typically offer MBA hires a sign-on bonus of $30K, which can be paid as a tax-deductible tuition reimbursement. This also means that MBA hires can be promoted to the position of Project Manager – a role of significant responsibility on the consulting career path – after just two years.

Rapid career progression and attractive exit opportunities are available

Top-tier management consulting firms offer MBA graduates rapid career progression, with the opportunity to progress to the next level of the consulting career path every two years. At McKinsey, BCG or Bain, a high-performing MBA hire could expect to progress to Partner level in just six to eight years.

When consultants leave the profession, they do so with an abundance of highly desirable transferable skills, along with experience that could allow them to work in almost any function or industry. As a result, a variety of attractive exit opportunities – many of which are at senior executive level – are available to former consultants.

Joining a top consulting firm as an MBA graduate therefore provides a faster route to the upper echelons of a large corporation than simply joining a company directly after business school.

Where is MBA hiring in management consulting most prevalent?

In our analysis of MBB hiring around the world, we found that a significant percentage of MBA hires (35%) were made in the US.

Interestingly, 23% of these successful candidates held undergraduate degrees from international universities. Meanwhile, seven of the 60 MBA programs attended by this group were located outside of the US. The MBA hiring channel is therefore a credible route for international candidates to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain in the US.

Our research indicates that MBA hiring is also common – although to a lesser extent – in MBB offices in the Middle East (23%), the UK (21%) and Canada (20%). In other locations, however, MBA hiring only accounted for a very small proportion (2-5%) of total consultants hired.

How to get into consulting after an MBA

So what does it take to get into a top consulting firm like McKinsey, BCG or Bain after completing an MBA? Here we take a look at the MBA hiring process and how to prepare a standout application.

How MBA hiring works at McKinsey, BCG and Bain

Top consulting firms have a vested interest in connecting with the best MBA candidates as early as possible, as competition among organizations for the programs’ top graduates tends to be fierce.

MBA candidates have the opportunity to learn more about life at a top consulting firm and to demonstrate their interest in management consulting before their MBA studies even begin. The top-3 firms all offer summer programs for students who are about to embark on MBAs: McKinsey Early Access, BCG Unlock and ExperienceBain.

Once a candidate’s MBA studies are under way, there are two routes through which they can apply to the firms:

Joining as a summer intern during their MBA studies

Most MBA hires at McKinsey, BCG and Bain complete a summer internship at their chosen firm during their MBA studies. Summer internships give candidates the opportunity to gain invaluable experience, while allowing the firms to identify top talent.

Interns are paid very well for the two-month period they spend at the firm and many candidates put this income towards paying for the cost of their MBA. Even more appealingly, most interns are offered a full-time position with the firm at the end of their internship.

Joining at the end of their MBA studies

MBA candidates who do not complete a summer internship at a top consulting firm have the opportunity to apply during the final year of their MBA studies. However, this approach is slightly riskier than joining as a summer intern.

Each year the firms have an ‘MBA recruitment target’: a limited number of MBA hires they are required to make, a certain number of which must come from their pool of summer interns. When it comes to candidates who wait until their final year of study to apply, the firms are only able to hire for the remaining number of places in their target.

In the event of a recruitment downturn within the firms, there are even fewer places available for MBA candidates who apply at the end of their studies.

How to stand out as an MBA candidate

While there are certain MBA programs that position candidates well for a career in consulting, it takes far more than an MBA from a particular business school to stand out from the crowd and earn the attention of MBB recruiters. A strong application will include the following additional elements:

Evidence of academic excellence and numerical ability

Top consulting firms aim to recruit candidates who are among the ‘cream of the crop’ of their MBA programs. When possible, you should therefore include the details of your grades in your application, along with any academic awards or scholarships you received.

Numeracy and analysis are among the top technical skills of consulting. Sharing the details of either your performance in a quantitative degree, such as Science or Engineering, or relevant test scores, such as SATs or the GMAT, will provide recruiters with evidence that you have these skills. As building models is an important part of the analytical work of a consultant, you should highlight any experience you have of doing this, particularly in Excel.

Evidence of strong undergraduate performance

Along with a candidate’s MBA degree, relevant test scores, professional experience and many other factors, top consulting firms also take their undergraduate grade and class position into account. However, this carries far less weight for MBA candidates than it does for pre-experienced students, who have only recently completed their undergraduate studies.

Selective internships or work experience

If you worked for a selective employer or completed a sought-after internship during your MBA or undergraduate studies, you should include these details in your application and provide evidence that you performed well. This evidence could include:

• achieving impressive results
• receiving a high end-of-year performance rating
• being promoted earlier than the norm
• being the youngest person in your role
• having an unusual scope of responsibilities
• being offered a permanent position after an internship

Focus on illustrating the impact you had, rather than simply stating what you did, and don’t be afraid to remove less relevant experience from your resume to make space for these valuable details. If an employer you worked for isn’t particularly well known, include a line in your resume to describe the organization and its aims.

Evidence of people skills

Consulting is a client-facing job. Firms are therefore looking for evidence of a candidate’s ability to interact and communicate with others – including senior executives – in a mature and nuanced way.

This is normally an area of strength for MBA graduates, and among the reasons why top consulting firms hire them. The firms recognize and value the experience that MBA candidates have of working in a business environment, communicating effectively and managing client relationships.

There are several ways that you can provide evidence of this in your application:

• Demonstrating your teamwork and leadership abilities, perhaps through examples of joining a committee or sports team, or being elected to lead a group.
• Demonstrating your ability to persuade and influence others, perhaps through examples of managing client relationships at work, being exposed to senior stakeholders or convincing others of something important.
• Demonstrating your communication skills, perhaps through examples of public speaking or debating experience, or writing for publications. Submitting a well-crafted consulting resume and cover letter is also an excellent way to provide evidence of your writing abilities.

A track record of impact

Taking initiative, showing drive and achieving your goals shows consulting firms that you have the potential to contribute to a team and make a difference. You can provide evidence of this in your application by highlighting any outstanding results you’ve achieved in your work experience, academic pursuits or extracurricular activities. Be sure to quantify or benchmark these results to make their significance clear to recruiters.

What are the ‘Big-4’ and ‘tier-2’ consulting firms?

‘The Big 4’ refers to four global professional services firms:

• EY (Ernst & Young)
• PwC
• Deloitte
• KPMG

‘Tier-2’ relates to a group of respected consulting firms considered to be the most credible and prestigious after McKinsey, BCG and Bain. In addition to the Big 4, this group includes:

• Kearney
• Oliver Wyman
• Roland Berger
• L.E.K
• Accenture

McKinsey, BCG and Bain are hiring an increasing number of consultants from tier-2 firms

The top-3 consulting firms have all grown a great deal in recent years; in fact, BCG and Bain have both tripled their revenue in the last decade.

With more hiring to do as a result of this growth – and only a limited number of candidates available through the traditional channels of undergraduate and MBA hiring – McKinsey, BCG and Bain have all been compelled to diversify their source of candidates and hire experienced professionals. These candidates typically have two to eight years of professional experience with other employers. Our research into the top routes into McKinsey, BCG and Bain shows that between 2020 and 2022, experienced professional hiring accounted for as much as 40% of total recruitment in some MBB offices.

Despite being historically resistant to the prospect, the top-3 consulting firms have come to place a growing emphasis on hiring from other consulting firms within the experienced professional hiring channel.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain once held reservations about the potential of these candidates to succeed within their ranks. However, today the firms recognise that consultants from other firms can bring a wealth of sought-after experience with them, and often have the ability to hit the ground running. In our research over 39% of the experienced professional hires at McKinsey, BCG and Bain had joined from another consulting firm. The majority of these candidates came from the strategy units of the Big 4: EY Parthenon, Monitor Deloitte, Strategy & at PWC, and KPMG’s Global Strategy Group (GSG).

