JD ----> Management Consulting Forum

[JDeezy]

Under what circumstances would T14 grads have a chance to get into management consulting? Is there any hiring directly from LS? As a post-biglaw exit option? No chance ever?

Talking about MBB as well as Deloitte, etc.

[UnderrateOverachieve]

From what I remember Deloitte only had human capital, business tech, and S&O. I had friends get the latter two with just undergraduate degrees from a decent public school.

Could be wrong?

[JDeezy]

You may be right. I'm speaking about MBA-level jobs at MBB for the most part.

From my research, looks like MBB visit OCI at atleast some of the t14. Any intel on which schools and how many people they hire?

[JDeezy]

Just one bump.

I've done some more reading and it sounds like McKinsey goes to OCI at select law schools. Is there common knowledge of which ones? Would one interview as a 2L or 3L? How many people do they normally hire?

[choculamaviva]

MBB do not come to Chicago OCI, but they have a strong connection with the B-school and are therefore nearby. Law School career services sends out emails periodically about upcoming recruiting information sessions, particularly for BCG and McKinsey ( I think Bain hires less JDs). Out of 220 or so 2013 Chicago grads, 1 went to McKinsey and 1 to BCG. Definitely worth a roll of the dice if you're interested, but don't go to law school with the goal of snagging an MBB job -- it's too unlikely. Interview as a 3L -- there are more post-graduate jobs than summer jobs. Also, the summer jobs pay less than biglaw. Moreover, you can get a taste of biglaw during the summer and then do the application process fall of 3L.

[mono172000]

I'm pretty sure Deloitte Consulting doesn't do any law school recruiting. Also pretty sure they'd look at you skeptically if you applied with a JD. Not the case for MBB from what I understand.

[BalanceCare]

If you'd like a useless one-off anecdote, just met a guy who did HYS -> big law for a few years, hated it and got himself fired -> now works at MBB. I think he mentioned that his story – practicing for a few years before consulting — is comparatively rare, and that within the universe of lawyers he meets at work, most went straight from LS-> consulting. Dunno anything about his grades, etc.

[senorhosh]

Under what circumstances would T14 grads have a chance to get into management consulting? Is there any hiring directly from LS? As a post-biglaw exit option? No chance ever?

Talking about MBB as well as Deloitte, etc.

0L here so take this with a grain of salt, I've been looking into this on TLS and other finance forums (WSO).

Seems like MB (not entirely sure about Bain) recruits from law schools, and even visits the law schools of top 5 business schools (H, P, S, etc) during OCI. Outside of these schools, you have to network, attend recruitment events, networking etc. Visit the B-school career services for your law school (considering the b-school counterpart is a top tier school).

I think grades/LS prestige can get you through the door but after that it's less about your background and more about proving you can make the cut. It's incredibly difficult. Landing an interview is difficult, but getting an offer is even more difficult. Even in boom times I think maybe 20% of those who interviewed got an offer, but now I'd say it's well around <10% or even <5% based on what I hear.

For interviews, you would get more useful info outside of TLS from consultants who've interviewed at these places before.

I think pay-wise, you'd start the same as a MBA grad.

Post-Biglaw, the transition is possible but with connections. I think you're still hired as an associate despite your biglaw experience but moving up might be easier compared to other associates (you'd make project leader/manager a little earlier than your peers).

Honestly though, it's a risky move. AFAIK once you go for management consulting, your legal career is dead. No legal firm will hire you after seeing you're more interested in finance so you better be sure this is what you want. (edit: this last info might be incorrect. In fact, skimming the boards it seems like this is echoed by a vocal minority. Just wanted to make that clear )

[mvonh001]

Under what circumstances would T14 grads have a chance to get into management consulting? Is there any hiring directly from LS? As a post-biglaw exit option? No chance ever?

Talking about MBB as well as Deloitte, etc.

0L here so take this with a grain of salt, I've been looking into this on TLS and other finance forums (WSO).

