If my end goal is MBB consulting...

woohoo921:

Generally speaking, you'll be fine if you have 2 years of experience. As long as you can ace the case studies and are networking aggressively to get those interviews in the first place, you'll have a fair shot. These consultancies are big on training and mentorship, so as long as you have the work ethic and intellectual capacity, they won't care if you have 2,3,4, etc. years of experience.

Definitely speak to folks at those firms as that will give you a better, more contemporary view, but broadly what we have stated above has held true for some time.

Hi woohoo921
I think the idea of 5+ years of work experience stems from the fact that most target B schools for MBB have students with about 4-5 years of experience on average. If you are able to get into one of the target MBA programs there may be other factors that would impact your shortlist decision

1. having a differentiated or feeder work profile
for example, pre-MBA consulting experience in a non-MBB with a proven growth record or industry-specific experience in energy and O&G domain, manufacturing, VC, IB research, etc. can get you an interview

2. Academic pedigree
Have seen that students who have undergraduate degrees from ivy institutes of a country have better odds of making it to the shortlist. Needless to mention that MBB does very targeted recruiting directly from selected few schools. So if you get into one of the target schools for an MBA, you would also probably get at least one shortlist.

3. Networking
If you are someone who doesn't come across as being strong on the above two points, networking and getting a strong referral from within can help.

Best wishes

Hello woohoo921,

Generally speaking, 5 years would be ideal. However, if you join a program that syncs well with your goals, perform out there, and put an effort into networking, you should be alright.

We definitely agree with the posts above - you must speak with people in similar roles and in your target firms to gain a better sense of the ground realities.

Good luck!