I applied through college or university. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group
Interview
I came from a target school. BCG came to campus toward the end of the fall semester and held presentation & coffee chats. Make sure you make an impression at the presentation and get to know the campus recruiting lead (not the recruiter, but the associate/senior associate who actually works as a consultant). Two rounds of interviews: first round is on campus, 2 45-minute case interview (10min fit, 25-30 minute case, 5 q&a); second round is in similar format: 3 45-minute interviews with principals/partners.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I've interviewed with all top consulting firms except McK, and BCG cases are much tougher than that of any other firms. BCG cases tend to have a focus on strategy - it is not enough to be able to follow through a framework and do the math correct. For one thing, BCG almost never gives you data right away. If you are asking, what are the customer segments, you better be prepared to give them some ideas as to how you would segment the customer. They also expect you to have some intuitive knowledge about competition and high level strategy.
I applied online. I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group (Boston, MA) in Mar 2012
Interview
I applied online and received a call to schedule my interview. Interview consisted of two rounds at their offices, each of which was dominated by a case study. One interview was with a partner and one was with a consultant (i.e. post-MBA role). Both were very nice. One of the cases was substantially easier than the other, but that may have been because I got flustered during the first one and messed up.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you improve the sales of a used automobile dealer?