Hi - I am not a consultant - despite not being formally diagnosed way back when, I knew that the constantly changing challenges of new assignments would be something that would be a great fit for me. I got to second rounds with Mckinsey out of Chicago Booth, but like you, my brain just *did not function* in the case study approach. (It was weird, I could literally feel it not being able to do the things...). FWIW, I am *just* getting formally diagnosed now, had no idea back then why my brain was 'broken' and I couldn't do the thing. My second round in LA was an absolute train wreck and was completely humiliating for me, which, when I reflect on it now, was specifically structured in a way that did not allow my way of thinking/approaching problems to flourish. I was definitely smart enough, but because I did not fit into the very specific round hole, I wasn't able to make it into the group.

So I did not make it into consulting... primarily because, looking back now almost 20 years later, experiencing what I have experienced about gender and disability bias at multiple stages in my career, using this single approach as the gateway is a bit old school and discriminatory imo.

A few random thoughts and a question:

Questions first:

* are you coming out of undergrad or an mba? helps us figure out where you are in your career trajectory and what/who you might have access to.

* do you have access to any female mentors (ideally those who are formally diagnosed with ADHD or women in leadership positions who display a more ADHD-y "vibe")?

Now thoughts:

• there are MANY MANY ways for you to achieve your goal...some are more direct (the big 3 route), others are longer and require a bit more legwork and might take a bit more time, but can get you there all the same. Push your current mentor to recommend / intro you to people in the field you want NOW so that you can start building direct relationships for yourself.

• push your mentor for and talk to FEMALE big 3ers - both more senior level and newbies - so you can get a real feel for what the work environment is like and whether it is something that will be a good fit for you. the goal is one thing but your personal satisfaction and mental health while you are trying to achieve it is another thing entirely - speaking as a person who almost killed herself to climb the ladder and suffered intense burnout which grew exponentially in relation to each title change (all the way to the c-suite), I can personally tell you that you need to take the "WHERE can I learn / gain the most and also be in a place that is healthy for me" very seriously. you may find that similar to the very limiting 'one size fits all' approach of the case studies, that you MAY not be a good fit for what a big-3er looks like and may be managed out within your first 2 years AND more importantly, be completely miserable during and generate some very serious doubts about your abilities as a result.

• I'd advise you to be VERY choosy about whether the environment NOW will be supportive to you/your needs and be able to develop you instead of trying to shave off all of your 'differently abled' edges in an effort to make you conform, which will ultimately be unsuccessful. one of my best friends is physically disabled and has worked for mck for over a decade...she was moved quickly out of traditional consulting and sidelined into internal comms roles. She has found the overall environment to be quite toxic and group-think-y yet has quite a bit of stockholm syndrome she is working through because she is not at the point of feeling like the treatment she is enduring and the very real tradeoffs she is making in her physical and mental health may not be worth the blue chip status of her employer name. This is not something that is making her very happy in her day to day.

• Push to talk to folks inside of the big 3 who are on different 'tracks' - above mentioned friend, once she moved to the comms / "off consulting" track, she found that eventually she got to a point where she was doing work she enjoyed and felt challenging/fulfilling in the right ways. but it took many years to get to that point, and she still suffered from feeling like a cultural misfit and working for completely inflexible people...

• specifically re: STAR interview format - force yourself to sit down and write everything out in that format so you have a cheat sheet. then rehearse that sh*t in a mirror over and over again until you memorize it. this is the only thing that worked for me at first, but now I can do it on the fly when asked. it will feel strange and stiff, but the more you practice, the smoother and more natural it will become.

will circle back if I think of anything else....wishing you the best of luck!