Seems like MB (not entirely sure about Bain) recruits from law schools, and even visits the law schools of top 5 business schools (H, P, S, etc) during OCI. Outside of these schools, you have to network, attend recruitment events, networking etc. Visit the B-school career services for your law school (considering the b-school counterpart is a top tier school).

I think grades/LS prestige can get you through the door but after that it's less about your background and more about proving you can make the cut. It's incredibly difficult. Landing an interview is difficult, but getting an offer is even more difficult. Even in boom times I think maybe 20% of those who interviewed got an offer, but now I'd say it's well around <10% or even <5% based on what I hear.

For interviews, you would get more useful info outside of TLS from consultants who've interviewed at these places before.

I think pay-wise, you'd start the same as a MBA grad.

Post-Biglaw, the transition is possible but with connections. I think you're still hired as an associate despite your biglaw experience but moving up might be easier compared to other associates (you'd make project leader/manager a little earlier than your peers).

Honestly though, it's a risky move. AFAIK once you go for management consulting, your legal career is dead. No legal firm will hire you after seeing you're more interested in finance so you better be sure this is what you want.

What is the salary like? Salary progression? Exit opportunities?

[jbagelboy]

You can get a consulting job out of law school if you worked in vault consulting prior and your firm (or a closely affiliated firm) rehires you after.

You dont go to law school with no consulting background/high finance and try to get a consulting gig paying post-MBA salary after. Thats about it

[senorhosh]

Under what circumstances would T14 grads have a chance to get into management consulting? Is there any hiring directly from LS? As a post-biglaw exit option? No chance ever?

Talking about MBB as well as Deloitte, etc.

0L here so take this with a grain of salt, I've been looking into this on TLS and other finance forums (WSO).

Seems like MB (not entirely sure about Bain) recruits from law schools, and even visits the law schools of top 5 business schools (H, P, S, etc) during OCI. Outside of these schools, you have to network, attend recruitment events, networking etc. Visit the B-school career services for your law school (considering the b-school counterpart is a top tier school).

I think grades/LS prestige can get you through the door but after that it's less about your background and more about proving you can make the cut. It's incredibly difficult. Landing an interview is difficult, but getting an offer is even more difficult. Even in boom times I think maybe 20% of those who interviewed got an offer, but now I'd say it's well around <10% or even <5% based on what I hear.

For interviews, you would get more useful info outside of TLS from consultants who've interviewed at these places before.

I think pay-wise, you'd start the same as a MBA grad.

Post-Biglaw, the transition is possible but with connections. I think you're still hired as an associate despite your biglaw experience but moving up might be easier compared to other associates (you'd make project leader/manager a little earlier than your peers).

Honestly though, it's a risky move. AFAIK once you go for management consulting, your legal career is dead. No legal firm will hire you after seeing you're more interested in finance so you better be sure this is what you want.

What is the salary like? Salary progression? Exit opportunities?

http://managementconsulted.com/summer-i ... u-partner/

I believe with a JD you start as an associate, not an analyst.

Exit options are very diverse; F500, PE, hedge fund, banking, to name a few. Honestly at MBB you don't need to worry much about exit options. Generally exit options for MBB >> Biglaw exit options

You can get a consulting job out of law school if you worked in vault consulting prior and your firm (or a closely affiliated firm) rehires you after.

You dont go to law school with no consulting background/high finance and try to get a consulting gig paying post-MBA salary after. Thats about it

Yes, a business background is highly recommended/necessary but I don't think you need to be working for that particular firm beforehand. I mean that's one way to get hired but I think OP is more interest in the BB. In fact, firms outside of MBB don't regularly hire JD's since MBB is better geared in terms of integrating JDs.

For MBB, substantial finance WE is necessary AFAIK. Without a finance background, it will be incredibly difficult. In fact, I think my previous estimates were a bit too liberal. I think after round 1, the chances of getting hired are around 1%.

I'm not sure if it's even possible without a finance background. But maybe someone who's actually a JD -> MBB can chime in

[choculamaviva]

I'm a JD to MBB. These questions been discussed in previous threads, but since there is so much misinformation on this board re mgmt consulting, I'll chime in to make some corrections. You are paid on the same scale as a post-MBA at MBB. Base salary is 135-140k, with signing bonus of 25k, plus performance bonus that can be up to 30% of base, i.e. as much as 42k, although 15-20k is more typical. Also you get a 5% contribution to 401k (5% of salary +performance bonus) even if you put in nothing. And some of these firms pay all of the health insurance, i.e. no employee contribution. So all in, pay is a little better than biglaw firms on the standard scale. It also rises a little faster. That said, the job has a little less stability. Every two years, the herd is culled -- "up or out." Most people that want to stay will make the first cut, but it's not like biglaw where you can suck for 4ish years and probably still survive at many firms. If you go do biglaw for a few years and then try to transition to consulting you will be treated exactly the same as a candidate coming right out law school.

As for the likelihood of getting an offer, MBB are even snobbier than biglaw re prestige. I can say that at my top 5 school they did NOT go to OCI, but did let Career Services know about upcoming information sessions, etc. Chances are better at a law school that has a top biz school, as MBB already have recruiting contact points and resources devoted to the school. Put more clearly, if you don't go to a school that also has a top MBA where MBB recruit, I would say your chances are virtually nil (maybe NYU would squeeze through?).

You do NOT need a biz/finance background, i.e. the two previous posters were incorrect. I was a music major with no significant biz experience. You must be decent with numbers. To get an idea of what this means, buy Case in Point or other available case prep tools. Take Corporate Finance if you're in law school. If you can't handle that moderate level of math, it's not for you.

While the interview process matters, test scores and grades are also helpful. Most top B-Schools have a grade non-disclosure policy where recruiters can't even see the applicants' grades, so of course they can't use that as part of their criteria. For JD applicants they can and do. Good LSAT is nice, i.e. probably in the 170s, but I don't know of a specific cutoff. Also, if you've taken the GMAT or GRE and done well, that's great, particularly if you did well on the quantitative portion.

Interviews are hard. Not just the case questions, but also the "stress questions." Most such questions ask you to cite a time when a team you were on faced a certain type of problem and how YOU saved the day. MBAs have tons of experience working in groups and have a much easier time answering such questions. Case in Point has some examples of these types of questions, in addition to excellent case prep.

IMO (obviously, as I took this path), consulting is much more interesting and provides better exit options than biglaw. And I believe the numbers would also support this contention -- while I don't believe mid-level consultant morale is off the charts, I would say it's substantially higher than biglaw associate morale.

Tangible advice: don't go to law school to land a job at MBB. Even at Harvard, it's a long shot. If you are interested, do a biglaw summer first and then see how you feel. You can always apply for MBB late summer after your 2L summer associate job wraps up. DO NOT CASUALLY THROW IN AN APPLICATION DURING 2L OCI AS A BACKUP WITHOUT PREPARATION! At some firms, i.e. McKinsey, if you advance past the first round (the standardized test) but then get rejected, they won't interview you again for 2 years, thus eliminating your chances for 3L. I would also note that the Nov. 1 deadline for responding to biglaw offers usually brushes dangerously close to MBB's offer time frame, so your law firm will definitely know something's up.

As far as the legal career being dead, I think it's hard to tell. First, as we all know, T14 2L OCI is the primary conduit to biglaw. All other methods are much less likely. People that go to MBB could have gotten biglaw if they wished. The fact that they chose not to, and will likely have other options post-MBB, means that I think few ever pursue that path. I think many biglaw partners have a high regard for MBB. I had one last month tell me he would like to hire me should I ever choose to leave -- so I don't think it's impossible to transition back. But I hope I never have to.

[senorhosh]

Dude. Thank you for this ^

It's a bit difficult to find info on this since there's not many of who chose this path.

[jbagelboy]

I do appreciate this information and your input.

