BCG Partner Round

Hi 

Congrats on making a MBB final round! You’re intuition / thoughts on final rounds are correct - anything is fair game in partner rounds - some interviews might be very structured in line with earlier rounds, and some might be very open ended just depending on whatever the partner is interested in at the time. Typically if you reach a partner round there is a general acknowledgment that you can crack a standard case, so the partners will make it a bit more of a free flowing affair to test your intrinsics, any weak points on prior rounds, and how you think on the fly- which is most conducive to the job anyway - think about being in a client session - you certainly can’t ask for time to think silently of a response to client queries. 

A few tactical tips to prepare: 

1) drill structuring - a core requirement to pass any case -  and it doesn’t just apply to the beginning of a case - it’s necessary throughout every stage - I drilled this component alone maybe 200 times - if you focus on just this skill (say 3-5min per drill) you could easily improve / master this in a few days. 

2) practice market sizing / estimation. I’ve seen so many people fail at the last hurdle just because partners asked a seemingly simple market sizing / estimation question. These always seem simple at the start, but if not thought through well (logic > calcs > sense check > implications) then they can be a slippery slope.

3) practice top down communication - MBB really hammer this home and is absolutely critical to give partners confidence you can effectively work with and communicate with senior clients and execs. 

4) rest well and mentally warm up before the interview. I went on 1hr walks the morning of, and 30min before I drilled some mental math to ensure I was ready to execute in the session. (There are apps to help with this). Don’t go into an interview ‘cold’ - warm up your brain just like you warm up your body before exercise. 

5) you are correct re business judgment but I’m not sure you will develop this in a few days if you don’t already have it - eg  part of my final mck partner round asked me what are the implications for a software sales team serving enterprise clients when the market turns and they need to pivot serve mid market clients? There’s no way I would anticipate that sector, problem context etc - but having strong structuring and basic commercial sense allowed me to come up with a logical answer that we could converse around. 

Hey there,

Congrats on passing the first round! :-)

95% of partner rounds are just as standardized as the first round. The reason why you read about freestyle partner experiences is that they deviate from what people expect, hence they post about it more frequently online, hence giving others the impression it is much more common.

Additionally, partner rounds are often perceived as more challenging, just because it's a partner sitting across the table rather than a more junior colleague. It is purely based on the impression and not on the content. :-)

If there are any deviations from the standard interviewer guidelines, expect them to be in the following realm:

• Focus on one or two areas where you were perceived as not as strong in round one, which can be specific case questions or fit
• Only doing a case, only doing fit instead of both
• Doing two shorter cases in quick succession
• Challenging your answers more
• Not providing any time for you to think about the answer, making it more conversational

In any case, the most important thing is not to be startled by this and just keep working on the case or the fit in a calm manner. 

All the best for your second round!

Cheers,

Florian

I think you are into something. “Brainstorm” / Qualitative questions is where you should put extra-effort. Why? Because you need to be really good at structuring on the spot and providing MECE / strong business judgement answers without resorting to the (unfortunately usual) “bucket style” approaches.

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 questions:

• First of all, considering the variance in final round interviews, it's crucial to be adaptable. I would advise you to practice cases that involve a significant amount of ambiguity.
• Moreover, I do not see any reason to focus on the areas you mentioned, unless you have been told so as feedback from the first interview round.
• Lastly, obviously, partners equally, if not even more, care about your fit with the firm.

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 BCG final round interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen