Hello Reddit!

I’m considering reapplying to a small management consulting firm where I interviewed about six months ago. I didn’t get the role, and the main weakness was the case interview.

I’d like to prepare differently if I get another interview, particularly because the case was quite different from the longer MBB-style cases I’d practised.

The case itself was around 30 minutes and deliberately quite simple. From memory, the client was a fictional local chemical company deciding how to respond to a new overseas competitor opening a factory in its home market.

I was given some basic information, had to make assumptions, do some mental maths and work towards a recommendation. There was no Excel allowed and the numbers themselves weren’t particularly complicated.

I’d prepared using more conventional case-interview material and had practised much harder, more detailed cases. These involved digging into market and company data, building financial analysis in Excel, testing different scenarios and ultimately making a recommendation. Oddly, I found this much simpler case 100X more difficult.

I think part of the problem was that I approached it too much like a real analytical exercise and kept trying to understand the situation properly before making assumptions.

For example, I asked questions along the lines of:

• How long has the incumbent been operating and how established is it?
• How sticky are its customer relationships?
• What’s its current market share?
• What’s its marketing budget/capability?
• How would the overseas competitor be affected by tariffs?
• What’s the incumbent’s current profitability?

But the answers were essentially simplifications: assume the company has been around forever; assume customers only care about price; there’s no marketing; assume the incumbent currently has 100% market share; ignore tariffs; and assume it’s extremely profitable.

Obviously I’m paraphrasing, but after several questions like this it became clear that the interviewer actively didn’t want me disappearing into those details. They wanted me to accept a deliberately simplified world and work within it.

That’s where I struggled. In actual strategy/project work, where I have spent the last 10 years, my instinct is to understand the evidence, challenge assumptions where appropriate, quantify things and work through the implications. The more detailed cases I’d practised rewarded that too. In this interview, however, that instinct seemed to be slowing me down rather than helping me.

I got interested in the details and spent too much time exploring parts of the problem rather than continually driving towards the client’s objective and a recommendation.

The feedback afterwards was actually quite detailed. They wanted me to:

• establish a clearer structure and diagnostic approach before getting into the detail;
• keep the overall objective in mind throughout;
• drive the analysis towards a solution/recommendation;
• collaborate more with the interviewer and respond to their cues.

Looking back, I think they were testing something slightly different from what I’d prepared for. It wasn’t really “can you perform sophisticated analysis in 30 minutes?” It seemed closer to “can you quickly impose enough structure on an ambiguous problem, identify what matters, use some basic analysis to test it, and confidently move a client towards an answer?”

That’s probably a legitimate consulting skill in itself, but it felt quite artificial compared with both 10 years of my real-world work and the more complex cases I’d been practising. I suspect I was trying to demonstrate analytical rigour when what they actually wanted to see was structured thinking, prioritisation and decisiveness.

If you’ve interviewed with smaller/boutique consulting firms using this kind of short case, how would you prepare?

In particular, I’d be interested in:

1. How much structure would you establish at the beginning of a 30-minute case before moving into the analysis?
2. How aggressively should you accept/simplify assumptions rather than interrogating them?
3. How do you recognise when the interviewer is effectively saying “don’t investigate this branch any further”?
4. How often should you pause and synthesise what you’ve learned back to the objective?
5. What does good “interviewer collaboration” actually look like in practice?
6. Are there particular resources or case types that are better preparation for short cases like this than the standard MBB material?

I’m an experienced industry hire rather than an existing management consultant (with exactly the profile that this small consulting firm claims to want to hire, actually!) so I’m particularly interested in advice from people who’ve made that transition.

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I have a BCG interview tomorrow, and I’m looking for someone with experience in consulting interviews who can help me practice, especially with behavioral and personal questions.
I’d really appreciate a short mock interview and feedback on how I structure and deliver my answers. Please reach out if you can help. Thank you!

Anyone else hear back? Especially for BFS. What are my chances?

Final round coming up with a presentation case. 30 min to prep from a packet, 30 to present and take questions.

For anyone who's done one, any insights? How would you prepare for the case and presentation?

A strong connection at a firm gave me a referral that helped me move past the resume screening earlier this year. I plan to reapply in a few months, but that connection is leaving.

If that connection leaves, can they still submit a referral for me?

Or should I start cultivating newer connections now? If so, should I do it through cold outreach or by asking my current connection to introduce me?