However, to say we are incorrect is a misinterpretation. I said you should not go to law school to get a job in management consulting without the requisite background. The fact that anecdotally someone got a job at bcg from a top LS with no prior WE does not invalidate the basic premise (which you parroted above) that its excessively unlikely. If you speak to hiring managers and other associates at your current firm, they could tell you what they are looking for. Law school is 3 years and $275,000 in debt. If you want to work as an associate at mckinsey or deloitte, you apply for consulting rounds sept of UG (or via alumni network), you work 2-3 yrs as an analyst, get an M7 mba, and take an offer your 2nd yr. As far as interviews are concerned, you're already equipped w/ case experience from the prelim rounds in college.

I worked in vault consulting prior to law school, and no one at my firm would have adviced me to go for a stand alone JD to work in consulting. Those who did come back with JDs do so from top firms to Columbia or Harvard Law and get reoffered (Mckinsey even has tuition remission programs for JDs), or they come from Ibanking and contacts via clients or direct manager to manager at MBB. Just because its done by a handful of people every year (like yourself) from top schools doesnt make it a sound decision for lay aspirants. There are better mechanisms in place than law school (although none are particularly easy). If you really want to work in consulting at Mckinsey, I dont advise law school.

[timbs4339]

choculamaviva is pretty spot on.

I went to a T10. Was able to land an interview at one of MBB just by filling out an online application. They didn't hold it against me that I was K-JD, went to a crappy public college, was a liberal arts major, and had mediocre grades.

But the interviews are hard. Not only the case studies but also the experiential interviews. Very few people will get through to the third round, even less will get the FT offer. I don't think anyone got an offer, and I knew some very personable people.

[John_rizzy_rawls]

What about non-MBB consulting companies (Booze, Deloitte, Monitor, PriceWaterHouseCooper, etc)? Any info there?

[jbagelboy]

choculamaviva is pretty spot on.

I went to a T10. Was able to land an interview at one of MBB just by filling out an online application. They didn't hold it against me that I was K-JD, went to a crappy public college, was a liberal arts major, and had mediocre grades.

But the interviews are hard. Not only the case studies but also the experiential interviews. Very few people will get through to the third round, even less will get the FT offer. I don't think anyone got an offer, and I knew some very personable people.

Chicken and egg here with interview rigor/prior business background. You can't do case because you lacked prior exposure, you can't do experiential because you dont have the business experience, you don't get fast tracked because your resume/WE doesnt make a later cut. You can spin it as "oh its the interviews", but failure at later interview rounds is also correlated to the strength of your resume, the connections you have, and moreover, the savvy you gain from prior experience in management consulting. The fact that k-jds arent making it past 2nd round shows nothing if not that the firms look for more.

End result as you state: no one got an offer. Blame the "interviews" if you will, but that should speak for itself.

[timbs4339]

choculamaviva is pretty spot on.

I went to a T10. Was able to land an interview at one of MBB just by filling out an online application. They didn't hold it against me that I was K-JD, went to a crappy public college, was a liberal arts major, and had mediocre grades.

But the interviews are hard. Not only the case studies but also the experiential interviews. Very few people will get through to the third round, even less will get the FT offer. I don't think anyone got an offer, and I knew some very personable people.

Chicken and egg here with interview rigor/prior business background. You can't do case because you lacked prior exposure, you can't do experiential because you dont have the business experience, you don't get fast tracked because your resume/WE doesnt make a later cut. You can spin it as "oh its the interviews", but failure at later interview rounds is also correlated to the strength of your resume, the connections you have, and moreover, the savvy you gain from prior experience in management consulting. The fact that k-jds arent making it past 2nd round shows nothing if not that the firms look for more.

End result as you state: no one got an offer. Blame the "interviews" if you will, but that should speak for itself.

I know several people who are all around better interviewers with a similar background who made it to round 3 and got dinged by the specific office.

Yes, nobody should go into law school expecting a job at MBB. Nobody should go in order to get a job at MBB. But to say prior business background is required and therefore students shouldn't give it a shot is overreaching as well. If you have the school why not give it a try?