It’s important to note that opportunities for candidates from other consulting firms are likely to fluctuate in line with the top-3 firms’ hiring needs. In the event of a recruitment downturn, McKinsey, BCG and Bain tend to focus on hiring from their more traditional channels.

How to stand out as a candidate from a tier-2 consulting firm

If you’re a consultant at the Big 4 or another tier-2 firm, you may well have experience that the top-3 firms will value, and the ability to get up and running as an MBB consultant relatively quickly. However, a successful application is by no means guaranteed.

Like any other candidate, you will need to demonstrate that you are among the best of the best in your profession. It could be argued that this is, in fact, most challenging for consultants from tier-2 firms who, by definition, do not currently work for one of the most selective employers in their industry.

You will also need to stand out from other candidates in the experienced hiring channel. These will include all sorts of professionals – from artists and athletes to doctors and military personnel – who are at the top of their field and are likely to have interesting and novel experiences to share with interviewers.

With these challenges in mind, here’s how you can stand out from the crowd and maximize your chance of success as a candidate from the Big 4 or another tier-2 consulting firm:

Provide evidence of top performance

McKinsey, BCG and Bain expect to see exceptional professional performance in the applications of all their experienced professional candidates. As a consultant from another firm, this could mean:

• having faster progression than the norm in your firm
• being a top-rated performer by your peers
• working in a challenging practice area
• making a significant impact on client projects

You should highlight these achievements as clearly as possible in your application to demonstrate to recruiters that you are a top performer, with a proven track record as a management consultant.

Show that you have worked at a strategic level

Because the Big 4 and other tier-2 firms have a strong focus on implementation and transformation projects, recruiters at McKinsey, BCG and Bain will be especially interested in the experience you have of working strategically on challenging and complex problems.

To this end, you should be crystal clear in your application about the practice area you belong to in your current firm. You should also provide examples of the work you have done that’s most similar to the strategic work of a consultant at McKinsey, BCG or Bain.

Highlight any specialist expertise you have

Because the top-3 consulting firms all have demand for expertise in specific areas of growth, such as AI, data science, digital and sustainability, you should also highlight any experience you have in these emerging disciplines.

If you have significant experience in one of these areas and you’re interested in focusing on it at McKinsey, BCG or Bain, you might want to consider applying through the firm’s expert career track, where demand is often particularly high.

Consider the Manager level when you apply

Some MBB offices tend to lack Manager-level consultants, who are skilled enough to lead client projects but are not yet eligible for promotion to Partner. If you have significant experience of running a project team, ‘Manager’ could be a good role to apply to on the consulting career path, as the firms who recruit for this role tend to struggle to find suitable candidates.

Why is management consulting a good choice after a PhD, law degree or medical degree?

There are many reasons why the work of a management consultant is appealing to those who have recently completed a PhD or a program at law school or medical school. Individuals who pursue advanced academic studies tend to be drawn to intellectually stimulating environments in which they can use their analytical skills. A career in consulting offers this in abundance.

At its heart, the job of a management consultant is to work with some of the world’s largest organizations to solve their most critical and complex problems. The impact of a consulting project could therefore easily make the business news headlines. It might even affect the economy, climate change or what people consume. This can be a particularly appealing prospect to those who have recently been immersed in academia, where the real-world impact of a project may not be immediate or particularly tangible.

Consultants work on a wide variety of client projects across a vast range of sectors, functions and locations. For advanced degree candidates, who often have less commercial experience than candidates from other hiring channels, this presents an invaluable learning opportunity. It also provides the chance for them to gain a better understanding of where their expertise and interests lie.

Advanced degree hiring: an important channel in the US, Germany and Switzerland

In our analysis of the top routes into McKinsey, BCG and Bain, firms in every location hired advanced degree candidates, although the channel only accounted for a small proportion of total hiring.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the countries with the highest number of advanced degree hires were those in which post-graduate study is popular: Germany, Switzerland and the US.

While advanced degree hiring only accounted for 4% of total hiring in the US – compared to 9% in Germany and 11% in Switzerland – the firms there hired 2.5 times more of these candidates. There are a couple of key drivers that could account for this. In the US, it’s not considered taboo to attain an advanced degree in a discipline such as law and then pursue a career in a different field. Additionally, the strengths of American research institutions tend to draw many international candidates to the US to pursue PhDs and other advanced degrees.

In other countries it’s certainly possible to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain as an advanced degree hire, but – as the graph below shows – the channel accounts for a much smaller proportion of total hiring.

Where do successful advanced degree candidates study?

Our analysis indicates that the majority of advanced degree candidates who land offers at top consulting firms completed their studies at a top-ranking university. In the US, for example, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton were the top-3 contributors of advanced degree hires at McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

MBB advanced degree hires in the US – universities attended
(2020-2022)

Source: CaseCoach

While this trend was visible in most of the locations in our study, it was not the case everywhere. In Germany, for example, advanced degree hires were distributed more evenly among a pool of 47 institutions.

Which advanced degrees or PhDs are best for a career in management consulting?

Our analysis indicates that successful advanced degree candidates study subjects that have a strong quantitative element. In the US, the majority of advanced degree hires (69%) held PhDs in Science and Engineering, while 15% were doctors and lawyers. Four percent held advanced degrees in Business, Economics and Finance.

How to stand out as an advanced degree candidate

If you’re a PhD graduate, lawyer or doctor and you want to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain, competition will be fierce. Only a minority of candidates are invited to interview. While our research indicates that there are certain universities and academic subjects that may stand you in good stead, it’s essential for your application to include other key elements.

Academic excellence

As an advanced degree candidate, you must demonstrate academic excellence within your field in order to distinguish yourself from other applicants. Depending on your background, you could do this by:

• highlighting the selectivity of your academic department
• showcasing the quantity and quality of the research papers you’ve authored
• listing any selective scholarships or fellowships you’ve received
• emphasizing how quickly you completed your PhD or advanced degree program

Standout work experience

If you worked for a selective employer or completed a sought-after internship during your advanced degree studies, you should include the details in your application and provide evidence that you performed well in these positions. This evidence might include achieving impressive results or being offered a permanent position after an internship.

If your studies haven’t allowed you the time to pursue work experience or an internship, you should pay extra attention to emphasizing your people skills and ability to create impact in your application.

Evidence of people skills

Consulting is a client-facing job and firms are looking for evidence of a candidate’s ability to interact and communicate with others – including senior executives – in a mature and nuanced way. As an advanced degree candidate, you may have had less exposure to the professional world than applicants who join the firm through other hiring channels. As a result, your capability in this area will be of particular interest to recruiters.

In your application, there are several ways that you can provide evidence that you have strong people skills:

• Demonstrating your teamwork and leadership abilities, perhaps through examples of leading a team, holding important responsibilities, or founding an organization as part of either your studies or extracurricular activities.
• Demonstrating your ability to persuade and influence others, perhaps through an example of convincing a reluctant supervisor or university stakeholder of something important.
• Demonstrating your communication skills, perhaps through examples of public speaking or debating experience, or writing for publications. Submitting a well-crafted consulting resume and cover letter is also an excellent way to provide evidence of your writing abilities.

A track record of impact

Having a track record of taking initiative, showing drive and achieving goals shows consulting firms that you have the potential to contribute to a team and make a difference.

The main way you can demonstrate this is by giving evidence of outstanding results you have achieved in your academic pursuits, work experience or extracurricular activities. Be sure to quantify or benchmark these results to make their significance clear to recruiters, and don’t be afraid to remove less relevant experience from your resume to make space for these valuable details.

