I was very fortunate to have been selected as a finalist for the McKinsey Emerging Scholar MBA program and had a question about interviews that take place, specifically the appropriate dress attire. Since the interviews are all virtual, and in general it seems that within consulting, ties have fallen out of favor, I was wondering if it would be too much to wear a full suit and tie and stick to a shirt/jacket combo.
To err on the side of caution, I planned on wearing a tie, but at the same time, I did not want to go into the conversations overdressed. I appreciate the advice.
Can't hurt to suit up, in an interview setting it's always better to be overdressed than underdressed.
I did the Emerging Scholars virtual interviews two years ago. I did not suit up, but this was more a function that I was already traveling between work and the start of school. Each interview was low-key, and in retrospect, wearing a suit would have been a bit overkill IMO. Happy to answer any other questions.
Thanks for the reply, that makes me feel a little more comfortable just wearing a jacket and shirt.
I'm assuming the questions were more behavioral and get to know you and your background type, right?
I would describe the interviews as McKinsey-lite. The behavioral questions are in the same style as a traditional McKinsey PEI in that they ask you a question and then really drill down into your motivations, actions, etc. There should be plenty of info on wallstreetoasis about McK behavioral questions. Similarly, the case is a standard McK interviewer led case but more straightforward than an MBA interview. The entire thing takes ~30 minutes vs an MBA interview which is 45 to an hour. Make sure to have plenty of paper though, I had never done a case interview and only had a single sheet of paper.
I wouldn't stress too much about it, IMO getting an Emerging Scholars slot is a tougher get a McKinsey on-campus interview. I just graduated from a Darden/Ross/Fuqua and there were only five of us in the interview round. Full disclosure, I did not get a McKinsey offer but am going to a Parthenon/OW/LEK firm. Good Luck!
I have my first of the case interviews for this tomorrow. Never done one and coming from a non-trad background. Any advice for a 6 hour crash course I can do right now?
Assuming:
1.) Memorize the top 3-4 types of issue trees (profitability tree, etc.) so I can scratch them out 2.) Read 3-4 cases (from the McKinsey site and other sources) 3.) Light math refresh (getting comfortable knowing when to round and/or making quick percentage calculations) 4.) Prep 1-2 personality answers demonstrating leadership/entrepreneurial qualities. Figure I can follow a STAR story format?
Just getting back having spent time traveling/camping so this will be interesting. Any advice on how quickly to go from zero to case-apable is very appreciated!
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