The person who gave me advice in my abortive quest for a consulting job did not appear to have business background- he had other leadership skills but was not an MBA or prior consultant.

[sparty99]

What about non-MBB consulting companies (Booze, Deloitte, Monitor, PriceWaterHouseCooper, etc)? Any info there?

I did pre-law school consulting at a firm in the realms of Booze, Deloitte, PWC, Accenture. You have a slight advantage with your JD and can apply to Analyst consulting gigs if you have no previous business experience. If you have work experience, I would think a JD is similar to a MBA in terms of the salary that you would receive. I would also retitierate what the other person said, having a background with numbers is important. Take corporate finance. Take financial modelling courses and microsoft excel/access courses.

A lot of firms do case studies, but some do not. And not all firms are T14 or bust. There are many good "under the radar" firms like FTI Consulting and Navigant, who all have legal discovery practice groups or do legal related consulting. You can easily just apply on their website. THe fact that you go to a T14 should work in your favor as consulting firms are very much about pedigree. Consulting should be a fall back plan if you strike out at OCI...And a plan that is one of eight other plans.

[choculamaviva]

As I said previously, I would never advise anyone to get a JD to be a consultant. And this includes people with finance/econ/consulting backgrounds. I am excluding people with tuition reimbursement and a job already lined up (obviously). Your specific statement was "You don't go to law school with no consulting background/high finance and try to get a consulting gig paying post-MBA salary after." I disagree. They should try. They should just understand that the likelihood is low and be comfortable with the idea of doing biglaw instead.

choculamaviva is pretty spot on.

I went to a T10. Was able to land an interview at one of MBB just by filling out an online application. They didn't hold it against me that I was K-JD, went to a crappy public college, was a liberal arts major, and had mediocre grades.

But the interviews are hard. Not only the case studies but also the experiential interviews. Very few people will get through to the third round, even less will get the FT offer. I don't think anyone got an offer, and I knew some very personable people.

Chicken and egg here with interview rigor/prior business background. You can't do case because you lacked prior exposure, you can't do experiential because you dont have the business experience, you don't get fast tracked because your resume/WE doesnt make a later cut. You can spin it as "oh its the interviews", but failure at later interview rounds is also correlated to the strength of your resume, the connections you have, and moreover, the savvy you gain from prior experience in management consulting. The fact that k-jds arent making it past 2nd round shows nothing if not that the firms look for more.

End result as you state: no one got an offer. Blame the "interviews" if you will, but that should speak for itself.

Whether negative outcomes are due to something the applicant may have some control over, i.e. getting better at cases, or something they do not, i.e. whether the firms seriously consider applicants with majors/backgrounds unrelated to business or consulting, makes a great deal of difference. I believe from my largely anecdotal evidence that it is the latter. Recruiters at my firm have expressed similar sentiments to me and it is reflected in the varied backgrounds of the JD consultants at my firm. It is also reflected in the fact that the firms grant many interviews to such individuals. If there is a bias, I would say it is more likely in the Phd arena, where hard science/quant/econ degrees predominate. However, both that and any disproportionate representation of biz/finance people could just as easily be due to such individuals self selecting to pursue consulting. In fact, if one takes that factor into account, as well as the fact that applicants with business backgrounds will generally be better prepared for the interviews, it further reduces the likelihood that rejections are due to firm bias.

Again, no one should go to law school to get a job at MBB. But if you are already in school, it is worth throwing your hat in the ring regardless of your previous experience or undergraduate major. Just make sure you really prep to give yourself a chance.

