Alright, as of right now I've got 2 MBB SA interviews next week, and I am WOEFULLY unprepared for them. I found out about one yesterday and the other today and with work I haven't been able to do much. I banged out all of Case in Point yesterday, and probably haven't retained enough to make it useful. In browsing for sources, I found Victor Cheng's Look Over My Shoulder and a lot of people say it's one of the best sources they've used.
I'm tempted to pull the trigger, but $300 is quite a chunk of money for some audio clips, and I feel like it's marketed to desperate interviewees (such as myself lol). Has anyone had experience with it, or recommend a way to get up to speed real in a short amount of time? This whole weekend is dedicated to it, and I have 2 mock interviews set up tomorrow. Any help is appreciated. I've got SBs for the really helpful ones.
Victor Cheng's stuff would be useful if you have more time. The best thing to do at this point is to find a case partner or alums at the firms wholl case you. Just do a couple a day until the interview, and don't forget theres a behavioral section.
My prep lasted a little more than a week but my suggestion would be: a. Buy "Case in Point". Read the first half about structures (13 or so). Get a good hang of them. Do all 20 cases or so (I did them twice and the second time it took me approx 4 hours so should not be that hard to do if you really focus) b. Once you have a handle on this stuff (how to ask questions, take notes, state objective of case, overall structure, etc.), go to McK, BCG, Bain websites and practice the case interviews they've posted along with the answers. Especially practice the case for company you are interviewing (duh!) c. If you can, reach out to a friend who works at one of these firms to give you a case and most importantly feedback d. Hopefully you've got the basic behavioral stuff down (Why consulting, why this firm, strengths, blah blah) because it is important, more so in final rds than first but still e. Relax. I kid you not. You are going to be doing a lot of complex thinking on the fly and if you are stressed, you are going to make stupid mistakes.
Tip: After each case, do a debrief and make notes on where you screwed up. Keep a running list and make mental notes.
Good luck!
MBBer here. I agree withe the previous post. You want to talk to anyone you can and focus on the first part of Case in Point. Not only should you read the frameworks, but also the section on market sizing the Case Commandments, etc.
I know some people will start an argument about whether Case in Point is the best resource or start to nitpick about how relevant one (or all) of the case commandments are. I will not get into that argument, but I will say this: you have little time and need to build some basic skills that will give some structure to your thinking (not saying to get a set method). For example when you get a how to increase sales, you need to at least know the ways mentioned in the casebook.
Look around for friends or other connections that can do mocks and give you feedback. Some of the finer points of case interviewing, especially given that each person has different weaknesses, cannot really be taught by reading a book (though books are extremely helpful).
Assuming that you are a non-douchey, hard working, decent guy, I can also offer help doing a mock sometime early in the week. Send me a PM if you are interested. When I was going through the process, a lot of people helped me, so I really don't mind taking time to pass it along.
Congratulations on the interview invites!
I still think Victor Chang's stuff works well in a one week time frame. Just reading through his email responses and memorizing his frameworks (which takes like a day and 2 days to practically apply it).
Thanks man. Made it by the skin of my teeth on the first round, 2 finals coming up in 2 weeks. Back on the grind mode @Ash_nash is the friggin man though. Definitely helped out IMMENSELY.
I do agree with all of the praise given to the Victor Cheng materials above. I found them - especially the 6 hours of free content - particularly useful when going through the recruiting process. Another useful sources I haven't seen mentioned are the MBA casebooks, particularly the 2009 Wharton book and 2004 Kellogg book. These casebooks provide good frameworks, industry overviews, and practice cases. Also, +1 on live case practice and Case In Point being oversold.
PM me if you'd like me to email you some of the materials I have. Good luck!
Yes. 200% behind the comment above, I found LOMS really really vaulable, but I am sure the free video material would have been sufficient too. Watch it enough to be sure you understand it (which is not the same as knowing it all). Also indeed the 2009 Wharton book, I read that one too - and forgot to mention it in my list above: That one is really good too.
I am also happy there is finally someone acknowledging that Case In Point is continuously oversold, and is actually not that great. My strategy was to buy books from people that worked for (and thus qactually made it into) MBB.
Haha interesting. I may be from the old school, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt, had it not been for Case in Point, I would not have had my offers. It's simple as that. The trick with CIP is to use the 10 or so frameworks it offers, and basically create your own framework using the best out of each of them. In the end, as Victor Cheng himself says, you only really need like 3-4 frameworks, with 2 easily being the most key.
If you follow frameworks blindly, you're gonna do badly. If, however, you're able to devise frameworks that make the most sense to you, you'll naturally create and therefore rely on just 3-4 to get you through.
+1 for Cosentino? More like +100.
Who is Marc Consentino to know so much about case interviews? Did he ever sit in front of a McKinsey interviewer?
You should absolutely not use his book - given the amazing intrinsic reasoning your comment shows you clearly need no help dazzling the interviewers
you are clearly MBB material.
http://bit.ly/AwmV5j
Live prep with a friend (give/receive interviews) is the best prep you can have, bar none. Good sites for consulting club casebooks:
simplythecase on Scribd (lots of MBA casebooks, etc.): http://www.scribd.com/simplythecase r_oko on Scribd (more casebooks, company-specific case prep resources): http://www.scribd.com/r_oko
I think I spent more time carrying Case In Point around in my backpack than I did actually reading it. It\\'s good for market sizing and the Ivy Case System frameworks (more to get you thinking than slavishly obeying the framework) but that\\'s about it.
Victor Cheng can be kind of arrogant at times but his free materials are pretty decent, especially his PDF sheets of frameworks. Very generic, all-encompassing frameworks...find a way to make them your own, and chances are they\\'ll be very helpful.
Definitely make a personal framework. I personally took things from Victory Cheng and Case in point and made a framework that applied to all cases. As I went through dozens of cases, I would add anything that the framework didn't cover.
Practicing as many live cases as possible is the best method to ace interviews and land an offer. I just read CiP for my internship search and did really only 1 live case. Although I got to final rounds for SA with BCG, Deloitte S&O, and a few other botiques, I wasted these opportunities because they really served as practice. If I had done more live cases, I probably would have converted these SA final rounds into offers.
For full-time, I did 50+ live cases... didn't reread Case In Point or Victor cheng, just used my personal framework.... and got offers with 5/6 consulting companies I interviewed with. So I'd agree with copefan5.... live practice is the best.
definitely live case practice is best....which is why the WSO Consulting Case Interview Guide is structured exactly around that: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/consulting-case-interviews (with now 11 original cases)
It is one of the only guides that goes to great lengths not only to prep the interviewer but also the INTERVIEWEE....getting a realistic case interview is the best way to prepare and this guide makes sure even if another student is practicing with you, they will know how much information to reveal and how to lead you (the interviewer) through the case.
practice is key...but practicing correctly is even more important (ie realistic)
Advice on MBB (minus M) interviews (Originally Posted: 10/02/2009)
Doing practice cases w/ friends. Read Consentino.
Interviews are in a few days.
Is casequestions.com worth the $50?
Any other advice is greatly appreciated.
for bain
they love to prepare a lot of slides
so you need to ask the right questions to get the relevant slides
then be able to analyze the data provided
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