Which schools are targets at the top 3 consulting firms (Bain, BCG, McKinsey)?

[jhaverford4587]

<p>I have done some analysis to see which schools are recruited by 1, 2 or 3 of the best strategy consulting firms. The results are pretty interesting and some of the things that immediately jump out are the fact that Bain doesn't recruit at Cornell or Columbia (their Bain office in NY ironically doesn't recruit from any NY university interestingly enough) and McKinsey doesn't recruit at UChicago, Georgetown or any state school besides Berkeley, UVA, Michigan or Georgia Tech. McKinsey seems to be the most selective while BCG appears to be the most egalitarian and Bain seems to be the most region-specific employer (good but not great schools near an office are excluded).</p>

<p>Targets at all 3
Harvard (National)
Yale (National)
Princeton (National)
Stanford (National)
MIT (National)
Penn (National)
Duke (National)
Dartmouth (National)
Brown (National)
Northwestern (Chicago offices)
U of Michigan (Chicago offices)
Cal Berkeley (San Francisco offices)
Georgia Tech (Atlanta offices)
UNC (Atlanta offices)
UVA (D.C. offices)
Texas (Texas offices)</p>

<p>Targets at 2 of the 3
Columbia (not at Bain but is a National target at the other 2)
Cornell (not at Bain but is a National target at the other 2)
U Chicago (not at McKinsey and the Chicago office for the other 2)
Georgetown (not at Bain and the D.C. office for the other 2)
Emory (not at McKinsey and the Atlanta office for the other 2)
Vanderbilt (not at McKinsey and the Texas offices for the other 2)
Rice (not at McKinsey and the Texas offices for the other 2)
UCLA (not at McKinsey and the LA office for the other 2)
USC (not at McKinsey and the LA office for the other 2)
Caltech (not at McKinsey and the LA office for the other 2)</p>

<p>Targets at only 1
Indiana (Bain Chicago)
Wisconsin (Bain Chicago)
Illinois (Bain Chicago)
Texas A&M (Bain Texas offices)
Wake Forest (Bain Atlanta)
Amherst (Bain)
Williams (Bain)
Pomona (Bain)
NYU (BCG New York)</p>

<p>Not Represented Anywhere
Tufts
Swarthmore
William & Mary</p>

<p>My sources:</p>

<p>Campus</a> calendars | US Schools Recruitment</p>

<p>Join</a> Bain & Company: Bain on your campus > Apply to Bain</p>

<p>BCG</a> - Learn about events, application procedures, and recruiting teams on campus</p>

<p>Someone better give me a virtual high-five for compiling all this information.;)</p>

[phuriku]

<p>Are you in high school? You seem really misinformed about everything.</p>

<p>McKinsey not recruiting at Chicago? McKinsey was CREATED by UChicago. More than likely, more UChicago graduates work there than graduates of any other university (and this is true by my own experiences). You’re misinformed.</p>

[buzzers]

<p>Yeah. And Mckinsey and Bain both recruit at Tufts.</p>

[rjkofnovi]

<p>“U of Michigan (Chicago offices)”</p>

<p>What exactly does this mean and where are the numbers to back it up?</p>

[GWAlum07]

<p>kids from non targets get jobs at the “big 3” all the time. you just need a 3.7+, a connection and a great resume (div 1 athletics experience helps). </p>

<p>you also need to make it through the grueling case interview process. but it’s not impossible. same rules apply in banking, minus the case interviews.</p>

[RML]

<p>OP, please define NATIONAL and REGIONAL offices. </p>

<p>I have friends who work for McKinsey, and according to them just this year alone, the consulting firm recruited 5 Berkeley grads for their NY offices and a couple more for London offices (the list isn’t even complete.) On the contrary, how is Duke under “national” category when according to the same people, they have not met anyone from Duke at West Coast offices. I also doubt that Brown qualifies for “national” category.</p>

[mathematicism]

<p>^ As a Duke student looking through the on-campus recruiting event calendar at this very moment, I can confirm that All of MBB recruit at Duke. And they didn’t specify which office(s) it is for (which some other firms did), so I’d guess there’s good chance that they’re recruiting for all offices.</p>

[sentimentGX4]

<p>

@RML

On the contrary, how is Duke under “national” category when according to the same people, they have not met anyone from Duke at West Coast offices.