How to apply to a top consulting firm after finishing a PhD, law school or medical school

Advanced degree hires join top consulting firms at different levels depending on location. In Europe, these candidates are hired into senior pre-MBA roles (i.e. Junior Associates at McKinsey, second-year Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG). However, in the US, they are typically hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).

An excellent way to learn more about management consulting careers and to demonstrate your interest is to participate in an advanced degree programs at one of the firms:

• At McKinsey, US-based candidates can choose between two virtual programs that provide insight into management consulting and life at the firm: Insight and Diversity Connect.
• At BCG, the immersive Bridge to BCG workshop gives advanced degree candidates insight into the experience of being part of a case team. Participants are all granted a first-round interview at BCG.
• At Bain, there is ADvantage – a week-long onsite program that immerses candidates in the consulting world and life at the firm- and Access to Asia-Pacific (APAC), a three-week online program focused on consulting in Bain’s Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Preparing for interviews at McKinsey, BCG and Bain as a PhD graduate, lawyer or doctor

The consulting interview process for advanced degree candidates is the same as it is for other candidates. There are two components: the case interview and the fit interview. You can learn more in our detailed guides on preparing for case interviews and preparing for fit interviews.

If you’re about to complete a PhD or other advanced degree – or have recently done so – and you think a move into consulting might be right for you, you can learn more in our complete guide to the management consulting industry.

Pre-experience student hiring is the largest recruitment channel at McKinsey, BCG and Bain

The pre-experience student hiring channel is for recent graduates of bachelor’s degrees and non-MBA master’s degrees, who typically have no more than two years of work experience. These candidates are hired into entry-level roles at top consulting firms, either immediately or shortly after completing their studies.

The channel is the largest source of candidates for the firms the world over. In our recent analysis of top routes into McKinsey, BCG and Bain, pre-experience student hiring accounted for the highest proportion of hiring in every global location. In the US, 45% of hires were pre-experience students, while in Canada, it was 43%. In some of the European countries in our study, this proportion was even higher: 68% in Switzerland, 69% in France and 70% in Germany.

Which universities do successful candidates attend?

Firms tend to hire from a small set of top-ranked universities

In almost every country in our analysis, the majority of pre-experience student hires came from a small set of nationally top-ranked universities:

• In the US, 45% of the firms’ pre-experienced student hires were from 10 prestigious universities, including Harvard, Duke, Yale and Princeton.
• In the UK, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics collectively accounted for 58% of pre-experience student hiring.
• In France, four universities – HEC Paris, ESSEC Business School, CentraleSupelec and ESCP Business School – produced more than 70% of graduate hires at McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

Because top candidates tend to study at these institutions, the firms invest in attracting applications from them by holding events on campus and allocating dedicated recruiters to each university.

Candidates from a wider range of universities are considered in certain locations

Our analysis indicates that in some parts of the world, McKinsey, BCG and Bain approach pre-experience student hiring with a greater degree of flexibility than in other locations.

Successful candidates in Germany came from a total of 125 institutions, and the majority of pre-experience student hires in the Middle East came from a pool of 64 international universities. Some flexibility is even evident in certain US offices. The universities that contributed most to the firms’ pre-experience student hiring in Dallas & Houston and Atlanta were regional universities not typically ranked in the national top 20.

It’s particularly important for graduates of less selective universities to demonstrate academic excellence and the potential to succeed in consulting in their applications, as this will help them stand out among candidates from top-ranking universities.

What are the best degree subjects or majors to choose for management consulting?

There is no list of degree subjects or majors that top consulting firms require candidates to have studied. However, McKinsey, BCG and Bain tend to favor Business and Economics degrees and STEM majors (i.e. Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).

In our analysis of pre-experience student hiring in the US and the UK, 42% of candidates had studied Business and Economics degrees. Meanwhile, 18% and 19% respectively had studied STEM majors.

Although having a Business and Economics or STEM degree helps to demonstrate a candidate’s quantitative skills or interest in business, this is not a requirement. Many successful candidates complete studies in other subjects, such as History, Politics, Philosophy and International Relations. It’s important for these candidates to demonstrate their quantitative skills and an interest in business through other means, such as high school graduation grades or test scores in math, or internships in a relevant field.

Overall, the best degrees and majors for future management consultants are those that are challenging and allow candidates to demonstrate their academic abilities and quantitative skills.

Do candidates with a master’s degree stand a better chance of joining a top consulting firm?

The pre-experience student hiring channel consists of candidates who have recently completed bachelor’s degrees and non-MBA master’s degrees, which means these candidates are competing against one another for the same roles. So which candidates stand a better chance?

Our analysis indicates that this varies greatly from location to location. In some countries, McKinsey, BCG and Bain hired a higher proportion of graduates from bachelor’s degrees than master’s degrees. In both Canada and the US, for example, only 12% of the firms’ pre-experience student hires joined the firms after completing a master’s degree.

However, in other parts of the world, the opposite was the case. In Germany (85%), France (91%) and Switzerland (95%) the vast majority of pre-experience student hires had completed master’s degrees.

Elsewhere, the intake was more balanced: in the Middle East, 41% of the firms’ pre-experience student hires joined after completing a master’s degree, and in the UK this proportion was 45%.

How to join a top consulting firm as a pre-experience student hire

Navigating the application process

While pre-experience student hires join McKinsey, BCG and Bain after graduating, the application process begins while they are still at university. The firms all have summer internship programs, and a variety of application deadlines that differ among firms and locations. It’s vital for anyone who is looking to apply as a pre-experience student to source all this information during their studies.

At universities where the top-3 consulting firms tend to recruit large numbers of graduates, these details will be readily available at on-campus events hosted by dedicated recruiters from the firms. At less selective universities, students will need to source this information independently by conducting research on the firms’ websites and attending virtual events for pre-experience candidates.

Submitting a standout application

When it comes to preparing an application to McKinsey, BCG and Bain, it takes far more than having attended a certain university or studied a particular subject to stand out from the crowd. A strong application will also include the following additional elements:

Academic excellence

Top consulting firms aim to recruit the ‘cream of the crop’ from universities. To provide evidence of this, you should include your final grade or class position in your application. If you studied at an institution where a high proportion of graduates join McKinsey, BCG or Bain, graduating in the top half of your class could be enough to demonstrate academic excellence. If you studied at a university where the firms only recruit sporadically, you’ll need to be in the top 5-10% of your class to stand out to recruiters.

Selective internships

Top consulting firms want to see evidence of a track record of success, even from candidates who have only recently graduated. If you completed a sought-after internship or gained work experience with a selective employer during your studies, describing this clearly in your application is an excellent way to demonstrate a strong track record.

Regardless of the internship or work experience you choose to highlight, focus on illustrating the impact you had, rather than simply stating what you did. Being offered a full-time job after completing an internship, having an unusual scope of responsibilities or playing a key role in achieving a goal are all good examples to include. Don’t be afraid to remove less relevant work experience from your resume to make space for these valuable details.

Extracurricular activities

McKinsey, BCG and Bain are only interested in hiring graduates who can demonstrate that they have the potential to succeed in consulting. If you’ve participated in extracurricular activities that demonstrate that you have leadership skills and the ability to make an impact, be sure to include this evidence in your application. Focusing on two or three of your most impressive examples will have more impact than simply sharing a long list of activities.

The global hiring climate for top consulting firms

Q1 of 2020 to Q2 of 2022 proved to be a significant period for hiring at McKinsey, BCG and Bain. Hiring volumes soared as the world emerged from the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with the need for specialist expertise, driven by clients’ evolving requirements, this pushed all three firms to consider candidates from a broader range of backgrounds than they had before. Our analysis also pointed to a number of additional trends.

