Experience Bain is a summer program for pre-MBA candidates that are curious about consulting at Bain. Experience Bain events provide participants with more information on the type of work Bain does and helpful advice for the recruiting process.

 

If you’re looking to apply to the Experience Bain program, then this article is for you. As a former Bain Manager and interviewer, I’ll cover everything you need to know about Experience Bain, including application tips and tips for next steps.

 

What is Experience Bain?

 

Experience Bain is a virtual summer program for incoming MBA students to learn more about management consulting at Bain, receive recruiting tips and advice for the upcoming fall recruiting season, and network with Bainies and peers in the program.

 

Events in the Experience Bain program take place from June to August and typically last for 60 minutes. There are typically 1-2 events per week.

 

Experience Bain has grown in recent years to include programs in Tech, Diversity, Veterans, and Women’s Summit.

 

All Experience Bain events are optional. You may attend as many or as few Experience Bain events as you’d like, depending on your summer schedule. Some events will be recorded and you’ll be able to watch them online if you cannot attend them live.

 

There will be select invite-only opportunities to meet Bain recruiters and consultants in-person, but these events will not require travel.

 

Experience Bain participants can expect to:

 

• Attend virtual events to learn about what management consulting is

 

• Learn more about Bain’s work, culture, and people

 

• Explore Bain’s different offices

 

• Receive the Experience Bain newsletter

 

• Receive recruiting tips and advice for the upcoming fall recruiting season

 

• Network with Bainies and peers in the program

 

Experience Bain is similar to the Bain BASE program in that both programs help participates learn more about consulting and Bain before beginning business school.

 

However, Experience Bain is a large, virtual program that is open to all incoming MBA students. Bain BASE is a highly selective, in-person exploratory program for students from underrepresented backgrounds, including Black, Hispanic/Latin American, and Indigenous.

 

Experience Bain Eligibility

 

To be eligible for Experience Bain, candidates must have been accepted into a 2-year MBA program at an eligible school starting in the upcoming Fall. The schools that are eligible to participate in Experience Bain are:

 

• Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles
• Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
• Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
• Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
• China Europe International Business School
• Columbia Business School, Columbia University
• Concordia University
• Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
• Foster School of Business, University of Washington
• Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
• Goizueta Business School, Emory University
• Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
• Harvard Business School, Harvard University
• HEC Montreal
• HEC Paris
• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• IE Business School
• IESE Business School
• IMD Business School
• INSEAD
• Johnson School of Management, Cornell University
• Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University
• Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
• Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• London Business School 
• Marshall Business School, University of Southern California
• McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
• McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
• McGill University, Desautels Faculty of Management
• Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
• Olin Business School, Washington University in St Louis
• Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
• Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
• Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
• Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Schulich School of Business
• SDA Bocconi School of Management
• Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
• Stern School of Business, New York University
• Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
• The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
• Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
• UBC Sauder School of Business
• Warrington College of Business, University of Florida
• Yale School of Management, Yale University

 

First-year, second-year, and executive MBA candidates are not eligible for Experience Bain.

 

Candidates may apply to both Experience Bain and BASE if they are eligible and interested in both.

 

Experience Bain Deadline

 

The deadline to apply for Experience Bain is May 1. However, you should always check the Experience Bain website to see the official deadlines for the upcoming year.

 

Know that your application to the Experience Bain program has no impact on your candidacy for other Bain programs and roles. There is no cost or risk to apply. Therefore, we recommend all eligible candidates that are interested or curious about consulting to apply to the Experience Bain program.

For your convenience, we've put together a list that summarizes all Bain application deadlines to all of Bain's programs, internships, and full-time opportunities.

 

Experience Bain Application

 

The Experience Bain application requires a resume, contact information, MBA program details, test scores, and office preferences.

 

Resume

 

Your consulting resume is the single most important component that will determine if you are invited to any Experience Bain invite-only events.

 

Therefore, you’ll want to dedicate at least a few days perfecting your resume while also getting feedback from peers, your school’s career center, or even consultants that you know.

 

Make sure to follow the tips below to perfect your consulting resume.

