Advice on McKinsey Sophomore Diversity Leaders Internship (SDLI) & Interview Preparation

Hi all!

I'm a diverse sophomore candidate attending a target school and I just received an onsite interview for the McKinsey SDLI program (too "new" to put a link). Although I read somewhere that interviews would be conducted as late as November (as of right now they haven't sent all the offers out yet), my interview is actually scheduled for next Wednesday (10/17), so I want to maximize the week I have in preparation for the interview.

According to the confirmation email, the interview will include the Problem Solving Component (Business Case Studies) and the Personal Experience Interview. What materials (that are relatively inexpensive) can I use to best prepare myself for this interview process? Additionally, have any of you either 1) interviewed for SDLI and/or received an offer, and if so... 2) what was the process like overall and what did you learn from the experience? Also, any general advice on McKinsey interview prep is also greatly appreciated :) Also, I have the choice to conduct a video interview in lieu of traveling in person. Do you think my chances would be negatively impacted by opting to do a virtual interview?

All the best,

'21

 
Most Helpful

if you have zero case experience, here's what you can do without spending a penny. 1. find videos (youtube, igotanoffer.com, etc) of mock interviews, to quickly familiarize yourself with what a case interview is. There are two major types of cases, interviewer-led and interviewee-led. McKinsey is the former one. 2. To further practice, you can find practice case from the following resources. a. McKinsey has four sample cases on their website. Very helpful. b. Your University, as a target school, must have a consulting club, and highly likely have their own case book library. Go find them. c. If no luck joining a consulting cub, case books are all over the internet for free, just google school name+ 'casebook' and you will find them. Some casebooks have really good introductions to how to solve a case, i would recommend London Business School 2013 (LBS2013) for this purpose. https://www.scribd.com/document/341633284/LBS-Case-Book-2013

For PEI, just google McKinsey PEI, and you will find tons of information on that subject. In a nutshell, you need to prepare three stores covering personal impact, team leadership, and entrepreneur drive; and get prepared to be asked by the interviewer for every detail possible.

I would assume McKinsey would pay for the travel if you opt for interview in person? Definitely go for that. Interview is all about interpersonal interaction, and you need that handshake to showcases yourself.

 

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