Building and Supporting Excellence (BASE)
Employment type
Program
Location(s)
Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Chicago | Dallas | Denver | Houston | Los Angeles | New York | San Francisco + 3 offices
Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Chicago | Dallas | Denver | Houston | Los Angeles | New York | San Francisco | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Washington, DC Show less
Description & Requirements
The BASE program was originally established as an avenue to provide initial exposure and a chance to learn about a career in professional services to MBA students whose backgrounds are often underrepresented in the profession.
Designed to help you succeed in your MBA and beyond
We welcome Black, Hispanic/Latin American and Indigenous pre-MBA students to join us for a weeklong immersive look inside the exciting world of strategy consulting.
BASE Camp is an in-person experience where you’ll receive plenty of support before and after to ensure you get a good sense for what this work is like. You’ll participate in a full day of training and be staffed to a case team, handling a component of a client consulting project. Throughout the week, you'll enjoy a variety of social activities, experience our unique culture, and hear from business leaders and mentors, including many who belong to our Black at Bain and Familia at Bain affinity groups. It’s an opportunity to sharpen your business acumen and see what you could gain from a career at Bain.
It's a great start to your business school experience and whatever lies beyond. Upon completing the program, if you are excited to further explore consulting as a career path, you will have an opportunity to learn more about joining as a Summer Associate.
Spend "a week in the life" as a Bain consultant to understand if this career is for you.
Meet Bain’s leaders and learn what decisions led them to where they are today.
A Bain consultant will coach you through solving problems and presenting your findings.
Meet Bainies in person and virtually, before and after BASE Camp.
Build a community of peers and mentors
Befriend like-minded individuals in your program.
During the program, you’ll have an opportunity to learn about and apply for our Summer Associate internship.
Create relationships across the firm that you can enrich throughout your time in business school.
How to apply for this program
We are hoping to connect with individuals whose perspectives and experiences are historically underrepresented in our industry.
This program is for individuals who are Black, Hispanic/Latin American, or Indigenous (Native American, Alaska Native, Inuit, Métis and First Nations), and who have accepted an offer to start a full-time two-year MBA program in the fall. We currently do not accept part-time or Executive MBA students.
Apply to BASE
Applications are now open for our 2025 program and will close Sunday, May 4th, 2025 at 11:59 pm PST. BASE Camp will take place during the week of July 21st – 25th or July 28th – August 1st, 2025. Selected participants will only attend one of these weeks.
Application Requirements
- Resume
- Test scores if applicable (not required)
- Bain office(s) of interest
- Digital assessment
- After the application deadline, applicants will receive a link to take our digital assessment.
The BASE Experience at firsthand
Register for one of our upcoming fireside chats to meet former BASE Scholars, learn about the application and how to effectively prepare for the BASE case interviews.
Frequently asked questions
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Will BASE Camp be in person?
Yes, we are planning for it to be in person. We’ll cover all travel-related expenses.
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Can I apply to both BASE and ExperienceBain? How are they different?
Yes, we encourage you to apply for BASE and ExperienceBain if you are eligible and interested. They are similar in that both programs introduce you to consulting and Bain before starting business school. But here’s how they differ:
- BASE is a highly selective informational program that is for recruits who are Black, Hispanic/Latin American, or Indigenous. It’s for one immersive week.
- ExperienceBain is a larger program open to all incoming MBA students heading to eligible schools. It features periodic programming throughout the year.
If you are selected for BASE, we’ll help you navigate any overlaps with ExperienceBain. -
Which offices host the BASE program?
BASE is only available in our US offices right now. When applying, please make sure to only apply if you are interested in a US location: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
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If I am not selected for BASE, can I still apply to Bain in the future?
Absolutely, and we encourage it. BASE is a highly selective program. If you are not selected for BASE, we would love to keep in touch and reconnect on campus. In the past years, we have hired several BASE applicants as summer associates and our full-time roles even though they were not selected for the BASE program. Sometimes, those extra few months of case prep can help.
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Are international students eligible to apply to BASE?
International pre-MBA students are welcome and eligible to apply. Because of the intent of the program, BASE is for Black, Hispanic/Latin American, and Indigenous (Native American, Alaska Native, Inuit, Métis and First Nations) students. Non-North American citizens are eligible, but you must be planning on attending a university in the US or Canada for your MBA.
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How should I choose a Bain office location when submitting an application?
In the application, you will have the ability to select up to three Bain offices that interest you the most. You will then need to allocate 100 percentage points across these office(s) to reflect your interest-level in each office. The offices that you select in your application will become the office(s) that consider you for their BASE program and for their Summer Associate roles following the BASE program.
