BCG Final Round

Hi! Congrats on making it to the final round. Given the feedback you received, I would give you the following advice: 

1. Personal fit: In my experience, typcial personal fit questions at BCG are:

- Why do you want to work at BCG? Here you could mention a consultant that you met and liked / had a good conversation with / that inspired you; a practice area that BCG is very strong at in your region (for example BCG Digital Ventures); any other personal reason why you think it would be a good fit

- What is your biggest weakness? Be specific here and relate it back to BCG, i.e. mention how working at BCG will help you to improve your weakness. To give a random example: “I tend to go into detail too much, but the fast-paced work environment at BCG will force me to prioritize more”

2. Interviewer hints: If an interviewer gives you advice or a tip during the case, take it - they do not want to trick you! You could also say something like “I suggest to do XYZ - do you agree?” during the case to involve the interviewer more. 

Hope this helps!  My fingers are crossed for your final round! 

Best, Carolin

Hello,

Congratulations on making it to the final round! 

First of all, be sure to incorporate the feedback you got given. Your final round interviewers will have notes from your first round, so it's good to show improvement in the areas that were highlighted to you.

Second, keep up some case and behavioral practice. Generally, BCG case structure is similar between the first and final rounds, but the final round cases might be tougher. At this point, you know what to expect, so adapt your practice as needed.

Third, make sure to take care of yourself and get plenty of rest before the interview too - now is not the time to burn out!

Best of luck, and feel free to let us know if you want any advice about any specific areas of prep for your final round.

Hi there,

Congratulations on moving to the final. In terms of your question:

Q: Any tips for the final round?

In general, in a final round the interviewers may:

1. Spend more time on fit and your alignment with the company.
2. Ask questions related to the areas of improvement for which you got feedback after the first round.
3. Not use a “standard” case. During one of my finals I had one interview made by two market sizing questions and a brainteaser, without any business case.

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To prepare, you can work on the following:

1. Review your fit answers – they might spend more time on the fit part compared to the first round.
2. Work on the case areas they mentioned you could improve, if any.
3. Focus your case prep on the weakest areas. If you are tracking your performance, do drills for the areas where you are struggling the most / review cases where you made mistakes.

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Extra reading:

▶ How to Prepare for a Consulting Interview

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Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there, 

Congrats on getting to round two!

Yes, a few things to keep in mind for last round interview:

1. Work on the feedback provided in the previous rounds. Most firms communicate the feedback from the previous rounds to the final interviewer. It's important then to show the final interviewer that you have a growth mindset and are reactive to feedback. This matters immensely. Make sure you are clear on your development areas and that you get the right support to polish them before the final interview.
2. Expect less structure. Senior interviewers already have the confidence that you are a decent candidate, your skills having been already vetted by their younger colleagues. They are rather more interested in your as a person and your way of thinking. So they might present you with an unusual case, or one that is created on the spot or no case altogether. Expect anything.
3. Focus on excellent communication. Senior interviewers care a lot about how clearly you communicate and how you manage to forge a connection with the interviewer. It's important to be top-down and concise as much as possible with your answers, while allowing the conversation to flow in a natural way.
4. Put yourself in their shoes. The one question senior interviewers are asking themselves throughout the interview is what will happen when they'll put you in front of a client they've groomed for years? Make sure that even based on this first impression you seem somebody who can be trusted and who can work with any client regardless of how difficult they might be.

Best,
Cristian 

Hi there,

Well, you already know the two things to work on :)

One option may be to get coaching to work on those areas.

For fit, you can read this: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Final Round Advice

#1 Fix your weaknesses

#2 Be prepared for anything (build your fleibility/adaptability)

Some reading for the case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

Some reading for fit: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Fit/Behavioral

You should be more prepared for a pretty in-depth fit interview. I highly recommend you expect "loose" or "random" questions and practice this scenario with a coach. They are less likely to just ask you 20 "tell me about a time" questions. They may have a bit more of a chat, ask you to brainstorm, ask things like "How would you setup x type of project", etc. etc. You need to prepare to be flexible here!

Broader topics/case variability

In terms of being MECE, try out a wide range of "unique" questions to test your MECE structure!

For example, if you were a farmer and had to pick between buying a cow, chicken, or pig, how would you think about which to buy?

Or, if you were a thief, which store between a, b, c would you rob?

Practice breaking these down into MECE structures so that the concept really hits home

Hi there, 

congrats to progressing to final round - only one step away form an MBB offer!

A few thoughts in addition to what other coaches already mentioned - usually Final Round interviewers are more senior (up to MDP level), which comes with some nuances in terms of casing…

1. Expect less case granular quant but more high-level strategic & conceptual discussions 
2. Less scrutiny on detailed structure, more emphasis on business judgment.  
3. Less patience for inefficient language & rambling - focus on your top-down comms + concision. Sometimes less is mor.
4. More attention to personal fit - would spend a bit more time on nailing that. Polish your answers, but keep it natural.

If you need help with some final round fine-tuning, feel free to reach out to me (I was a Final Round interviewer) or any of the other coaches. Usually a quite effective way to nail the above points.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the progress in the application process with BCG thus far!

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

• First of all, interviewer hints are meant to guide you, so don't see them as criticism but rather as steering. Make sure you practice active listening, so that you can pick up on these hints and adjust your approach accordingly.
• Moreover, I would highly advise you to properly structure your personal fit answers and tell your story in a logical sequence, focusing on the key points. Keep in mind that it's better to provide three points clearly and concisely than to list ten in a confused manner.
• Lastly, final round interviews typically involve partners, so they may have different styles and expectations. I would advise you to remain flexible and adapt your communication style to theirs.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi there,

you already have a ton of valuable advice from other coaches. Just a couple additional pointer 

1) ”Grace under fire” : at least in the last rounds with mdps in my bcg office it was common for mdps to also test your resilience and ability to jump back by putting you in a challenging spot (e g pressuring and challenging hard your answers, commenting negatively at times on your discussion performance, …). Remember to detach from situation and realize this is not personal, but just a further way to test you. Keep your composure and show your best self, especially in case of small mistakes 

2) given they already told you about add in  communication - really work hard on it via coaches, recording yourself etc. top down concise, coherent and confident communication is a must-have in a 2nd round mdp level dialogue 

3) continuously assess your interviewer reactions and small verbal and non-verbal hints - in the end this is a “dance” where you have to constantly stay in tune with the other party

4) conviction and “dialogue among peers” mindset: if you made it this far , you can potentially do the job. Act accordingly, as if you already were a consultant having a content discussion with your boss