Insane Bain Journey

I got an opportunity to do my Summer Internship at Bain & Company. My preparation and internship journey was a rollercoaster ride! I started my preparation for consulting around two months before the placement process. I got shortlists from McKinsey, Bain, and Kearney. Ironically, I didn't get a BCG shortlist in spite of having worked there for a year, and I got famous in campus for the same reason :P

During my undergrad, I had done some preparation for guesstimates for the internship and final placement processes, hence when I started my summer placement prep, I revised those concepts first. The prep sessions organized by our college and the study material provided was really helpful for the prep. After I was comfortable with guesstimates, I started reading case interviews to get a feel of what I need to prepare, since this was completely new to me. I then studied the frameworks thoroughly and did lots of mock cases with friends and PGP2s.

Balancing the prep with classes, quizzes, sessions, company presentations, and projects was not an easy task - there were times when I slept at 6 am and woke up to attend a 10 am lecture! I also used to solve cases with a friend from another campus. We used to solve cases around 2 am at night every second day, and once I remember I was so tired I slept while listening to his case solution! My prep journey has been crazy and I remember one of our batchmates saying - "If you're sleeping more than four hours a day before your summers, then either your grades will suffer or your placements".

I feel the outcome was worth the struggle - it helped me during the placement process. One thing that helped me ace them was my confidence in my prep - I did not lose heart after getting one rejection and had my focus on what lay ahead.