[senorhosh]

I'm a JD to MBB. These questions been discussed in previous threads, but since there is so much misinformation on this board re mgmt consulting, I'll chime in to make some corrections. You are paid on the same scale as a post-MBA at MBB. Base salary is 135-140k, with signing bonus of 25k, plus performance bonus that can be up to 30% of base, i.e. as much as 42k, although 15-20k is more typical. Also you get a 5% contribution to 401k (5% of salary +performance bonus) even if you put in nothing. And some of these firms pay all of the health insurance, i.e. no employee contribution. So all in, pay is a little better than biglaw firms on the standard scale. It also rises a little faster. That said, the job has a little less stability. Every two years, the herd is culled -- "up or out." Most people that want to stay will make the first cut, but it's not like biglaw where you can suck for 4ish years and probably still survive at many firms. If you go do biglaw for a few years and then try to transition to consulting you will be treated exactly the same as a candidate coming right out law school.

As for the likelihood of getting an offer, MBB are even snobbier than biglaw re prestige. I can say that at my top 5 school they did NOT go to OCI, but did let Career Services know about upcoming information sessions, etc. Chances are better at a law school that has a top biz school, as MBB already have recruiting contact points and resources devoted to the school. Put more clearly, if you don't go to a school that also has a top MBA where MBB recruit, I would say your chances are virtually nil (maybe NYU would squeeze through?).

You do NOT need a biz/finance background, i.e. the two previous posters were incorrect. I was a music major with no significant biz experience. You must be decent with numbers. To get an idea of what this means, buy Case in Point or other available case prep tools. Take Corporate Finance if you're in law school. If you can't handle that moderate level of math, it's not for you.

While the interview process matters, test scores and grades are also helpful. Most top B-Schools have a grade non-disclosure policy where recruiters can't even see the applicants' grades, so of course they can't use that as part of their criteria. For JD applicants they can and do. Good LSAT is nice, i.e. probably in the 170s, but I don't know of a specific cutoff. Also, if you've taken the GMAT or GRE and done well, that's great, particularly if you did well on the quantitative portion.

Interviews are hard. Not just the case questions, but also the "stress questions." Most such questions ask you to cite a time when a team you were on faced a certain type of problem and how YOU saved the day. MBAs have tons of experience working in groups and have a much easier time answering such questions. Case in Point has some examples of these types of questions, in addition to excellent case prep.

IMO (obviously, as I took this path), consulting is much more interesting and provides better exit options than biglaw. And I believe the numbers would also support this contention -- while I don't believe mid-level consultant morale is off the charts, I would say it's substantially higher than biglaw associate morale.

Tangible advice: don't go to law school to land a job at MBB. Even at Harvard, it's a long shot. If you are interested, do a biglaw summer first and then see how you feel. You can always apply for MBB late summer after your 2L summer associate job wraps up. DO NOT CASUALLY THROW IN AN APPLICATION DURING 2L OCI AS A BACKUP WITHOUT PREPARATION! At some firms, i.e. McKinsey, if you advance past the first round (the standardized test) but then get rejected, they won't interview you again for 2 years, thus eliminating your chances for 3L. I would also note that the Nov. 1 deadline for responding to biglaw offers usually brushes dangerously close to MBB's offer time frame, so your law firm will definitely know something's up.

As far as the legal career being dead, I think it's hard to tell. First, as we all know, T14 2L OCI is the primary conduit to biglaw. All other methods are much less likely. People that go to MBB could have gotten biglaw if they wished. The fact that they chose not to, and will likely have other options post-MBB, means that I think few ever pursue that path. I think many biglaw partners have a high regard for MBB. I had one last month tell me he would like to hire me should I ever choose to leave -- so I don't think it's impossible to transition back. But I hope I never have to.

How do you suggest we study for case interviews on top of our workload and how long does prep usually take?
With the probability of an offer being extremely low (which, as stated, may or may not be due to a lack preparation) and the addition workload required, is it even worth studying for the case interview beyond the basics (giving Case in Point a read)?

Seems like people go through crazy prep work and treat it like another standardized test in terms of prep.

Any tips? Thanks

[choculamaviva]

Beyond Case in Point, there may be cases and stress questions available through the B-School's consulting club. See if you can get these, as everyone and their brother uses Case in Point, thus resulting in answers that can sound pretty canned from the interviewer's perspective. Take B-School classes (check if your school gives credit for classes out the law school -- they may, but will likely limit the number) in Corp Finance, Excel modeling, and strategy. The method of teaching strategy courses at most b-schools provides additional good prep for the case interviews, as it usually involves a real problem that was faced by a business/individual and helps you see how to discuss such problems intelligently.

An attitude of "well, I'm screwed already, so why should I try to hard" is likely doomed to fail. I suppose if you go to a school where even being granted an interview by MBB is exceedingly unlikely, you could hold off prep until you are in fact granted an interview and then cram. While I agree that there is a cost-benefit analysis to be done, you should have plenty of time to prep if you're applying fall of 3L --all the way from the end of your summer associate position Aug 1 until late September. A couple hours a day would be more than enough. I probably studied 5 hours/week, then a little more as the interviews approached. Everyone is different, obviously. You may need to study more than that. I wouldn't recommend studying less than that. Find a friend to be the interviewer. When you're nailing both types of questions, you're ready. I found that for the stress/fit questions, I really only needed 4 or 5 stories that I could reframe in different ways depending on the question. It's really not an overwhelming amount, but it dwarfs OCI interviews that basically involved very little prep outside of knowing the firm's practice areas and the interviewer's specialization.

Attend every informational session, resume feedback, or prep session (both McKinsey and BCG have prep sessions in the fall, as well as a special program in the summer for preparing non-MBA candidates). Attending these sessions helps put you on their radar. Don't screw around at these; people are paying attention, even if you don't think they are.

[igo2northwestern]

I want to correct a misconception about the feasibility of JD --> consulting:

You can get it if you're at T14. It is simply a question of practice + good networking. It was pointed out above that you should not go to law school because there is an issue of feasibility, but I'll disagree with this point and say that it's actually very feasible to get McK of BCG out of law school. When K-JDs or JDs without prior business experience fail at a case interview, it is in almost all cases because they did not practice enough. It is not because they did not have the ability to do it.

Speaking more generally about firms besides McK and BCG, I would recommend not going to law school in order to get consulting, not because the chances are slim for you as far as McK and BCG are concerned, but because you can't really recruit at the other consulting firms. Bain is a no-go, and none of the other firms really provide you opportunities to recruit at all. If you want to work in business, generally, you can put down $x for an MBA to have a higher chance of getting finance/consulting/tech/etc. And for a greater amount of money in law school, you essentially are closed out of options at any other consulting firm apart from McK and BCG. Once more though, I want to stress that if you're T14 and practice your cases, you can get McK/BCG (if you're not awkward).

With BCG, the behavioral aspect is not difficult; you just need to be social. But for McK, it's a bit different because they treat the experience interview as a 50% weight. So you're making sure you're telling the story in a way that's compelling and sufficiently meets 3 specific criteria that they'll tell you once you pass the first round. The experience interview for McK is pretty unique and different from regular behavioral interviewing. This is really the only place where I think you as a candidate can really mess it up, if you've practiced sufficiently re: cases. As far as BCG goes though, if you nail the case, you're golden.

[Pokemon]

I interviewed with some of MBB. Even if they are not visiting your school, it is not that hard to get interviews with them if you have top standardized tests grades (SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT etc).
They couldn't care less about your law school grades.
The case interviews are not bad if you are good at mental math and can think logically. I found the behavioral questions to be by far the tougher part, tougher than any biglaw interview. The behavioral questions is where people with previous good experiences can really shine.

[FSK]

I interviewed with some of MBB. Even if they are not visiting your school, it is not that hard to get interviews with them if you have top standardized tests grades (SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT etc).
They couldn't care less about your law school grades.
The case interviews are not bad if you are good at mental math and can think logically. I found the behavioral questions to be by far the tougher part, tougher than any biglaw interview. The behavioral questions is where people with previous good experiences can really shine.

Lets say my SAT/LSAT are good but not great. Can I make up for this with a stellar GMAT?