BCG is catching up to McKinsey in hiring

McKinsey, the largest and most well-established MBB firm, hired the most candidates globally during the period covered by our research. The firm accounted for 38.4% of the hiring total.

Perhaps more surprisingly, BCG, which is smaller than McKinsey, hired a very similar number of candidates during this period, accounting for 37.3% of the total. BCG now appears to be catching up to McKinsey in terms of hiring, which represents significant progress for BCG.

Bain, with around 15,000 employees, hired a proportionately lower number of candidates, accounting for 24.3% of global hiring among the three firms.

The ongoing quest for gender parity

Achieving a more balanced gender population is a huge strategic priority for McKinsey, BCG and Bain, particularly when it comes to hiring new talent. Our research indicates that good progress is being made in this area, with an average of 42% female hiring across all three firms. The difference among the firms is small, with 44% female hiring at McKinsey and 41% at both BCG and Bain.

Our research also illustrates that the firms are very close to achieving gender parity in hiring in certain locations. In Switzerland and Canada, 47% of all MBB hires were women, while women accounted for 46% of the firms’ hires in the UK.

Other locations have further to go. In France, for example, only 40% of MBB hires were women and in the Middle East this figure was even lower, at 32%.

You can learn more in our analysis of gender parity in hiring at McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

Fighting top tech firms for the best talent in the US

Traditionally, investment banking has posed the greatest threat to consulting in the fight for top candidates, mainly because of the higher bonuses it can offer. However, the appeal of management consulting as a job and the broader exit opportunities it presents have continued to make it the more popular career option for many top candidates.

During the period covered by our research, hiring at consulting firms in the US faced a new threat, with candidates choosing to pursue jobs in the tech industry over consulting roles. In our analysis of hiring at McKinsey, BCG and Bain in San Francisco, we saw that only 10% of the firms’ pre-experience student hires and 5% of its MBA hires attended Stanford, the highest-ranked local university. This is likely to have been a consequence of the competing draw of the tech industry.

Large tech firms (e.g. Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple) are known for offering a great working environment with many perks, a lifestyle that doesn’t include the long working hours of consulting and a vibrant workforce that focuses on ‘doing’ – by building products, for example – rather than advising. The compensation packages offered by tech companies sometimes include stock options, which many candidates find appealing as a longer-term financial incentive. Add to that the prestigious nature of many of the big names in the tech world, and candidates have a compelling value proposition that presents a credible challenge to the advantages of a career in management consulting.

The fight for top talent has contributed towards compensation packages for new MBB hires increasing in the US. Pre-experience students can now expect a $110,000 base salary or more, while MBA hires can expect $175,000 or more.

While competition from the tech industry made a significant impact between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022, this is likely to become less of an issue over the coming months, as top tech firms have now started to downsize their workforces and cut back on hiring.

Pre-experience student hiring: the world’s largest MBB recruitment channel

The highest proportion of hiring

Pre-experience student hiring is the biggest recruitment channel for MBB firms the world over. In every country in our analysis, pre-experience students (i.e. students of bachelor’s or non-MBA master’s degrees who are hired straight out of university or shortly after graduating) accounted for the highest proportion of MBB hiring. In Germany (70%), France (69%) and Switzerland (68%), hiring was particularly weighted in favor of this channel.

The highest degree of competition

Firms in most locations hire primarily from top-ranked universities

As well as being the biggest channel for MBB recruitment, pre-experience student hiring is also the most competitive. In almost every country in our analysis, the majority of pre-experience student hires came from a small set of top-ranked local universities. In the US, for example, the majority came from prestigious institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown and Duke. And in the UK, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics collectively accounted for 58% of pre-experience student hiring.

Firms in some locations consider a wider range of schools

MBB firms in other locations appear to approach pre-experience student hiring with a greater degree of flexibility. Pre-experience student hires in Germany came from a total of 125 institutions. In the Middle East, the majority of pre-experience student hires (52%) came from one of 64 international universities, making the region one of the only MBB locations where pre-experience students from other parts of the world have a credible route to entry.

Some flexibility is even evident in certain US offices. At MBB firms in Dallas & Houston and Atlanta, for example, the universities that contributed most to the firms’ pre-experience student hiring were regional universities that are not typically ranked in the national top-20.

While our data shows that there are some opportunities for students to join MBB firms from less selective universities, these candidates will be expected to demonstrate their suitability through excellent grades when they apply to McKinsey, BCG or Bain as new graduates.

You can learn more about joining a top consulting firm through this hiring channel in our article on the best degrees and majors for a career in consulting.

MBA hiring: a major route into top firms in the US but less so elsewhere

MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program, usually at a US business school. Perhaps unsurprisingly, MBA hiring is most prevalent in the US, where it accounts for 35% of MBB hiring nationally. 50% of all MBA hires in the US came from five schools:

• The Wharton School (12%)
• Kellogg School of Management (11%)
• Chicago Booth School of Business (11%)
• Harvard Business School (10%)
• Columbia Business School (6%)

Of the MBA hires in our analysis, 23% held undergraduate degrees from international universities. And of the 60 business schools that contributed MBA hires to MBB firms, seven were located outside of the US. The MBA channel is therefore a credible route into top consulting firms in the US for international candidates. This is particularly true of McKinsey, where 33% of the MBA hires into the firm’s US offices obtained their undergraduate degree from an international university. By contrast, 20% and 11% of the MBA hires at BCG and Bain respectively held an international undergraduate degree.

In other parts of the world, MBA hiring represents a smaller but important recruitment channel. In the Middle East it accounts for 23% of total MBB hiring, with INSEAD contributing the highest proportion of candidates. In the UK, 21% of candidates are MBA hires. They are mostly graduates from the London Business School. And in Canada, the MBA channel accounts for 20% of MBB hiring. Most of these candidates are graduates of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

MBA hiring is far less common in mainland Europe, with hiring proportions as low as 5% in Switzerland, 3% in France and 2% in Germany. High tuition fees in the US coupled with lower consulting salaries in Europe could make the prospect of pursuing an MBA at a US business school an unattractive option for European candidates.

You can learn more about joining a top consulting firm through this hiring channel in our article on the best MBAs for consulting at McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

Experienced professional hiring: the MBB recruitment channel that’s taken the world by storm

Consisting of candidates who typically have two to eight years of professional experience, experienced professional hiring is a relatively new MBB recruitment channel that has gained serious momentum in recent years.

The practice of hiring individuals who are qualified by experience rather than academic pedigree began in Europe – where there are fewer MBA programs – as a means of diversifying the candidate pool. However, it’s since been adopted by MBB firms around the world, including in the US, as they’ve sought to hire consultants with a diverse range of expertise to help them solve problems for clients in contemporary disciplines such as digital, AI, climate change and sustainability.

As a result of this increasing range of needs, MBB firms are open to hiring experienced professional candidates who have worked at other top consulting firms like Oliver Wyman, Kearney and the strategy arms of big-4 accounting firms (e.g. Strategy& at PwC, Monitor Deloitte and EY-Parthenon). These candidates are able to hit the ground running when they join a new firm, making them a great option for firms with an immediate client demand.

Other candidates who join MBB firms as experienced professional hires come from a range of other industries, including finance, tech, oil and gas, healthcare and the public sector.

During the period covered by our research, experienced professional hiring was most prevalent in Australia (44%), the UK (35%) and Canada (34%). It was least common in Switzerland (16%) and Germany (16%).

You can learn more in our article on how to join a top management consulting firm as an experienced hire.

Advanced degree hiring: an important recruitment channel in the US, Germany and Switzerland

Advanced degree hiring represented the smallest pool of candidates in our research. Consisting of graduates who hold a PhD or other advanced degree (e.g. from medical or law school), the channel accounted for the smallest proportion of MBB hires in nearly every country in our analysis.

