Closed/open Lists

Some firms dedicate an incredible amount of time meeting students prior to interviews. For instance, the top management consulting firms will provide a catered presentation, several invitation-only dinners, and even a new consultant as a campus representative with whom students can meet and answer questions. Firms are looking to get to know students in order to invite them to interview.

Every top-tier MBA program has the notion of closed and open lists.

Closed lists: invitation-only lists. The company will send the school a list of students with whom they wish to interview. The school will then invite those students to interview.
Open lists: highest-bid wins. The company will agree to interview a number of students who bid high enough for to be placed on the company's open list. This ensures that the outliers of students interested in consulting and not invited to interview can still interview with the company.

The number of closed-list and open-list positions, as well as the ratio of the two, differ by school. Big-five management consulting firms interviewing at top-tier schools may interview as many as 40% of any given class, half of which are invited and the other half are open-list candidates. Outside of the top schools, this number drops significantly. As well, many schools only have a closed lists.

It is important to work to get on as many closed lists as possible. Why? The more chances you have to interview, the greater your chances at getting an offer at the end of the day. Seven consulting firms interviewed on campus during my first year. The average first-year was invited to interview for approximately two of these firms. Given historical bidding, students would only be able to bid on two other firms before running out of bid points. This gives them four chances to interview. If you as the student were able to receive a third closed-list position, you would be able to interview with five firms. That extra firm gives a tremendous psychological boost when you begin to interview.

How do I get invited?

There are many ways to increase your chances of getting invited.

Fill in the application by the deadline. This typically includes sections on undergraduate GPA, GMAT scores, and sometimes even SAT scores. Consulting firms typically begin by filtering students with high scores in these areas, and the highest scorers are automatically invited.
Make sure your resume stands out. Interesting backgrounds, advanced degrees and relevant experience can also place you on the closed list.
Attend every event the company hosts openly. This includes the presentation, office hours, dinners and so on. Make sure you are actively engaged at every event. Ask interesting questions. Show you have a personality. See the section on the presentation for more details. Note: if your resume does not stand out, this will be even more important for you.
Talk to second-years who interned at the company and first- and second-years who are sponsored by the company. They are a great source of information, and more importantly, they are often asked for feedback on students to interview. Note: if your resume does not stand out, this will be even more important for you.
Respect people's time and effort! Remember, it is far easier to do something wrong than it is to do everything right, and people remember the wrong things far more easily than the right things.

What are my chances?

Your position on the closed or open list typically has no bearing on whether you receive an offer. Most schools and firms strive to ensure that the interviewer does not know whether their list was invited or not. Many friends at many consulting firms received their offers from the open list, and an informal poll for a larger firm at our school indicated that more offers were given off of the open list than the closed list during full-time recruiting. Do not worry, you can prevail.

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