We receive a large number of questions regarding how the three MBBs are actually different from each other.
Well, of course a large part of the work and clients are very comparable across McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. Nevertheless, each firm has its own history and culture, which forms the base for HOW they do things, and WHY they do things in this way.
I started my consulting career at BCG in Germany, got promoted to Senior Consultant, and later switched to McKinsey to do work in several emerging markets, before transfering back to Germany within McKinsey.
Given my years in both BCG and McKinsey, and based on our compiled insights from placing dozens of mentees into Bain & Company, we can give a good comparison across the three firms. This also comes handy when discussing cross-offers with our mentees (who oftentimes must decide between several MBB offers).
Here is a high-level outline: