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Bain & Company My 13 YO is taking Career and Tech. She is dead set on diving for Michigan. What are her chances of getting hired from MBB with a degree from UM? Or would she need her MBA first? Is a Michigan degree good enough to get you into a top MBA program?
McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain & Company University of Michigan
What’s paid better at McK? Associate or Analyst?
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Firstly, congrats! Had an identical decision a couple of years ago and chose Bain. Your criteria are similar to mine, so my thought process below.
Culture: clicked better with Bain people and do believe the hype on culture. Manifests in a great working environment with a greater focus on wlb - I think we definitely have the best wlb in MBB. It’s sort of self perpetuating, as people value the culture and hence work hard to maintain it.
Types of cases: Nature of work and type of case will be very similar. Bain probably still has a slightly greater mix of proper strategy cases by virtue of our size. If you have an interest in public sector and healthcare then McK will be way better as we are small (but growing in quickly) in these areas. If you are interested PE then Bain will be far better as we are a clear leader there. Everything else will be quite similar, McK is obviously bigger but we still have plenty of big clients in every other practice
Career progression: McK promotes its top performers more quickly. To quantify, the path to partner is probably 1-2 years faster on average. The flip side of this is you specialise much earlier at McK to do so, Bain doesn’t really force specialisation until late SM / early AP. I have heard the up or out is a bit stricter at McK too as a result
Training and development: both will be top notch, but I think Bain invests in this heavily. You generally have a week of training a year with a global cohort (in exciting locations pre-covid). Really hot on development too - e.g. I catch up with my mentor every 2-3 weeks to talk development and career path
Exit opportunities: almost identical, no one is only going to interview McK people. McK has a bigger network, but Bain’s is closer knit, so I think it’s a wash
Comp: wasn’t a huge factor for me either, but Bain pays slightly more at every level until Senior Partner (at which point it doesn’t matter!). Either way it’s never more than 5-10% difference at any level
Ultimately you can’t really go wrong either way, I’d try speak to people from both places. (but in all seriousness, come to Bain!)
Thank you so much, this is super helpful!
Yay congrats 🥳! Honestly, both are gonna be good for your goals. Just as it is with TC, training etc what one does the other will do or eventually do. Most likely they both have what you want.
For me it's one of those choices where perhaps the best decision is the one based on your gut - which set of people did I feel more comfortable with? That is perhaps the most meaningful differentiator.
Congrats! Pick McKinsey 😊
What level will you be coming in at?
Junior Associate at McKinsey or Senior Associate Consultant at Bain - both are essentially the role in between undergrad and MBA hires
Pick Mckinsey if you are looking at more strategy cases and diverse industries.
Bain London is more than 60% PE cases.
Also in term of diversity, Bain London seems diverse on the associate and consultant levels, but go beyond that and you'll be truly disappointed.
They don't have a single black AP and beyond, on my knowledge during summer they had one black SM and that was it.
And it's one of their biggest offices.
Disagree that diversity is similar in Bain vs McK London. McK London is one of the most diverse places I’ve worked in, there’s no dominant nationality in almost all studies I’ve worked in, and in many studies no single member is even from the same country. I will say that there are certain pockets in the firm e.g. public sector where the culture is much more predominantly British but they’re certainly in the minority.
Another thing to note is that McK has a global staffing model where BCG and Bain are both regional - which also makes our culture much more international and diverse by design. This was the reason I chose McK over Bain and hadn’t looked back since