As PhD study is traditionally more popular in Germany than in other countries, it’s perhaps unsurprising that advanced degree hiring was most prevalent in Germany (9%) and neighboring Switzerland (11%).

Because of the sheer size of hiring in the US, advanced degree hiring only accounted for 4% of total hiring there. However, 2.5 times as many advanced degree candidates were hired by MBB firms in the US than in Germany. In this respect, the US is leading the charge in advanced degree hiring.

There are a couple of key drivers at the heart of this trend. In the US, unlike in other countries, it’s not considered taboo to attain an advanced degree in a discipline such as law and then pursue a career in a different field. Additionally, the strengths of American research institutions tend to draw many international candidates to the US to pursue PhDs and other advanced degrees. This has the effect of increasing the size of the advanced degree hiring pool in the US.

You can learn more about joining a top consulting firm through this hiring channel in our article on how to go from a PhD, law degree or medical degree to management consulting.

What’s next if you’d like to get into McKinsey, BCG or Bain?

Looking to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain? Whichever route your take, CaseCoach has resources to guide you all the way through the process, from the resume crafting stage to your final interviews.

Our Free Resume Course provides resume and cover letter templates and specialized advice for students, MBAs and experienced professionals.

The Interview Prep Course contains all the material you need to ace your case and fit interview, including video lectures, sample interviews, case material and practice tools.

Our team of coaches includes former consultants and interviewers with McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US. They are available to deliver case and fit interview coaching and mock interviews to put your preparation to the test and provide personal feedback and practical advice to help you ace your interviews.

The top trends in management consulting hiring in the US

Management consulting continues to attract some of the best talent in the US, despite increased competition from the tech industry

McKinsey, BCG and Bain attracted some of the best talent in the US between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022. Multiple factors support this assertion. The universities that contribute most of the pre-experience student hires into MBB are the same schools that occupy the top spots of any university rankings. Top US business schools also supplied the majority of MBA hires into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US.

Despite these wins, talent attraction in top consulting firms has been under pressure recently, especially from the tech industry. In our article on the type of candidates who make it to McKinsey, BCG and Bain in San Francisco, we see that only 10% of pre-experience student hires and 5% of MBA hires graduated from Stanford University, the highest-ranked local university. This is likely to be due to the draw of Silicon Valley for undergraduates and MBAs.

The war for talent, combined with growth aspirations, has led to increased compensation packages for MBB’s hires in the US. Pre-experience students can now expect a $110,000 base salary or more, while MBA hires can expect $175,000 or more.

Top firms hire a growing number of experienced and advanced degree candidates

Traditionally, top consulting firms in the US have hired candidates who recently gained an undergraduate or MBA degree. 80% of all hires into McKinsey, BCG and Bain between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022 were either pre-experience students (45%) or MBAs (35%).

In recent years, the firms have increasingly sought to hire advanced degree candidates and experienced professionals, both to support their growth and to respond to their clients’ need for expertise in specific functions or sectors (e.g. technology). These channels now represent a significant proportion of MBB hiring in the US: 16% for experienced hires and 4% for advanced degree hires.

To understand these categories better, here are quick definitions:

• Pre-experience students (bachelor’s degree or a non-MBA master’s degree) are hired out of university or shortly after. They typically have no more than two years of experience and are hired into entry-level roles (i.e. Business Analysts at McKinsey, Associates at BCG and Associate Consultants at Bain).
• MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program. They typically have work experience gained before their MBAs and are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Experienced hires are from other employers and typically have two to eight years of experience. Those with less are hired at pre-MBA roles (i.e. Senior Business Analysts at McKinsey, 2nd year Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG). Those with significant experience are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey or Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Advanced degree hires are hired during or soon (not more than two years) after their Ph.D. or medical school programs. In the US, they’re typically hired into post-MBA roles, (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).

Mckinsey hired more candidates than BCG and Bain

In the US as a whole, McKinsey hired over 20% more consultants than BCG, and over 60% more than Bain, between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022. While this held true for most major US offices, a standout exception is Boston, where Bain hired over 70% more consultants than McKinsey and close to 20% more consultants than BCG.

The data also tells us which of MBB’s US offices hired the most consultants, potentially pointing to the sizes of these offices. MBB’s New York offices had the greatest number of hires, with over 850 identified between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022. The next largest office was Chicago, with over 450 hires identified, followed by Boston and San Francisco, each with over 300 hires.

MBB firms in the US are closing the gender hiring gap

Overall, 42% of MBB’s consultant hires in the US between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022 were female. Although parity has not been reached, the imbalance is greatly reduced by historical standards.

This is not, however, consistent across firms, offices and channels. McKinsey was the closest to meeting gender hiring parity with 44% female hires, while BCG and Bain each had ~40% female hires.

There was significant disparity among MBB’s offices across the US, with the North-East offices (New York, Boston, Washington, DC) achieving the highest rate of female hiring (43-47%) and Southern offices (Atlanta, Dallas & Houston) recording the lowest rate of female hiring (33-36%).

Overall, the data shows there is still some room for improvement when it comes to gender parity, with countries such as Canada, the UK and Switzerland beating the female hiring percentage in the US.

An MBA is a great route to McKinsey or BCG for international candidates, but less so at Bain

There are only two significant channels for international candidates to get into MBB firms in the US: as an MBA hire from a top US business school or as an experienced hire.

The MBA route is the most favorable. 23% of MBA hires into MBB firms in the US graduated with an undergraduate degree from an international university, compared to 10% of experienced hires.

One potential driver of MBAs as a great route for international candidates in the US is that McKinsey, BCG and Bain are some of the few firms outside of tech (and, in certain circumstances, finance) willing to sponsor international candidates for an H1B visa.

This opportunity, however, is not evenly split by firm. 33% of the MBA hires into McKinsey’s US offices obtained their undergraduate degree from an international university. This is in contrast to BCG and Bain, where 20% and 11% of MBA hires respectively had an international undergraduate degree.

Likewise, some US offices are more open to MBA hires with international undergraduate degrees, including Chicago (31%) and San Francisco (38%), while others are less open (e.g. Boston at 15%).

Other channels do not offer any meaningful route into MBB firms in the US. Less than 0.5% of pre-experience students are hired from international universities.

Not all US offices are equally selective

Anecdotally, some MBB offices in the US are thought of as harder to get into than others. The data indicates that there is some truth to these rumors, as differing levels of candidate selectivity were observed in MBB offices across the US between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022.

We can measure sensitivity using the proportion of hires who come from national feeder universities compared to the proportion who come from regional feeders. National feeders typically place in the top-10 contributors of pre-experience student hires across all MBB offices in the US. They include the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown and Duke.

Regional feeders are primary sources of hires to nearby offices but do not contribute significantly to hiring in US offices outside their region. Thus the higher the national feeder proportion, the more selective the office.

For pre-experience student hiring, over 85% of the hires into MBB’s New York, San Francisco and Boston offices were from prestigious national feeder universities (e.g. the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, etc). Of the three locations, the New York office was the most selective, with over 95% of hires from national feeders.

Locations with lower levels of selectivity include Washington, DC, where 63% hires came from national feeders, and Chicago (46%). The least selective of the US offices we analysed were Atlanta, with 30% of hires from national feeders, and Dallas & Houston (23%).

MBA hiring shows the same patterns, with North-Eastern offices recruiting primarily from national feeder schools and Southern offices recruiting primarily from regional schools.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s pre-experience student hiring in the US

Pre-experience students made up 45% of total hires by McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. This means that hires from a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree program (excluding MBAs) made up the largest recruitment channel for entry-level roles at the US offices of McKinsey, BCG and Bain.