 

• Keep your resume to one page only. If it is longer, you’ll need to make your resume more concise and less wordy

 

• Every bullet on your resume should start with a verb in the past tense to show that you have completed or achieved something

 

• Every bullet should have some kind of number or metric in them so that you can quantify your accomplishments and make them sound more impressive

 

• Your resume’s bullets should show a mix of quantitative skill accomplishments (e.g., analyzing data) and qualitative skill accomplishments (e.g., managing or working with others)

 

• Avoid using technical jargon, unfamiliar abbreviations or acronyms, and buzzwords with unclear meanings

 

• Your resume should prioritize showcasing your work experiences, particularly if you have worked at a brand name company

 

• Include personal interests at the end of the resume to give resume reviewers something interesting to read about

 

If you need professional help crafting the perfect resume that will land you consulting interviews, check out our resume review and editing service.

 

Contact information

 

The Experience Bain application will ask for your contact information, such as your email address, phone number, and mailing address.

 

Bain recommends that if you already have a school email, then you should register for Experience Bain with that email address. This will make your application easier to find and filter for, especially if you attend a Bain target school where they heavily recruit from.

 

MBA program details

 

The Experience Bain application will ask which MBA program you are attending in the upcoming fall. If you have been accepted into multiple MBA programs and have not decided which one you’ll be attending, select the program you are most likely to attend.

 

Test scores

 

The Experience Bain application requires you to submit your test scores for the SAT, ACT, GMAT, or GRE, depending on which exam you have taken. You will not need to submit an official score report. You will only need to input the numerical scores and the sub-score breakdowns.

 

Office preferences

 

The Experience Bain application will ask you to list your top three office preferences. While these selections are not binding, you should try to select the offices where you’d most likely want to live after graduation.

 

You will be asked to give a weight to each of your office preferences such that the sum of all weights adds up to 100%. For example, you may indicate your office preferences as 70% Los Angeles, 20% San Francisco, and 10% Seattle.

 

Your office preferences are not binding, but they help Bain provide further information to you on these offices and help connect you with Bain colleagues in those locations.

 

Next Steps After Signing Up for Experience Bain

 

Unlike McKinsey Early Access and BCG Unlock there are no further interviews or immediate next steps after signing up for Experience Bain. If you are invited to an invite-only event, you will be notified via email.

 

Getting invited to an invite-only event is a good sign that your resume is strong, but know that you are still not guaranteed an interview for a summer internship position.

 

We have heard of some candidates getting invited to these invite-only events and attending, only to not be given a Bain interview later in the fall.

 

However, as a next step after signing up for Experience Bain, we highly recommend getting started preparing for consulting interviews. This will give you a significant advantage over your peers when it comes to internship and full-time recruiting.

 

There are two major steps in preparing for consulting interviews: preparing for case interviews and preparing for behavioral/fit interviews.

 

Preparing for case interviews

 

A case interview is a 20 to 40-minute interview in which you are placed in a hypothetical business situation and asked to develop a recommendation to solve a business problem. Case interviews are a special type of interview that all management consulting firms use in their interview process.

 

Bain uses case interviews because they closely simulate what the consulting job will be like. In a case interview, you’ll need to use problem solving, quantitative skills, business judgment, and communication to work through the business problem, uncover insights, and make a firm recommendation.

 

If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide to learn case interviews quickly and save yourself hundreds of hours, make sure to check out our comprehensive case interview course.

 

Preparing for behavioral/fit interviews

 

In addition to case interviews, you should also prepare for consulting behavioral questions. These interview questions ask you to draw upon a time or experience in the past in which you demonstrated a particular quality or trait.

 

For example, you may be asked to give an example of a time when you used data to solve a problem or a time when you successfully led a team.

 

Behavioral questions give Bain interviewers a glimpse into who you are as a person. Your answers will show what qualities you demonstrate and what values you hold important to you.

 

Bain asks fit questions to assess your genuine passion for consulting and to see if you are actually interested in working at the firm. These questions include “why consulting” and “why Bain?”

 

If you want to learn how to answer 98% of consulting behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours, check out our behavioral interview course.

 

Recommended Resources to Land a Bain Offer

 

To give yourself the best chance of getting a Bain offer, we highly recommend looking into the resources listed below. Getting professional help from a former Bain Manager and interviewer can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview at Bain and passing your interviews.

For help landing consulting interviews

 

• Resume Review & Editing: Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

 

For help passing case interviews

 

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.

 

• Case Interview Coaching: Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.

 

• Hacking the Case Interview Book (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.

 

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

 

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

 

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course: Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.