How do Bain and McKinsey compare? salary, prestige, workload, etc....?Any answer will be welcomed.

difficult question. Salary at both are good...rather similar from what im told, prestige is good at both, perhaps McK may have the slight edge but its so marginal. Workload....well for both...make sure you take your vitamins and stay healthy bcos you WILL and lets be frank about this be working like a dog. Much of a much really. I would perhaps differentiate them on culture. McK are widely know to only recruit people that appear to be McK in nature. Everything at McK is done in the McK way if you know what i mean. There is a famous quote from a McK excutive, when asked what culture meant and what the culture is like at McK he stated 'its how we do things round here'...think thats says it all. If you have offers from both congratulations. If i had the choice, id opt for McK because I like to be the best or at least think im the best in everything and all i do!

My friend: I was in Bain for 4 years and now I´m in McKinsey, so I´ll give you a straight answer:In both you will work a lot (and a lot means a lot!), you will have brilliant colleagues and many really challenging assignments.The big (if not only difference) is the approach:MK is much more theoretical. Big frameworks that look really good but sometimes do not work very well when implemented. Bain is more practical, in the sense that your objectives as a consultant are linked to the success or failure of your work after implementation.So, if you´re an academic go to McKinsey; if you like strategy and implementation, go for Bain.They are both great, so do not worry about prestige, salary, etc...Good look and good work!

Do you mind sharing why you left Bain for McK?

I am applying to Bain and working on the cover letter.Any tips and suggestions would be helpful.

Why do people want to work for either of these firms?In my opinion, the pay's not that great, the hours are unreasonable, the travel is a killer, the culture is full of jealousy/anxiety, the job security is non-existent, and the exit options are good but not fantastic (being a CEO of a major firm might pay pretty well but isn't much fun or a long-term career option either).Are people doing it for perceived prestige or status? Are people being sucked in with 'delusions of grandeur'? Or is there something else to it all that I'm missing?

My forespeaker asked the right quesitons - why should anyone be interested to work for such a company beside the prestige. There's no other reason. I worked for a company of that sort. Actually here fits the sentence: Not everything is gold. Most of the people who work there like to impress you, but it's not so much behind the surface. The quality of their work is worse but they're great in promoting themselves.