The pre-experience student recruitment channel was the largest for almost all the US offices we analysed, making up 40%-47% of all hires. However, in our analysis of the type of candidates who make it to MBB firms in Chicago, we saw that MBA hires there (42%) outnumbered pre-experience student hires (39%).

Pre-experience student hires made up 56% of Bain’s hiring in the US, compared with 41% for McKinsey and BCG. Despite this, McKinsey still nominally hired the most pre-experience students due to having the largest number of hires.

The top universities for joining McKinsey, BCG or Bain with an undergraduate degree

Pre-experience student hires into MBB’s US offices came from over 175 universities. Of these, only two universities contributed more than 4% of hires: the University of Pennsylvania (11%) and Harvard University (7%).

The next 22 universities contributed between 1%-4% of all hires, making up 55% of all pre-experience student hires. Finally, the long tail consists of over 150 schools, contributing 27% of all pre-experience student hires.

These universities can be categorized into national feeders and regional feeders. The national feeders typically place in the top-10 contributors of pre-experience student hires across all MBB offices in the US. They include the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown and Duke.

Regional feeders are primary sources of hires to nearby offices but do not contribute significantly to hiring in other US offices outside their region. For example, in Chicago, we see significant hiring from the University of Notre Dame, Washington University in St. Louis and Indiana University Bloomington. MBB’s Dallas & Houston offices hire significantly from The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Southern Methodist University. These universities, however, do not contribute significantly to hiring in other US locations.

Regional feeder schools are a great route for candidates who are looking to join a specific MBB office in the US.

The top degree subjects in universities for joining an MBB firm in the US

Across the US, graduates of three disciplines stood out in MBB firms’ pre-experience student hiring. 30% of pre-experience student hires graduated with an economics degree, 14% with an engineering degree, and 12% with a business administration degree. The remaining 44% studied a variety of other disciplines. Individual US offices had similar splits to the US total.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s MBA hiring in the US

35% of all hires into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US came from an MBA program. This is the highest rate of MBA hiring we’ve observed in all consulting markets we’ve explored. This proportion holds true for all three firms, as MBA hires made up 31-37% of hires across the board.

As a reminder, MBA hires are graduates of an MBA program, usually at a US business school. They typically have some work experience, gained before their MBAs, and are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).

For MBA hires, we will explore the business schools and undergraduate programs that produced the most MBA hires.

The top business schools to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain with an MBA

MBA hires into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US came from about 60 business schools, only seven of which are outside of the US. Half (50%) of all MBA hires into the US offices of MBB firms come from only five schools:

• The Wharton School (12%)
• Kellogg School of Management (11%)
• Chicago Booth School of Business (11%)
• Harvard Business School (10%)
• Columbia Business School (6%)

As with universities, we also have national and regional feeder business schools.

National feeder business schools typically place among the top contributors of MBA hires across all MBB offices in the US. Wharton, Kellogg, Booth, Harvard and MIT Sloan are all national feeder business schools.

Regional feeder business schools are primary sources of MBA hires to nearby offices but do not contribute significantly to hiring in other US offices outside their region.

Let’s consider examples of regional feeders:

• UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business contributes almost a quarter (24%) of MBA hires to MBB’s San Francisco office.
• The Ross School of Business was the third largest contributor of MBA hires into MBB’s Chicago offices, accounting for about 10% of hires.
• Goizueta Business School provided 16% of the MBA hires into MBB’s Atlanta office.

None of these schools, however, feature among the top 7-10 contributors of MBA hires to other US offices of MBB firms. Thus, regional feeder schools are great for candidates who are looking to join a specific MBB US office with an MBA.

INSEAD is the only international business school that features prominently among MBA feeders to MBB firms in the US. While it contributes just under 1% of MBA hires, that is still about twice the number of MBA hires from all other international business schools combined.

Which undergraduate schools produced the most MBB MBA hires?

The majority of MBA hires (63%) received an undergraduate degree from one of the US universities that generated pre-experience student hires. 23% of MBA hires come from international undergraduate programs, making this the best channel of entry for international candidates. Finally, the remaining 14% of MBA candidates received their undergraduate degrees from US schools that do not feed pre-experience student candidates into MBB’s US offices.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s experienced professional hiring in the US

The ‘experienced hires’ channel, in which candidates typically have two to eight years of professional experience, was the third-largest recruitment channel for MBB’s US offices from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. It made up 16% of all their hires.

At McKinsey, experienced hires made up 19% of total US hires, compared to 17% for BCG and only 11% for Bain. In nominal figures, this means that McKinsey hired almost three times as many experienced hire candidates as Bain.

Experienced hires joined MBB firms in the US at different levels:

• 38% of experienced hires were recruited into pre-MBA roles (i.e. Business Analysts at McKinsey, Associate, Senior Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG).
• 62% of experienced hires were recruited into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain). Candidates with team leadership experience at other consulting firms sometimes join at a more senior level but will typically experience a small step back in seniority compared to their previous firm.

Which industries did the US MBB’s experienced hires come from?

Over a third (34%) of experienced hires into MBB’s US offices came from other consulting firms. These include strategy consulting firms (e.g. L.E.K, Oliver Wyman, ZS), the strategy teams of ‘Big-4’ accounting firms (e.g. Strategy& at PwC and EY-Parthenon), and Accenture.

The finance industry contributed about 10% of experienced hires and tech contributed 8%. The remaining 48% came from a wide range of unrelated industries.

While almost all the top feeders of experienced hires into MBB in the US are other consulting firms, some non-consulting firms stand out. One of them is Exxon Mobil, which supplied a significant number of engineers to MBB firms in the US, primarily to McKinsey’s Houston offices.

Where did MBB’s experienced hires go to school?

As with MBA hires, the top contributors of pre-experience students to McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US are the universities attended by most experienced professional hires.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s advanced degree hiring in the US

More and more advanced degree candidates are being hired by top consulting firms, and from our analysis, the US seems to be leading the charge.

To put this into perspective, we saw in our analysis of the type of candidates who make it to MBB firms in Germany that the country had the second-largest advanced degree hire population in the world. It had over 30% more advanced degree hires than the UK, Canada, France, Switzerland, Australia and the Middle East combined. MBB firms in the US, however, hired nearly 2.5 times as many advanced degree candidates as those in Germany.

Despite this, advanced degree hires only made up 4% of all hiring by MBB’s US offices due to the sheer size of hiring in the US.

As with other channels, top US schools contributed the most advanced degree hires, including Harvard (10%), Stanford (8%) and Princeton (5%). An interesting fact about the seven international universities represented is that most of the candidates they supplied had a post-doctoral research role in a top US school before joining McKinsey, BCG or Bain.

What’s next if you’d like to get into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US

Looking to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain’s US offices? CaseCoach has resources to guide you all the way from the resume crafting stage to your final interviews.

Our Free Resume Course provides resume and cover letter templates and specialized advice for students, MBAs and experienced professionals.

The Interview Prep Course contains all the material you need to ace your case and fit interview, including video lectures, sample interviews, case material and practice tools.

CaseCoach’s team of coaches includes former consultants and interviewers with McKinsey, BCG and Bain in the US. They are available to deliver case and fit interview coaching and mock interviews in a realistic setting to put your preparation to the test, providing personal feedback and practical advice to help you ace your interviews.

The main sources of candidates for top consulting firms in Germany

Top firms in Germany primarily hire pre-experience students

While the three firms recruit candidates in all recruitment categories, 70% of hires by McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Germany were pre-experience students. The next largest category was experienced professionals (19%).

Unlike in the US, McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Germany rarely hire MBAs, which made up only 2% of total hiring. Interestingly, the firms hired more advanced degree candidates as a proportion of the total (9% of all hires) than in most other countries (including the US, UK, Canada and France).

