The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group in Oct 2011
Interview
Basic format (seems to be consistent with newer reviews):
First round: 2 interviews w/consultants, 30 minutes of case and 15 of experience/behavioral. This will take place either at your school (if it's targeted) or at the nearest office to your school (they don't reimbursed for travel expenses).
Second round: 3 interviews w/principals and/or partners, 20 minutes of case and 15 of experience/behavioral. This will take place at whatever office you would be a part of if offered (they pay expenses).
Decisions are communicated fairly quickly. First round decision during the following week; second round decision by the following Monday.
The cases are different than those from the others because they are very unstructured. After hearing the case and asking any questions, you'll construct a framework of issues that need to be considered. Then you'll be expected to guide yourself through the framework as much as possible. Generally you can tell if you're on the right track via the interviewer's verbal and visual feedback (though one of my interviewers was impossible to read). Keys to success: 1) Slow down and think things through. Don't hesitate to think out loud either. 2) Absolutely for sure think out loud with numbers. Don't be afraid that your approach might be wrong either. They don't care as long as you realize that it isn't quite right and are able to puzzle out how to do it correctly. 3) Don't accept the numbers blindly and don't waiver on your analysis (they might try to derail you). I wouldn't have gotten the offer if I hadn't essentially said, "forget the numbers, this won't work" and stuck with it. 4) Practice a lot, preferably with people who have done a real BCG interview before. Don't get me wrong, practicing a more structured case will also be helpful (since the data/numbers will be similar), but the BCG interview will be different, and you will bomb it if you don't make any adjustments (vice versa too of course).
The people I have encountered have consistently been very pleasant and down to earth (remarkable if you think about it). Both of the office I have been to were very nice and in some of the nicest buildings in the nicest/hippest parts of their respective cities.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Too far removed from it to remember specific questions, but there was nothing particularly ground breaking (obviously or I'd remember it).
Case interview about merger and acquisition
Was medium difficulty has a lot of brainstorming and analytical elements
Required quick thinking structuring and deep analysis to really ace it easily
Practice is def mandatory and failure to do so will lead to failure
I applied online. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group (São Paulo, São Paulo)
Interview
Prova GMAT+ Case + inglês seguida de duas rodadas de duas case interview. Entrevistas bem desafiadoras e exigentes já que o entrevistador somente responde suas perguntas e não dá muitas informações sobre o case.
L'interview m'a parue peu professionnelle, alors que je m'attendais à quelque chose de très carré. L'interviewer était complètement à côté de ses pompes, il s'est même perdu dans le case qu'il me proposait. C'était vraiment étonnant, je me suis même demandé si c'était une stratégie pour me tester.