I have just been knocked back by my first choice strat house. I have 4 A's and a First from Oxford.When I asked for an explanation, they explained that they are, for now, unlikely to accept any new entrants, "unless they have either a Starred First" or a "Congratulatory First"......this is absurd!!! Has anybody else been told this??

Reply may be somewhat ridiculous but you aren't as rare a creature as you may like to think, I'm afraid. Most people who go to Oxford get the As and the university awards a good few Firsts.

I've got an A4 and I caught First from Oxford station - they didn't want me either!

Despite being actually quite common in the strat applicant community, it is easier for them to give a generic feedback like this than to argue the case that you have a more subjective weakness or misfit to the firm (ie (and these are just illustrative examples) that you're arrogant with your success or your team working skills were not displayed as they should have been)The moral of all of this is: press on with another application, critique what you can change and start to read between the lines. 50% of securing a job with the big boys is playing the game, your academics won't stand you out from a crowd at all.....Good luck

Tough. Diddums.Welcome to the real world young Skywalker. Whilst your presumptious and spoilt nature leads me to want to leave you to self combust (your note screams 'it's not fair!'), I feel for you as you have obviously had little experience of rejection in life.The reason given may or may not be true but it doesn't matter as either way they don't want you.Pick your self up, dust yourself off and choose your next target. You need to write some experiences in life off as happening for a reason.If you can convince yourself that it wasn't meant to be you will gain more enjoyment and value from the role you eventually win. If you can't, you risk spoiling a great start to your career by carrying a chip on your shoulder which could poison your view on everything.Good luck.

She's just not that into you...

Its probably a timing issue - Mck & Bain start receiving applications early in the Milkround from September, so i would just say its a case of bad luck and too many people filled the places too quickly for them to consider you. Can i also just add that i used to work for a strat house, (Marakon) then moved to a Big 4, now in Industry, and it really doesnt matter what firm you join. If youre bright and hardworking, the world will open out for you. Dont think Mck and Bain are the be all. You can command very high salaries, and more importantly (for me) a much more sexy job description, once you prove yourself. I was also 1st from Oxford, knocked back by Mck and Bain, didnt know what to do, so worked in a local chemist shop, near my house, made the shop very successful - its now a chain business, joined the sweatshop of consulting, and now in Pharmaceuticals. The world of business is bigger that the Strat houses and indeed consulting - believe me. And before you all jump in and ask what i am doing on this forum if im so happy, i simply check back every now and then to see if my salary is in line with what i could be getting in consulting, and yep it is...

Wow... 4 As, a first from Oxford. Check you out. I don't have your glittering academics, but I got in to my third choice strat house. Maybe you will too. Maybe I'm just not as arrogant as you and expect to get what I want every time. Maybe I took the rejection and got on with it, changing my application slightly to better emphasise different aspects. Maybe you think you're above that. Maybe you have very little emotional intelligence to go with all of that academic brilliance of yours. Maybe they think you'd crack and whine at the first setback. I think they may have sussed you out and made a good call in rejecting you. Prove them wrong and grow up.

Isn't there a legal issue here? I was under the impression that companies had a legal obligation to provide (upon request) accurate feedback to unsuccessful candidates.I seriously doubt that every single person in this firm's graduate intake has got a "Congratulatory" or "Starred" first....and you would only have to find a couple of people who don't to disprove the firm's claim.Obviously there are plenty of other reasons to reject this guy (his breathtaking arrogance seems the most likely candidate!) But surely the firm is leaving itself wide open to allegations of discrimination by fobbing him off like this?

And he would gain what by making his farcical protest legal?!

A levels and the university you went to are not the whole picture, my friend.Consider these salient points: A-Levels are a good deal easier now than they were 10 years ago (or else everyone suddenly got cleverer). Getting 4 A's and a place at Oxford from a top public or grammar school and/or with a set of supportive parents and/or with siblings and friends and schoolmates who have all done it before you is known as being spoonfed. Someone from a broken home whose classes were poorly taught and which were constantly interrupted by the gang of violent hoodies at the back but who managed to get 3 C's is probably a good deal cleverer than you. If they then went to a university where the smallest student staff ratio they experienced was 30:1 and the terms all lasted more than 9 weeks and the digs were in a shanty town a bus ride away and they managed to get a 2.1 then they are probably a genius. Granted, they will probably not get into a top strat house at first but they will almost certainly do extremely well.

Dear Voice of Reason, very well said

That was a very silly answer to give. Overall, these obsession of consultancies reflects their narrow views in terms of recruitment. It is not the people with the best grades that make the best consultants. On the contrary, I find that those people often lack the breadth of experience and wits that some one fitting in the profile of the "voice of reason" described. Anyway, if it was McKinsey and the like that rejected you, do not worry. They are dumbasses anyway. Relying on connections to get clients and keep up the business. Not worth worrying.