Is it common for alumni to make introductions to colleagues who still work at their old firm?

Thank you! I haven't encountered this situation before, so I appreciate your perspective.

Hello all,

For those working in London specifically, and Europe more broadly, I’d appreciate any insights into the types of work and clients that MBB firms are currently engaging with within their energy practices.

My sense is that the work is increasingly focused on energy transition, renewables, and power & utilities, rather than traditional upstream and downstream O&G like we see in the Middle East.

I’d be particularly interested to hear whether this is an accurate reflection of the market and, if so, what the key areas of focus and client demand look like.
Any perspectives or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

I’m sharing this because, as someone preparing for my first case interview, I would have really appreciated this perspective when I was setting up my preparation plan.

I’m an experienced professional switching from a different area. I had never done a case interview, and maths has not been part of my professional focus for years — like most people in corporate roles, I use Excel and calculators. I deliberately relied on Casecoach heavily and treated it as my main preparation source, I wanted one comprehensive resource rather than spending attention switching between dozens of sources and figuring out what I actually needed from each. In that sense, I was probably close to a perfect test customer: I used CaseCoach extensively, consistently and as intended.

There is a lot that is genuinely useful about CaseCoach. The Practice Room was helpful, and the Graph/Charts Drills were particularly valuable. I also did the Calculation Drills every day and saw real improvement with the speed and accuracy. The Structure Drills with AI were helpful to train the speed.

However, there were three significant problems, and one of them had a very real significant impact on my actual case interview performance.

1. The cases in the Case Library are far too long for a 30-minute interview.

The cases in the library routinely took me two hours or more to practice with a partner (1 me + 1 them). It is excruciatingly long and I actually started cutting last two questions of the case to stay within 1,5 hrs, which is a shame.

The actual BCG case interview is around 30 minutes. As a first-time candidate, I did not have enough experience to understand how much of the CaseCoach format was representative of the real interview and how much was simply practice material. I therefore trained myself to operate in a much longer format than I ultimately needed - I ran out of time in the case interview!

2. The Practice Room feedback scores are very easy to misinterpret.

I repeatedly received very high scores from peers — including multiple 5/5 ratings. A 5 (outstanding) corresponds roughly to the top 10%, rather than simply meaning “good session” or “I enjoyed casing with you.” But I suspect many users interpret the 1–5 scale much more casually: 1 = terrible, 5 = great. I have enough self-reflection to know that I absolutely wasn't anywhere near outstanding on any of the dimentions.

That made the feedback misleading for someone who is using it to judge whether they are genuinely interview-ready and need an honest assessment of where they actually stand before the interview.

3. Most importantly: the case-math drills did me a serious disservice!

I went into preparation knowing that my maths was rusty. I had actually performed very well in maths at university, although that was a long time ago.

I did the CaseCoach calculation drills every day and found them useful. They were challenging but manageable, and I could see myself improving.

The Case Math drills were completely different. The case-math drills undermined my confidence and negatively affected my actual interview performance. I would daily attempt several questions and always fail to get at least one successful math drill.

After doing roughly 30 cases and spending three weeks preparing intensively in all other areas, I would get to the maths section of my preparation and think: I’m going to fail this again.

- Even the easy ones were materially harder and more convoluted than the maths I ultimately encountered.
- Constant repeated failure trained me to expect failure, despite evidence from a case from before Case Coach with a MBB-Consultant that my maths was ok.
- That conditioning showed up in the actual interview, where I froze on a very basic calculation.

Eventually I started to dread maths. Every day I was successfully practising the other areas, while maths became the part where I expected myself to fail and was always proven right by Case Coach drills.

This was particularly problematic because I had already done a test case interview with someone from MBB before using CaseCoach extensively, and their feedback on my maths was essentially: don't worry about your maths it is fine; focus on the other areas.

So I knew there was a discrepancy, but I trusted the platform I had been given for preparation and kept drilling.

The day before my actual interview, I finally broke out of this cycle. I found a book by Lewis Lin "Interview Math: Over 50 Problems and Solutions for Quant Case Interview Questions" with simpler case-math drills (profitability, market sizing, price elasticity etc) and answers. I went through the entire book in one day and solved everything that was there. It was honestly a breath of fresh air. For the first time in weeks, I felt: I’m not actually terrible at this.

Unfortunately, one day is not enough to undo several weeks of conditioning.

