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I really would. I was in a similar situation and ended up getting offers from all three and ultimately choosing McKinsey. I saw that you asked why McK over Bain above, I figured I’d offer my two cents:
1) Staffing: McKinsey has global staffing Bain has local, meaning I can much more easily work on another coast or in another country than a Bainie - in fact I’ve done both of those many times and it is just as easy as being staffed in my local city. This also adds a second benefit in my opinion which is that because it is so easy for me to choose any study anywhere, managers/partners are forced to be really good to their junior people because it is so easy to select against them. With that being said, the trade off is I work less with the same people, so you could argue that you get tighter relationships through Bain local staffing - I haven’t found this to be a problem at all!
2) Promo Speed: We get promoted faster from the undergrad level (BA—>EM in ~2.5 years vs AC—>M in ~5 years), and there’s also a major differential in path to equity partner (overall McK average is about 7, Bain average is about 10). So, overall 3 years average faster path to partner at McK.
3) Firm Thought Leadership: this is more subjective, but I have close friends at Bain and we compare notes and it appears our supporting resources/thought leadership is much better.
4) Brand: just overall a tad better, no argument there obv
5)Less commercial emphasis: McK has a super strict anti-selling culture, the word “sell” itself is taboo here, whereas Bain is more focused on “how much meat you bring to the table”
6)Public Sector/No Weaknesses: Bain is pretty weak in financial services (not PE) and healthcare, and obviously does 0 public sector work - I really think public sector work can be some of the most interesting/impactful work that we do so for me this was sorta the dealbreaker.
Pros for Bain:
1) People (especially the ACs) are REALLY friendly and connected, they do this well. With that being said, I had this thought that McKinsey was the opposite and people are just here to work, and that is NOT the case - I have so many close friends at the Firm and hang out with them all the time after work, and this is true for almost everyone I know here.
2) PE: Bain is better at this hands down, if you’re absolutely set on doing PE or specializing within consulting in PE work, Bain is your place. What I will say, tho, is that a lot of people think PE is for them/aspire to it - I’d be really cautious about having this as your career hypothesis/make a firm decision on this basis when McK can pretty much get you almost as easily to the same places but also has so much strength elsewhere.
3) WLB: The difference in WLB between McK and BCG is immaterial, the difference between McK and Bain is worth noting. Bainies seem to work 55 or so hours a week in GP (not PE work) whereas McK people tend to average more like 60. Similarly, for PE work Bainies tend to average 60-65, McK it’s more like almost 70. What’s nice at McK is since we have more in the way of transformations/longer projects you can essentially “staff for WLB” and take a break between tougher strategy engagements, but still Bain is just hands down better on WLB - they care more about it clearly.
Interesting to note that McK works an additional < 1 year over 7 years, which means they are still promoting faster than Bain. :)
Definitely let McK recruiting team know about your Bain offer. They will most likely make everything to accommodate the interviews so you have a final answer before your decision deadline at Bain. Also ask Bain to give you some more time. Both things worked for me - ultimately chose Bain because of the huge culture difference (outside NA).
Try to have at least a weekend with both offers in hand to make your decision. Best of luck!
Thank you!!!!
Offer from Bain means you’re probably in the set of people who could also get an offer from McK. Go for it! Best case scenario you can negotiate some extra cash on your signing bonus for whichever firm you choose. Worst case you have a fantastic offer in hand and get free networking with McKinsey LT.
Also, let Bain know that you’ve got a final round with McK. They’ll try to get you on the phone with senior partners on our end, which can help give your network a running start if you end up at Bain.
Thanks a lot for the suggestion! Not final round with McK, just first round tho lol
Mentor
Congratulations!
Tell McKinsey hr you have an offer and ask if they can accelerate. I did this recently and McKinsey people went out of their way to make the schedule work for me. I ended up picking McKinsey from my offers.
Mentor
Also probably just some luck though in who I got matched with for interviews, but with limited data on hand this was a meaningful factor for me.
Yes
Only if you aren't 100% sold on Bain. Never hurts to have two offers side by side
Mentor
If you can delay accepting until you have has all offers, then do it.
Best to make the decision based on what you really want, rather than on the urgency of it.
I’d take the interview. I got a Bain offer, my mind was set on that, but I went to my McKinsey interview anyway and changed my mind there. So even if you’re set on Bain now, I’d take the interview and go in with an open mind!
One last piece on the attrition rate - I’ve been here for a few years now and have seen literally 1 person “counseled out” and it was for egregious values issues, not even performance, so don’t think that us having stricter up or out is the reason for our lower attrition rate - pretty sure that’s not it
I'd take the McK interview. McKinsey is way commercially stronger than Bain - it'll be easier to get staffed in nearly every area you might be interested in, with the exception of private equity.
Nah PE staffing is so easy here because nobody wants to do it lol
Mentor
Depends if you’d actually consider taking a McKinsey offer - otherwise it’s a waste of everyone’s time.
Fair enough lol
Mentor
I was in this position. I knew with 100% certainty I wanted to go to Bain. I considered continuing, but did not want to waste interviewers time knowing there was no chance I’d take the offer. So I pulled out of interviews.
If I were you I’d explore your thoughts between the end of final round with Bain and the phone call that you got the offer. The answer to your question probably lies in there somewhere.
Hello Bainie! I’m keen on Bain at this stage because the people I’ve met and interviewed there. But without McK’s result, I wonder if I want to accept the offer is because I haven’t got McK yet 😂
Good luck OP. Hope you make the right choice.
Coach
Ofc, more options is always better and Bain and mck are decidedly different. I dropped out of my BCG process when I got a Bain offer bc I felt similarly about them and I needed to get back to work on my dissertation ASAP, but Bain and mck feel different enough that it seems worth it to compare the two options if you get two offers.