My funemployment starts in a few weeks, and I want to casually start learning about case interviews, since I come from a non-consulting background. I want to try to get a decent background before classes, since I'll be busy as hell start September. Any advice on what to read? Prefer hard copy books if possible, so I'll probably be reading mostly on the beach.
Case Study Books
Here are some resources that come highly recommended from the community.
you can start with case in point, crack the case system
perfect thanks!
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/consulting-case-interviews
Only guide out there with actual interview questions and cases from recent interviews at the top firms, plus 11 cases with an awesome structure to allow anyone (even someone as clueless as your mom or dad) to successfully give you a challenging case interview.
Good luck! Patrick
Both "case in point", "crack the case system" are great books. But interviewers generally don't people simple recite the frameworks. Using cases in past case books from different MBA schools and deal book section NYTimes would definitely help.
Agreed, but I'm just trying to get a background and intermmediate understanding of it over the summer. When I'm in school in the fall, I plan to fully immerse in the consulting club and do lots of in-person practices. I just ordered Case in Point since it looks good.
Case in Point: Complete Case Interview Preparation 8th Edition by Marc Cosentino. Got me a job, and a lot of my friends.
Agreed. It seems to be the book of choice to get started for MBA students at the T10 school I'm starting at next Fall. I know of several students there who have recommended it to me who have MBB summer internships landed. None of them even have any consulting experience. For that matter, none of them even have any business experience whatsoever. I wouldn't stress it too much though. Maybe read the first 40-80 pages about the frameworks and general structure just to get familiar with it. All of them said to just enjoy your summer and that none of them started before school.
Aside from very light case prep, I'd also recommend "How to Get a Job in Consulting" by Stephen Pidgeon for a good overview of everything that's going to go down in recruiting, and "Lords of Strategy" if you're just interested in learning about the history of the industry. Second one won't help much in interviews, but is an interesting read for someone not in consulting (myself included) and will build some general knowledge that could be useful in having intelligent conversations at recruiting events.
Thanks! I definitely plan to not go insane with it over the summer. I have many weeks at the beach planned, and would rather read something relevant as opposed to "Eat, Pray, Love."
FWIW, I hated Case in Point. I think it's long-winded and not particularly relevant. Give it a skim and move on. For frameworks (I use the term very loosely), I recommend Victor Cheng's stuff (Case Interview Secrets, caseinterview.com, LOMS). For cases, Crack the Case is solid, but steer clear of the crazy acronym-based systems. Your best bet is to get your hands on a few MBA casebooks. Wharton's ('09 or later) and Kellog's ('11 or later) are top notch.
My main advice is this: Wait, don't even look at this stuff now. I know a few people who started case prep before Thanksgiving and all of them regretted it. In the best cases, it provided no utility. In the worst, it contributed to burn out. Give it until winter break. 4-6 weeks is plenty of time to prep. The magic number for most people is 25-50 cases. I started after New Year's, felt fully prepared at 25, and ended up doing ~35 because a few people reached out that I couldn't refuse.
Ahh Victor Cheng. A very good option as well. I did case studies with a bunch of my friends and we didnt start until about mid January and we all did fine. I couldnt imagine preparing earlier than that. I would be so burnt/stressed out that I probably would have done poorly. We did not have any MBA casebooks but we became best friends with Cosentino and Cheng. IMHO, Cosentino helped me the most, but thats up to you to decide.
Yup, a lot of folks love CIP. It never resonated with me. I just wanted to offer a different view
Another vote for Case In Point- it's what worked for me
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