Friday, October 23, 2009

Preperation for the next McKinsey round

I just scheduled my next round interview at McKinsey & Company for Tuesday Nov 3rd from 12-3pm. This is the first day of interviews, which wasn't really my first choice, but some of the later dates had already filled up by this morning! I think that the 12pm time slot is much better than an 8m or 4pm and hopefully my mind will be at its sharpest then.

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I am planning on working on cases ALL day. I think I will start out with going through some sample McKinsey frameworks and sketching out my decision trees in a MECE format on a white board. Once I really have the McKinsey style framework ingrained, then I will start to practice cases with some other people starting on Sunday and working through the rest of the next week. I think 50 or so cases should get me in the right mindset

I am lucky in that I have 3 friends from the consulting club that have also moved on to the next round that I will be able to practice with. My wife will also give me plenty of cases. I am also very lucky in that another friend from the club has already received an offer at McKinsey and can offer some advice on how best to proceed with my preparation. I am also going to be doing a lot of quick math problems throughout the week, just to make sure I absolutely do not get stuck on a simple division or fraction problem.

It is a little bit stressful thinking that 3 hours can determine the rest of your life, but hopefully with enough practice I can be great for 3 hours!

9 comments:

  1. Hi,

    Great work with the blog. You read so many things online regarding how to prepare for cases and consulting interviews, but getting to hear the reality from the horse's mouth is wonderful. Really engaging, you are really good at blogging. Keep it up!

    Good Luck with your next rounds and once you get that job, please don't stop posting here. :)

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  2. Congratulations on making it through to the next round! Can you elaborate on what you mean by sample "McKinsey style frameworks"? Are you referring to something specific to McKinsey (and where are you getting them from), or something else?

    Thanks :) And GOOD LUCK!

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  3. I was simply referring to the MECE (mutually exclusive collectively exhaustive)framework. I also think I needed to work on making "workable" decision trees, which is am important component of the McKinsey interview. McKinsey definitely has a very distinctive type of case...asking very specific questions, so doing more of those cases will also be helpful!

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  4. hi
    i chanced upon your blog and was reading some of your posts about the mckinsey interviews. I was rejected last year after failing the problem solving test, do you think i can reapply this year? Though I read in the website that mckinsey would not accept any applicant's application who was rejected in the last 18 months. I read your post on McKinsey Interview-Round 1 Test and Workshop and it seems to me that rule doesn't apply to you. Were you in my position as well? Should I still send off my application to them? It seems late not considering you're already on your interview stage. Hope you can shed some light on my predicament. Thanks and good luck in getting through to the next round!

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  5. I think you might be a little late for this year as all the application screening has been completed. I would definitely give it a try again next year. Best of luck!

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  6. are u referring to the us office deadlines as i am applying to the european and asian offices?

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  7. Considering:
    I have my interview with McK scheduled at the same time as you in the Boston office. We might run in to each other there :)

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  8. Just an update. I did apply for a position before this weekend I'm hoping for good news now. It turns out that Europe and Asia deadline is on the 1st of November.
    Apart from Kosher Franks, how can we prepare ourselves for the problem solving test? Can anyone share some of their experience or tips?

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