How competitive is the BCG 2nd / Final Round in German Offices?

Question

Hi there,

I've just gotten the invite to my 2nd round BCG Interview, which because of personal reasons is already in 4 days. I haven't had much time to prepare since the 1st round and even now I'm quite buried in work for uni. Now I'm wondering:

What are my chances of getting an offer after having passed the first round of interviewing for the German BCG Offices?
How much should I prepare? (This is tuning on a high level, think 4 hours ("a little") as opposed to 8 hours ("a lot") a day?)

Answer 1

Hi Martin,

I have replied below to your questions:

What are my chances of getting an offer after having passed the first round of interviewing for the German BCG Offices?

That could vary a lot by office and company needs in a particular moment, on average you can assume a ratio between 20% and 40%, assuming your second round is the final one.

How much should I prepare? (This is tuning on a high level, think 4 hours ("a little") as opposed to 8 hours ("a lot") a day?)

I would personally go all-in, whatever the level of preparation you have. If you do as much as you can and still don’t get the offer, at least you know you have given 100% on that. If you do less than that and don’t get the offer, you will always wonder if you could have done better. Since an MBB offer can be a life changing experience from a career point of view, I would not take the risk of ending up in the second scenario.

What all-in means in terms of hours is of course related to (i) the feasible time you have available and (ii) when you meet null or decreasing return on additional learning hours, which is something to be assessed on a person-by-person basis. I would also keep at least half of the day before the interview for a review-only of previous material/cases, in order not to stress too much with new material close to the interview.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi,

To answer your questions:

1) The offer will only be extended to you if you pass your final round (round 2). I would advice you to call BCG and setup a feedback session to understand what can be potentially improved based on your round 1 performance.

2) Preperation really depends. If you have passed the first roud then you are already well prepared, however, if you felt like you could have improved during your performance such as:

Your fit stories
Your structuring for the case
Your maths
Or how presented/ intereacted with the interviewer

Then, you can work on these more and cover up the weak spots. But, since you have 4 days. I would suggest to don't over do it, so that you may be exhausted for the final round.

Cheers!

Answer 3

Hi Martin,

I cannot really comment on your chances, but doing cases with friends/family/random people at Uni is by far the most effective way of preparing for the case study. Second rounds at BCG are much tougher and given the competition in Germany, I would go all out to prepare.

Happy to provide more input if needed.

Best,

Vasilis

Answer 4

Hello!

Congrats for moving to final round!

As it has been outlined, its very similar, but :

Cases you can expect are more "free riding" - less organized than the ones your found in the 1st round or most prep pages
Stronger emphasis in the FIT part, as outlined before by other coaches.

If you are interested in deepening your knowledge and preparation on the FIT part, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Furthermore, you can find 3 free cases in the PrepL case regarding FIT preparation:

- Intro and CV questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/introduction-and-cv-questions-fit-interview-preparation-200

- Motivational questions > https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/motivational-questions-fit-interview-preparation-201

- Behavioural questions (ENTREPRENEURIAL DRIVE) >https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/fit-interview/intermediate/behavioral-questions-entrepreneurial-drive-fit-interview-preparation-211

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes for the Integrated FIT Guide, since we still have some left from the launch!