Let’s not kid ourselves. No one cares about the west coast offices. It’s just a concession for west coast universities to make us west coast alumni feel a little better.</p>

<p>No way a student at Duke would want to work in San Francisco if he could work at New York.</p>

[sentimentGX4]

<p>Hmmm… are your lists comprehensive? </p>

<p>McKinsey clearly recruits at Pomona according to their Campus Calendar. It’s one of the colleges on their short scroll down list. BCG also recruits there in the form of a “Claremont” College cluster.</p>

[jhaverford4587]

<p>

@phuriku

Are you in high school? You seem really misinformed about everything.</p>

<p>McKinsey not recruiting at Chicago? McKinsey was CREATED by UChicago. More than likely, more UChicago graduates work there than graduates of any other university (and this is true by my own experiences). You’re misinformed.

Nope, I am in fact a well-informed college graduate. You’re calling me “misinformed”, yet you’re making wild accusations that are so far off-base that its ridiculous.</p>

<p>[US</a> Schools Calendars | US Schools Recruitment](<a href=“http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/us_schools/campus_calendar/us_schools_calendars.aspx]US”>http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/us_schools/campus_calendar/us_schools_calendars.aspx)</p>

<p>As you can see, the University of Chicago link on the McKinsey Campus Dropdown Box leads us to a generic recruiting page which asks all students of universities at non target schools to apply by a firm deadline as is the case for other non targets like the University of Minnesota and Southern Methodist University. Universities that are targets like Penn and Dartmouth and whatever have school-specific deadlines along with a firm wide presentation on campus where interested applicants can meet with school alums working at the company.</p>

<p>Thanks for the history lesson but I think McKinsey’s heavy involvement with the University of Chicago has to do with the Booth business school and not the undergraduate college. It’s sad to acknowledge that UChicago has dropped off as a core school for McKinsey but that’s the reality and only a fool would deny when the proof is right in front of you.</p>

<p>

@buzzers

Yeah. And Mckinsey and Bain both recruit at Tufts.

No they don’t or at least they don’t have an independent recruiting process at the school. McKinsey doesn’t even have Tufts as an option in its campus dropdown box and Bain says that there is no “specific recruiting process” at the school.</p>

<p>Perhaps Tufts was one a target at one or both of these firms but it no longer is.</p>

<p>

@rjkofnovi

“U of Michigan (Chicago offices)”</p>

<p>What exactly does this mean and where are the numbers to back it up?

I’m sorry, I should have added that U of M is a target for the Detroit offices of these companies too if they have them, which McKinsey and BCG do. The proof that Michigan is only a target for these Midwest offices is provided to us when these firms say that “1st round interviews are to occur at the Chicago/Detroit offices by invite only” since the National Targets at these companies have the 1st Round and often times even the 2nd Round interviews at the Career Center at their schools rather than a specific office since the students at these schools are being considered for offices nationwide and worldwide depending on what they selected as geographical preferences. A friend from the Ross school at Michigan mentioned that the school had a resume drop for Bain only for the Chicago office so this further confirms my suspicions.</p>

<p>Again, please let me know if you have documented proof of an exception to what I have stated.</p>

<p>

@RML

OP, please define NATIONAL and REGIONAL offices. </p>

<p>I have friends who work for McKinsey, and according to them just this year alone, the consulting firm recruited 5 Berkeley grads for their NY offices and a couple more for London offices (the list isn’t even complete.) On the contrary, how is Duke under “national” category when according to the same people, they have not met anyone from Duke at West Coast offices. I also doubt that Brown qualifies for “national” category.

NATIONAL=students are considered for offices nationwide without geographical limitations
REGIONAL=students are often limited to nearby offices to fill a geographical quota and aren’t considered for offices elsewhere (i.e. Michigan in New York or UCLA in Atlanta for the Big 3)</p>

<p>Your friends are lying to you so maybe you need to get new friends? I would be shocked if Berkeley sent 5 to McKinsey total each year let alone 5 to the New York office, which is probably the most sought after specific business position in the world outside of entering the PE/VC realm right out of undergrad. I don’t think even Harvard sends 5 grads to the McKinsey New York office each year.</p>

<p>I don’t know about Duke’s representation on the West Coast. Perhaps their graduates don’t want to work there? They have the whole country as an option.</p>

<p>

@sentimentGX4

Hmmm… are your lists comprehensive? </p>

<p>McKinsey clearly recruits at Pomona according to their Campus Calendar. It’s one of the colleges on their short scroll down list. BCG also recruits there in the form of a “Claremont” College cluster.