To better understand these categories, here are quick definitions:

• Pre-experience students (bachelor’s degree or a non-MBA master’s degree) are hired out of school or shortly after. They typically have no more than two years of experience and are hired into entry-level roles (i.e. Business Analysts at McKinsey, Associates at BCG and Associate Consultants at Bain).
• MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program, usually at a European or US business school. They typically have work experience, gained before their MBAs. and are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Experienced hires are from other employers and typically have two to eight years of experience. Those with less are hired at pre-MBA roles (i.e. Junior Associates at McKinsey, 2nd year Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG). Those with significant experience are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Advanced degree hires are hired during or soon (not more than two years) after their Ph.D. or medical school programs. In Germany, they’re typically hired into senior pre-MBA roles (i.e. Junior Associates at McKinsey, 2nd year Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG).

BCG hired more consultants than McKinsey and Bain

Between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022, BCG hired 30% more consultants in Germany than McKinsey, and nearly three times as many consultants as Bain.

Despite the hiring volume disparities, all three firms had similar hiring proportions by channel. For all three, about 69-72% of the hires were pre-experience students and about 16-21% were experienced professionals. Advanced degree hires made up 7-12% of the total, while only 1-3% were MBAs.

MBB firms in Germany hire more men than women

57% of total hires by MBB firms in Germany were men, signaling some room for improvement in gender parity in hiring. While 56% of the firms’ pre-experienced student and experienced professional hires in Germany were men, the gender disparity in MBA and advanced degree hiring was far greater. ~65% of these hires were men, although these channels only made up 11% of total hiring.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s pre-experience student hiring in Germany

Pre-experience student hiring was the largest recruitment channel for McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Germany from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. This group made up 70% of all hires by the three firms within this period.

The next section will look closely at which universities the pre-experience student hires of MBB firms in Germany attended.

Where did Germany’s MBB pre-experience students go to university?

MBB recruiting in Germany is unique among most other European countries for being spread across a large variety of universities. In France, the top four schools contributed more than 70% of the pre-experience students who were hired. In the UK, candidates from the top four universities made up 65% of the total number of pre-experience student hires. In Germany, however, MBB hires from the top four universities made up only 28% of the total.

MBB firms in Germany recruited pre-experience students from 125 different universities. By comparison, MBB’s French offices only hired from 20 universities and the UK offices hired consultants from 30 universities. Eighteen percent of pre-experience hires in Germany came from international universities. This is a significant number, especially when compared to France, where only 1% of pre-experience hires came from international universities.

Clearly, MBB firms in Germany are among the most (if not the most) open to a diverse set of universities, both locally and from outside the country. This suggests that international candidates who speak German and are looking to join MBB firms in Europe should consider applying to a German office. In addition, it indicates that MBB firms in Germany weigh grades and other factors more heavily than the university of origin when selecting pre-experience candidates.

Of the the three MBB firms in Germany, BCG and McKinsey appear to be the most open to a variety of universities. Twenty-four percent of pre-experience student hires at BCG, and 21% at McKinsey, originated from the long tail of universities (those contributing <2% of the total hiring volume). Only 7% of Bain’s pre-experience student hires came from those universities.

What did they study?

Of the pre-experience students hired into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Germany, 70% studied business administration, management or economics, and 10% studied engineering. The 20% remaining studied a variety of other disciplines. Unlike in the UK and the US, however, 85% of pre-experience student hires into MBB firms in Germany held a master’s degree.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s MBA hiring in Germany

Similarly to France, but unlike in the US and the UK, MBB firms in Germany are not big on MBA hiring. This channel made up only 2% of total hires at MBB firms in Germany between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022.

As a reminder, MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program, usually at a European or US business school. They typically have some work experience, gained before their MBAs. While they are usually hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain), some MBA hires in Germany were brought into pre-MBA roles.

The European business schools represented by MBB’s MBA hires in Germany included INSEAD, IESE, ESADE and Cambridge Judge. The firms’ other MBA hires in Germany came from programs in France, Singapore, and non-top programs in the US.

McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s experienced professional hiring in Germany

The ‘experienced hires’ channel, in which candidates typically have two to eight years of professional experience, was the second-largest recruitment channel for MBB firms in Germany from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. These candidates made up 19% of the firms’ total hires, and joined at the following levels:

• 74% of experienced hires were recruited into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain). Candidates with team leadership experience at other consulting firms sometimes join at a more senior level but will typically experience a small step back in seniority compared to their previous firm.
• 26% of experienced hires were recruited into pre-MBA roles (i.e. Junior Associate at McKinsey, Associate and Senior Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG).

Which companies did German MBB’s experienced hires come from?

More than 40% of experienced hires came from other consulting firms like Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Deloitte, and Strategy&. Two other industries are represented in meaningful numbers in Germany: finance (6%) and technology (4%).

The remaining candidates came from a variety of other industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, education and the public sector.

Where did MBB’s experienced hires in Germany go to university?

As with pre-experience student hires, there is significant diversity in the university distribution of experienced hires at MBB firms in Germany. Experienced professionals come from over 90 universities, 81% of which are based in Germany.

This suggests that if you could not join McKinsey, BCG or Bain as a pre-experience student hire, you might be able to do so by gaining experience as a strategy consultant – or in any industry – and applying as an experienced professional hire, especially if you have a master’s degree.

Advanced degree hiring in Germany

Internationally, advanced degree hiring constitutes the smallest proportion of hires for McKinsey, BCG and Bain. In Germany, however, advanced degree hires made up 9% of total hiring from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022, making it a bigger recruitment channel than MBA hiring.

As a reminder, advanced degree hires are hired during or soon (not more than two years) after their Ph.D. or medical school programs. They are typically hired into more senior pre-MBA roles (i.e. Junior Associates at McKinsey, Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG).

As with candidates from the other recruitment channels, advanced degree hires into MBB firms in Germany came from a wide range of universities (over 40). About a quarter (24%) came from international universities, while the rest (76%) were from German universities.

Universities that supplied three or more advanced degree hires into MBB firms in Germany include the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University of Cambridge, Heidelberg University, the University of Freiburg, the Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen University, and the University in Düsseldorf.

What’s next if you’d like to get into McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Germany

Looking to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain in Germany? CaseCoach has resources to guide you all the way from the resume crafting stage to your final interviews.

Our Free Resume Course provides resume and cover letter templates and specialized advice for students, MBAs and experienced professionals.

The Interview Prep Course contains all the material you need to ace your case and fit interview, including video lectures, sample interviews, case material and practice tools.

CaseCoach’s team of coaches includes former consultants and interviewers with McKinsey, BCG and Bain. They are available to deliver case and fit interview coaching and mock interviews in a realistic setting to put your preparation to the test, providing personal feedback and practical advice to help you ace your interviews.

The main sources of candidates for top consulting firms’ Atlanta offices

Hiring in MBB’s Atlanta offices mirrors the US average

Overall, MBB’s offices in Atlanta have similar recruitment channel outcomes to the US as a whole. The exception to this is the experienced professional channel, which accounts for 10% of hiring in Atlanta, compared to the national average of 16%.

In MBB’s Atlanta offices, 47% of hires are pre-experience students and MBA hires constitute 36% of the total. Experienced professionals make up 10% of hires and advanced degree candidates only make up 7% of hires.

To understand these categories better, here are quick definitions:

• Pre-experience students (bachelor’s degree or a non-MBA master’s degree) are hired out of university or shortly after. They typically have no more than two years of experience and are hired into entry-level roles (i.e. Business Analysts at McKinsey, Associates at BCG and Associate Consultants at Bain).
• MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program. They typically have work experience gained before their MBAs and are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Experienced hires are from other employers and typically have two to eight years of experience. Those with less are hired into pre-MBA roles (i.e., Senior Business Analysts at McKinsey, 2nd year Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG). Those with significant experience are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).
• Advanced degree hires are hired during or soon (not more than two years) after their Ph.D. or medical school programs. They’re typically hired into post-MBA roles in the US (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).