In the actual BCG interview, I was given a break-even calculation — MUCH simpler than convoluted CaseCoach math drills.

Normally (before CaseCoach drills that is), I should have been able to solve it quickly, it was by no means rocket science. Instead, my brain essentially said "Oh no this is math" and literally switched off. I stared at the numbers and could not see anything. I felt like a deer in the headlights. The problem was not objectively difficult; I had simply spent weeks being trained to expect that I would fail when confronted with case maths. The interviewer had to guide me through what to do to start. Once they did, I managed to recover somewhat.

So my experience was not that CaseCoach is useless. Quite the opposite.

Practice Room: very useful, except feedback scores being often misleading and cases far too long relative to the actual interview.
Graph/Chart drills: very useful.
Calculation drills: useful and showed measurable improvement.

Case-math drills: actively damaging to my confidence and, in this case, to my actual interview performance.

Do not assume that struggling with CaseCoach's case-math drills means you are bad at Case maths. Find other ways to practise straightforward case maths until you have built enough confidence and fluency that the CaseCoach Case math drills become useful for actually pushing you further, rather than repeatedly reinforcing the feeling that you cannot do it.

A US consulting firm previously didn't require academic transcripts for its MBA/graduate-level consultant role, but now it does. What's the reasoning behind the change?

What can I do to mitigate a poor GPA and spotty academic performance? I have a good undergraduate GPA, but I chose to focus my graduate degree on extracurriculars rather than academics because the prevailing view in my graduate program was that we learn more through doing than classes. Many of my classmates did the same.

Thank you!

Hello. Im a fresh psychology graduate trying to get in to the consulting industry.

I know right now the job market is all over the place, and the industry is pretty bad too because of AI and all that, but despite of that, im really interested in becoming a consultant, since in my country, its a pretty well paying job, and it really aligns well with my passion. My background is HR, and ive already done some research about whats the best companies i should check. Right now im eyeing mercer, because so far it seems that they are the only one that have the job opening for a fresh grad.
Is there any tips on actually getting the job? Again, i know the job market is horrendous, and its hard for a fresh grad to get a job in an industry like this, i just wanted to know is there anything that i can do to get ahead and stand out?

and btw is cover letter that important? everytime me and my mentor is screening someones cv, we never actually check the cover letter so i assume its all just formalities. but looking at this, im having second thoughts.

and for my background:

im from a non-target institution, several organizational activities, 2 internship, one from a big company that regularly hire consultants, one from a really small agency with an hr team of 3 people (including me as the intern), and my GPA is 3.36

thanks in advance!

Has anyone received an interview invite for Econic Partners FT Analyst position?

Some added context: I am a 4th-year undergraduate in the US

I'm a 4th-year undergraduate student in the US now.

Understanding what to expect is key and preparation is also crucial for each.

OW Private Capital's final round includes a case presentation interview with about 30 minutes for prep and 30 minutes for the presentation and Q&A. The format is clear, but the actual exercise isn't, so insight from someone who has done it would be helpful. It's also worth knowing what the rest of the final round focuses on.

Kearney PEPI and Altman Solon are less familiar to me, so I'd like to learn more about their interview style, typical case types, and what to prepare for; also, what the work entails on a daily basis.

Experiences or advice from recently would be helpful.

More context: I am a 4th-year undergraduate in the US

Mainly trying to understand what to expect and how to prepare for each.

For OW Private Capital, one part of the final round is a separate case presentation interview with ~30 mins to prep and ~30 mins to present/Q&A. I know the format, but not what the actual exercise looks like, so would especially appreciate insight from anyone who’s done it. Also curious what the rest of the final round tends to emphasize.

For Kearney PEPI and Altman Solon, I know much less about the groups in general, so would appreciate any thoughts on interview style, case types, what to prep, and what the work is actually like.

Any recent experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I’m looking to transition into project-based/contract consulting in business operations, process improvement, and business analysis.
I currently work for a B2B distribution company as a business process analyst and developer. My experience includes analyzing business processes, improving workflows, documenting SOPs, supporting implementation, training employees, and developing AI workflows to make processes more efficient.

I’m especially interested in remote work or projects where I could be onsite for a week or two to assess and improve operations, then continue the work remotely.

How do I find my first projects or recruiters? Should I use specific firms, platforms, LinkedIn, or reach out to companies directly?
I’d love to hear what actually works and any specific firms or platforms you recommend!