Thanks for catching my BCG gaffe regarding the Claremont Consortium. Pomona is a target for BCG I guess. However, it is not recruited specifically at McKinsey as there is no specific firm presentation date listed and the school has a generic recruiting page with a common firmwide deadline rather than a separate one.</p>

<p>Keep the comments and feedback coming. A lot of the ignorance and misinformation that is omnipresent on this site has manifested itself here and that’s why I posted this list to clear all the doubts.</p>

[GoBlue81]

<p>

The proof that Michigan is only a target for these Midwest offices is provided to us when these firms say that “1st round interviews are to occur at the Chicago/Detroit offices by invite only” since the National Targets at these companies have the 1st Round and often times even the 2nd Round interviews at the Career Center at their schools rather than a specific office since the students at these schools are being considered for offices nationwide and worldwide

If that is your only evidence, you will have to conclude that MIT grads are only considered for Boston office; Penn grads only for Philadelphia office; and Georgetown grads for DC office 'cause these are the locations for first round interviews for these schools.</p>

[slipper1234]

<p>This is exceptionally researched and seems spot on.</p>

[rjkofnovi]

<p>“If that is your only evidence, you will have to conclude that MIT grads are only considered for Boston office; Penn grads only for Philadelphia office; and Georgetown grads for DC office 'cause these are the locations for first round interviews for these schools.”</p>

<p>This is an exceptional statement and seems spot on.</p>

[sentimentGX4]

<p>Hmmmm… I guess I’ll have to give you props then for compiling all this detailed information. </p>

<p>You’re right that there are a lot of dubious anecdotes floating around on CollegeConfidential about X university sending Y students to Z firm; but this is the first time that I’ve seen any hard evidence of recruiting practices. </p>

<p>Thanks for sharing this information with us.</p>

[tk21769]

<p>

The results are pretty interesting and some of the things that immediately jump out are the fact that Bain doesn’t recruit at Cornell or Columbia (their Bain office in NY ironically doesn’t recruit from any NY university interestingly enough) and McKinsey doesn’t recruit at UChicago, Georgetown or any state school besides Berkeley, UVA, Michigan or Georgia Tech.

</p>

<p>Why are the results interesting?
What College Confidential conclusions can be drawn from the current recruiting patterns of these 3 firms?</p>

<p>(Maybe too many William & Mary students are joining the Peace Corps.)</p>

[UCBChemEGrad]

<p>Texas is a public and recruited by all three firms. Shouldn’t they be classified as “NATIONAL” because interviews are held in their career center by the OP’s logic?</p>

<p>

What College Confidential conclusions can be drawn from the current recruiting patterns of these 3 firms?

I say a campus’s proximity to a local office of the firm.</p>

[rjkofnovi]

<p>Spot on analysis UCB. :-)</p>

[buzzers]

<p>ahhh. If you mean targets, then yes, your list is probably correct. Informal recruiting takes place, however.</p>

<p>I know for Tufts, it’s more of a hotbed for Investment Banking and Asset Management. People have gotten into top consulting but it’s not a target for consulting. Investment Banking/Asset Management? Definitely a target from top firms.</p>

[RML]

<p>

Let’s not kid ourselves. No one cares about the west coast offices. It’s just a concession for west coast universities to make us west coast alumni feel a little better.</p>

<p>No way a student at Duke would want to work in San Francisco if he could work at New York.

</p>

<p>Really? Maybe you should tell that to many Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale and Columbia grads who are now stationed in West Coast offices. LOL</p>

[RML]

<p>

NATIONAL=students are considered for offices nationwide without geographical limitations
REGIONAL=students are often limited to nearby offices to fill a geographical quota and aren’t considered for offices elsewhere (i.e. Michigan in New York or UCLA in Atlanta for the Big 3)

</p>

<p>So, Berkeley grads are limited to California offices? Then would you care to explain to us why there were Berkeley grads in NY, London, HK, Singapore, China and Tokyo? I don’t understand that part.</p>

<p>

Your friends are lying to you so maybe you need to get new friends? I would be shocked if Berkeley sent 5 to McKinsey total each year let alone 5 to the New York office, which is probably the most sought after specific business position in the world outside of entering the PE/VC realm right out of undergrad.

I can supply names through PM for certain conditions, if you’re willing. ;)</p>

<p>We can do this through PM if you’re interested.</p>