Application filtered out due to school?

Question

Applied to BCG on Saturday the 27th. I submitted a carefully optimized resume and cover letter to get to the interview with many of the important factors they look for:

Clear, to the point, measurable applicable to consulting accomplishments demonstrating problem solving, correctly formatted throughout, all in a 1 page resume, etc etc. Cover letter described reasons for consulting, BCG specifically, and passion.

Expected to hear back in about three to six weeks but got a rejection email today (3 days after submitting application). Wondering if the speedy decline was due to my school being a no name college even though I had a BA and good GPA.

Different firms most likely have a different screening process with different ATS software, so I may not be filtered out due to school when applying at other firms, but am wondering if my efforts to apply to others are worth it, or if my applications will simply be filtered out before the interview process due to school. Thank you for any insight it is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Jacob,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the rejection from BCG!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your situation:

First of all, there may be various reasons for the rejection, including some that have nothing to do with you personally. Unfortunately, at this early stage of the application process, you will not receive a detailed answer from the recruiter as to what the reason was.
Moreover, if you want to know more precisely whether it could be due to your application files, you are welcome to contact me directly so that I can take a look at them.

You can find more on this topic here: How to deal with a rejection from a consulting company.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

You can find the consulting salaries report 2024 here!

Answer 2

Hi there,

I am sorry to hear about the setback!

From the outside (without seeing the document) it is difficult to provide a realistic assessment. However, in my opinion, it could be due to two factors or potentially a combination of the two:

Your school. BCG mainly recruits from target schools (the concept is defined differently across countries) and coming from a non-target school puts you at a disadvantage.
Current hiring demand is much lower compared to previous years.

For the next application, make sure to get referrals as they can help you out, especially if your profile is not a 100% match with what they are looking for.

All the best,

Florian

Answer 3

Hi Jacob,

sorry to hear about that.

It sounds like you applied without a referral. While it doesn't mean that a referral is a must have, it certainly improves your chances for getting through to the first round interviews when your CV on a standalone basis is not stellar (not coming from a target school can often be reason enough for it to not be stellar from a consulting company perspective).

In addition, the current hiring demand is lower than it used to be. So assuming everything else in your application package was impeccable (no way for me to know though), you'd still be at a disadvantage compared to applicants with similar CV but from a target school and compared to everyone coming in with a referral.

For your next applications, try to go the networking route to ideally secure a referral before you submit your documents. While this is also not a guarantee, you'd at least be pulling all the levers at your disposal at this time.

Best of luck

Answer 4

Hi Jacob,

Sorry to hear about the rejection. In terms of your question:

Q: Wondering if the speedy decline was due to my school being a no name college even though I had a BA and good GPA.

The school name could be a possible reason, but there might also be other factors that affected the decision. Without a full check of your CV, it is difficult to provide feedback.

I would recommend either (i) posting an anonymized version of your CV or (ii) asking former consultants you know to provide feedback on your application material - this should help you to understand if there is any possible improvement for the next applications.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 5

Fully agree with Florian. It is unfortunate but true that not going to a target school puts you at a significant disadvantage vs those that did. While you cannot change that, what you can change is your approach to getting an interview. For that, rely on people to refer you so you can bypass any automatic filters that firms have.

Best,

Udayan

Answer 6

The only way to give a fair answer is to actually look at your application.

From the outside, I can confirm that coming form a non-target school puts you at great disadvantage, and you would have to combine being a top 2% at your school and possibly even a referral to be able to pass the screening stage.

Of course, on top of that, the recuiting environment is not great. When this happens, they make their criteria more restrictive and, yes, non-target school candidates suffer more than target school candidates.

Answer 7

Sorry to hear that, Jacob!

It does sound like you did all the right things.

I would rather put it down to how many people they are interviewing at the moment, which depending on the location can be anywhere from few to none.

Did you reach out to the recruiter from your target office before applying? Did you align with them on what role you should apply for and whether they are accepting applications at the moment?

Best,
Cristian

Answer 8

Hi there,

The school might well be the issue, especially given current high selectivity
You can apply via referal to improve your chances, especially in your situation

Best, Gero