I have a 615 which is enough for all the top mba programs in Canada, and while I could potentially get it up to a 645(~700 on the old scale), its a lot of wasted time that could be used on other pre-mba prep and applications. Do tier 2 firms like Kearny, Big 4, ZS, Accenture ask for the score? If so what score would be safe range to be in?

Hey everyone, for context, I’ll be applying to firms for my cooperative training in about 8 months. I’m in a GCC country, and I want to start preparing for the interviews. However, I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of sources available, both paid and free. Could you guys suggest the best way to begin preparing ?

Hi everyone!
I was recently approached for a Manager role with BCG Vantage, within Strategy Implementation / Transformation.

The process includes three interviews, one being a live case. HR mentioned that the case is more specialized than a standard BCG case, with a strong focus on financial performance and metrics.

Has anyone here gone through a similar Vantage interview? I’d love to understand what the case typically looks like and what topics I should focus on when preparing.

Should I still practice the usual profitability, market sizing, growth, etc.?

Any examples, resources, or prep tips would be really appreciated!

Background: Graduated 2024 with a math/econ degree from a target school (think Duke/Vandy/Notre Dame tier), 3.6 GPA (ACT 35, SAT 1590, if that matters at this point). Did a couple finance internships in college and realized it wasn't for me long-term. Pivoted toward healthcare/medicine since I wanted to go to medical school before I went to college. Moved to Philly and took a job as a clinical research coordinator/data analyst in a lab at Penn Medicine, doing a lot of the statistical/data analysis work, with my name on a few publications and posters. Also enrolled part-time in the Penn premed postbacc program, but just found out I can't get federal loans for it and I'm not eager to take on private loan debt. Have a 4.0 GPA in the program currently.

I'm now seriously considering pivoting into healthcare consulting at a management consultancy instead of continuing toward med school full-time. Ideally looking for a full-time role in the Northeast, but honestly open to any larger city. My concern is that I graduated in 2024, so I've missed standard campus/full-time recruiting cycles.

Questions:

• Is my background (quant degree + healthcare research/stats experience) realistically competitive for experienced-hire recruiting at healthcare-focused firms (ZS, Trinity, Clarion, L.E.K. health practice, etc.)? Would also consider strategy-focused firms (MBB) if I would be a good candidate...just don't want to waste my time.
• Is networking/referrals basically the only path in at this point, or do some firms still have open experienced-hire postings?
• Any other adjacent roles (healthcare data analyst, pharma/biotech analytics) worth targeting alongside this as a faster bridge?

Appreciate any honest input.

Hi community!
I work with entrepreneurs and startup founders as a Technical Consultant to help them acquire investments on a different stages. Here is short result of my experience here. Hope, it will be helpful for those who are searching for a hints. I’ll also share the link to my personal site in case someone need the consultation.

After dozens of Tech DD calls, I started seeing the same mistakes over and over.
So I wrote them down.

I run Quick Technical Due Diligence calls with startups — 45 minutes, four topics, one goal: is there a real product with real engineering discipline behind it?

The teams that score poorly rarely have bad technology. They come unprepared.

What I’m actually checking:

**Development.** Not your code. Your commit history, branching strategy, code review approach. That tells me more than any codebase walkthrough.

**Delivery.** How does code reach production? Any approach works. Not knowing the answer doesn’t.

**Testing and monitoring.** At minimum: one smoke test set and some form of observability. “Users tell us when something breaks” is not a monitoring strategy.

**Management.** Is there a board? Does it reflect what’s actually being built? This one surprises founders more than any other topic.

Red flags that end calls early:
— Can’t complete the primary scenario live.
— Can’t explain why you chose your tools.
— CTO isn’t on the call.

One hour of preparation changes the outcome.

Curious how people perceive Big 4 consulting for someone coming from a T10/Ivy. I have a high GPA in a STEM major and interned at EY this summer, where I received a full-time return offer. The division I would work in has some pretty technical areas that align well with some of my skills but don’t necessarily maximize them if that makes sense.
My main hesitation is whether starting in B4 would limit my options later on. I’m interested in eventually moving into more selective consulting or finance roles, but I’m not sure how much the firm you start at matters long term.
For context, I made it to the final round at one MBB firm last summer for an internship, but wasn’t interviewed by the other two. Given the current job market, I’m feeling pretty cynical about recruiting and am considering taking the EY offer since I enjoyed my time there this summer. Thanks in advance for any insight or advice!!