McKinsey and BCG hired more candidates than Bain

McKinsey and BCG’s Atlanta offices hired similar numbers of consultants between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022. Both firms hired close to 80% more consultants than Bain in that same period.

There are some disparities in the hiring mix among the three firms. Pre-experience students made up 52% of Bain’s hires, compared to 43-44% for BCG and McKinsey. MBA hires made up 40-41% of BCG and Bain’s total and only 31% for McKinsey. Sixteen percent of McKinsey’s hires were experienced professionals, compared to 5-6% for BCG and Bain.

MBB’s Atlanta offices hire more men

Sixty-seven percent of hires by McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices were male, signaling significant room for improvement in gender parity in hiring. This holds true at similar levels across all three firms and across all channels.

Pre-experience student hiring in McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices

Pre-experience students made up 47% of total hires by McKinsey, BCG and Bain in Atlanta from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. This means that hires from a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree program (excluding MBAs) made up the largest recruitment channel for entry-level roles at MBB’s Atlanta offices.

The next section will look closely at which universities the pre-experience student hires of MBB’s Atlanta offices attended.

Where did Atlanta MBB’s pre-experience student hires go to university?

Only 38% of Atlanta MBB’s pre-experience students were hired from universities based in Georgia.

They all graduated from three universities, which also provided the highest number of hires:

• Georgia Institute of Technology (21%)
• Emory University (9%)
• The University of Georgia (8%)

Conversely, 62% of Atlanta MBB’s pre-experience student hires relocated from out of state. They were hired from 33 universities, many of which are located in neighboring south-east states. No one was hired from foreign universities.

This data suggests that MBB’s Atlanta offices are attractive employers for local graduates. None of the local universities are typically ranked in the top 20 nationally, yet top consulting firms have managed to scoop many of their top graduates to fill their ranks.

In addition to local graduates, MBB’s Atlanta offices have also sourced candidates from a long and varied list of other universities, with few candidates hired from nationally top-ranked universities. This suggests that Atlanta is a great destination for candidates who want to secure a role at a top consulting firm and are open to relocating for the best chance of success.

The chart below lists the 15 universities that contribute more than 1% of hires to the total. Together, they account for 82% of pre-experience student hires.

Of the top three firms’ Atlanta offices, McKinsey appears to be the most open to candidates from a variety of universities. Thirty percent of its pre-experience student hires originated from the long tail of universities, versus 13% for Bain and 5% for BCG.

What did Atlanta MBB’s pre-experience student hires study?

Over 60% of pre-experience student hires into MBB’s Atlanta offices graduated with either an economics degree (20% of the total), an engineering degree (20% of the total), or a business administration degree (21% of the total). The remaining studied a variety of disciplines.

Unlike in European offices (e.g. France and Germany), a master’s degree doesn’t seem to give candidates a distinct edge. Pre-experience students with a master’s degree made up only 11% of pre-experience students, compared with 89% without. This is similar to the US total and Canada.

MBA hiring in McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices

Thirty-six percent of all hires into the Atlanta offices of McKinsey, BCG and Bain came from an MBA program.

As a reminder, MBA hires are graduates of a one or two-year MBA program, usually at a US business school. They typically have some work experience gained before their MBAs and are hired into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain).

For MBA hires, we will explore two questions:

• Which business schools did they attend?
• Which undergraduate universities did they attend?

Which business schools did Atlanta MBB’s MBA hires attend?

Five schools supplied ~60% of MBA hires into the Atlanta offices of McKinsey, BCG and Bain. They are:

• The Fuqua School of Business (20%)
• Goizueta Business School (16%)
• Harvard Business School (8%)
• Booth School of Business (8%)
• Kellogg School of Management (7%)

As with pre-experience student hires, MBB firms in Atlanta have been open to graduates from a long and varied list of schools, with a minority of candidates hired from top-ten US MBA programs.

This confirms that Atlanta is a great destination for candidates who want to secure a role at a top consulting firm and are open to relocating for the best chance of success. The lower cost of living compared to many other US locations may also make Atlanta an attractive option.

Which undergraduate universities did Atlanta MBB’s MBA hires attend?

MBA hires into MBB’s Atlanta offices came from over 60 undergraduate programs. This is a broader range of universities (almost 2x) than was considered in pre-experience student hiring (with 34 universities represented), indicating more educational background openness for the MBA hiring channel.

Twenty-four percent of MBA hires into MBB’s Atlanta offices came from an international undergraduate program, making this the largest channel of entry into MBB firms in Atlanta for international candidates.

Thus, if you did not study (at bachelor’s or master’s level) at a target US undergraduate or master’s program, an MBA at a top US program is your best route to breaking into MBB’s Atlanta offices.

Experienced professional hiring in McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices

The ‘experienced hires’ channel, in which candidates typically have two to eight years of professional experience, was the third-largest recruitment channel for MBB’s Atlanta offices from Q1 2020 to Q2 2022. It made up ~10% of all their hires.

At McKinsey’s Atlanta office, experienced hires made up around 16% of total hires. However, this number was significantly lower at Bain and BCG, where only 5-6% of hires in Atlanta were experienced professionals.

Experienced hires joined top firms at different levels:

• 45% of experienced hires were recruited into pre-MBA roles (i.e. Business Analysts at McKinsey, Associate, Senior Associate Consultants at Bain and Senior Associates at BCG).
• 55% of experienced hires were recruited into post-MBA roles (i.e. Associates at McKinsey and Consultants at BCG and Bain). Candidates with team leadership experience at other consulting firms sometimes join at a more senior level, but will typically experience a small step back in seniority compared to their previous firm.

Which industries did Atlanta MBB’s experienced hires come from?

Fifty percent of Atlanta MBB’s experienced hires came from other consulting firms. These include Accenture and the strategy teams of ‘Big-4’ accounting firms. The other half of Atlanta MBB’s experienced hires came from a wide range of unrelated industries.

Where did MBB’s experienced hires go to school?

The largest five undergraduate contributors for the pre-experience student channel – Georgia Tech, Emory, University of Georgia, Vanderbilt, UNC at Chapel Hill – contributed 45% of experienced professionals to MBB’s Atlanta offices, signaling a continued focus on the regional talent pool.

Only 5% of hires from the experienced hire channel had an international undergraduate degree, compared with 24% for MBAs. This is likely to be driven by the low proportion of international candidates in the local pool of professionals.

Advanced degree hiring in McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices

Advanced degrees were the smallest proportion of hires for McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices, making up just 7% of total hiring. Only Georgia Institute of Technology (19% of advanced degree hires), Emory University (13%), Duke University (13%) and Arizona State University (13%) contributed more than one hire between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022. The remaining seven US schools contributed one advanced degree hire each.

What’s next if you’d like to get into McKinsey, BCG and Bain’s Atlanta offices

Looking to join McKinsey, BCG or Bain’s Atlanta offices? CaseCoach has resources to guide you all the way from the resume crafting stage to your final interviews.

Our Free Resume Course provides resume and cover letter templates and specialized advice for students, MBAs, and experienced professionals.

The Interview Prep Course contains all the material you need to ace your case and fit interview, including video lectures, sample interviews, case material and practice tools.

CaseCoach’s team of coaches includes former consultants and interviewers with McKinsey, BCG and Bain. They are available to deliver case and fit interview coaching and mock interviews in a realistic setting to put your preparation to the test, providing the personal feedback and practical advice needed to ace your interviews.