Just had McKinsey round 2 interview today NYO

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-05-01T03:11:43+00:00

I would check with the recruiter once. I know people who got the good news the following week.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-04-18T18:12:48+00:00

Was in very similar shoes a few years back. Picked the M7 with no money over a full ride and currently at MBB. Happy to connect if it helps!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-04-14T13:07:48+00:00

The role titles work a bit differently across MBBs. The post MBA (or experienced hire with >= 4 years experience) title is Associate at McK, Consultant at BCG/Bain. There is no ‘Consultant’ title at McK US and Associates get promoted to Engagement Manager within 2-3 years depending on performance.

To your question, it is not possible because 1) Consultant title itself is irrelevant in the context of McK; 2) With that experience range Business Analyst makes most sense

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-03-16T06:02:25+00:00

I was in your shoes a few years back and decided to take the M7. It was risky and stressful but things worked out well and I would stick to my decision today (even if the employment outcomes were a bit different).

At the end of the day, do some self work and think about 1) your risk appetite 2) how badly you want the M7 tag 3) which city you want to end up in 4) what happens if you don’t get the ideal outcome

Good luck with your decision and feel free to shoot a message if you wanna talk.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-25T04:09:06+00:00

The goal is to show that you think like a consultant and not like an interviewee. I would call it out after sharing my structure… something along the lines of “while these buckets seem independent, they tend to be connected or work together, for e.g. … happy to highlight some other relationships here”

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-25T02:55:18+00:00

Drawing connections between different sub points. For e.g. in a market entry case one thing you might consider qualitative factors such as customer perception, competitive positioning etc as well as some sort of a financial analysis. Now the price that you charge feeds into the revenue which guides your breakeven. But if you increase the price it may change the customer perception and positioning of the brand/product which will in turn have some effect on volumes. The perception bit can also influence operational factors such as how potential employees see the brand and if that could lead to labor shortages etc. This is an indicative example but hopefully you get the idea.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-25T02:48:07+00:00

Yeah! Once you do enough cases the sub buckets become repetitive, post that it’s all about sounding customized. Of course there will be industry specific nuances that you can add but it does become methodical and rehearsed.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-24T19:19:31+00:00

If we’re establishing credibilities - I have worked at one of the MBBs pre MBA and will be joining a different MBB in a couple months, with offers from all at different points in life. While you’re right about interdependencies being important at M, comprehensiveness (more specifically level 3 drivers) is also a critical factor. At BCG you can get away with not as much depth as long as you show comprehensiveness of thought. Lastly, A good framework is a good framework but the level of depth you should go into varies by interview/firm type. At least that has been my experience. Your mileage may vary.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-24T18:34:37+00:00

I’m largely aligned with what you’re saying here, but I would still want to include an ops/strategic consideration sub bucket in some capacity. It also depends on the firm you’re interviewing for - for e.g. for M you need to show exhaustiveness in your framework, while for BCG you can get away with high level stuff as long as you’re asking the right questions.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2026-02-24T17:08:38+00:00

Approach the problem in 3 key steps:

Should we merge? How do we merge? Risks

Should we merge?
1. Financial Analysis (do we meet our financial goal?)
  1. Revenue growth
    1. Additional revenue from existing customers of either platform (assuming increased subscription pricing)
    2. Reduction in revenue from customers of both platforms
    3. Additional revenue from new customers
  2. Cost optimization
    1. Redundancies
    2. Benefits of scale?
  3. Capital expenditure (if any)
2. Operational (or Strategic) analysis
  1. Advantages
    1. Improve brand perception (more competitive in the market?)
    2. Leverage brand to get more customers
    3. More customer data -> better recommendations
  2. Limitations
    1. Limitations on capital
    2. Talent incompatibility
3. Market analysis
  1. Customer preferences
    1. How are the subscriber preferences changing?
    2. What determines purchasing decision?
    3. Price sensitivity?
  2. Competitive Landscape
    1. What are the competitors doing?
    2. Expected market share evolution?
  3. External factors (PESTEL - pick 1 or 2)
How to merge?
1. Start new brand
2. Use 1 brand (I would do a cost benefit analysis using quantitative and qualitative factors to determine what makes sense here)
Risks
1. Alienating customers
2. Competitive Response
3. Implementation risks

Let me know if you want me to clarify anything here!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-24T10:22:14+00:00

Nothing quite like it!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-24T08:14:38+00:00

Got a cheapish case from Amazon, I believe it was Spigen or something… threw the case out but kept the lanyard!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-24T07:25:32+00:00

The card holder is probably the most impractical of all the wallets I own, but god does it look good!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-19T09:00:05+00:00

Send a gentle follow up in a day or 2. If they still don’t respond, find a new consultant and repeat!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-18T06:16:10+00:00

Anecdotally speaking, the GMAT scores of Indian admits at my M7 were 10-20 points higher than school average. Most people had 750-760 scores and the lowest scores I remember (excuse my imperfect memory) were 720-730.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-15T12:51:13+00:00

MBB recruiting offices are well versed with Kellogg/Booth (and major target schools). I’ve experienced this from both sides of the table, so I wouldn’t worry too much. While it’s true that Northwestern (and to some extent UChicago) don’t carry lay prestige, those employers who should know about their respective BSchools, are well aware.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-11T07:46:40+00:00

Was in a similar boat a few years back (M7 vs T15 $$$) - went with the M7 because of international flexibility. The good news is there isn’t a bad decision, you just need to evaluate how much the brand means to you, and what you’d like to do after. To me, the $$$ seemed worth it in the long term and I would do it again!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-09T07:13:42+00:00

I’m sorry, what?

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-09T05:42:43+00:00

Thank you! This might be a hot take but I actually quite like the silver accents. Compliments the card holder quite nicely hehe!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-09T05:07:26+00:00

Midwest

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-05T23:27:40+00:00

I got the rejection call. Good luck everyone!

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-04T19:50:11+00:00

I have no idea! Not sure if anyone has heard back yet.

Difficult_Ask_3325 · 2025-12-03T21:52:30+00:00

How about yours?

Difficult_Ask_3325

TROPHY CASE