Case Prep in One Month - What's the most optimal way
Hey guys,
As title suggest, I got an MBB first round interview (interviewee-led, guess the firm) in a month. Looking for the best way to case prep. Tied up with school for the next 12 days but after that, im willing to devote full days for this.
Right now looking at LOMS -> Skimming Crack the Case and Case in Prep -> RocketBlocks and Mocks (sometimes with others, sometimes individual) every day
Any advice?
Thanks :)
why is it so late?
Im at a target school and MBB has had this timeline for a few years now.
That's a solid plan, but I honestly wouldn't pay for one of the online programs (like RocketBlocks). There's enough free stuff online, plus since you're at a target the quality of resources within your peer network is going to be much higher.
LOMS/Case in Point/other books are great to get into the mindset of case interviews and build a foundation, but 80% of your casing abilities are gained from live mock interviews. Shoot for at least 10-- I personally did 40, but I know someone who got all 3 MBB offers with only 12 live cases to prep. Totally a personal thing. Make sure to also spend some time on market sizing and quick mental math.
Final note: DO NOT NEGLECT THE BEHAVIORAL. Especially at Bain, firms care about soft skills a lot more than you think. Do live mock behaviorals, build solid answers to tell me about yourself, why consulting, why Bain, why this office. My final round at Bain was literally partners just vibe checking me for 45 minutes. I'm not kidding. The case felt like just a formality. They care a ton about your personality/fit/likeability. Be a genuinely interesting person.
EDIT: for case books I really like Wharton and Kellogg.
I agree with your point about the behavioral. My final round interview at BCG was the same. We basically talked for most of the time, the guy even teased me with some bizarre math riddles that he knew I would never be able to get, lmao. Many people can analyze xyz charts and determine calculate the break even point for a company. Not as many people as you think can have an enjoyable, relaxed conversation while selling him/herself as a great fit.
Thank you so much! Luckily we get RocketBlocks for free, so no need to pay there.
And sounds good, I think I am going to get right into mocks instead of prolonging it. I'll definitely make sure to focus on behaviorals as well, thank you!
I am quite determined to lateral away from banking in to consulting and have 3-5 close friends now at Bain - I am studying in the background vaguely for casing (reading case in point and working with my buddy on casing questions sometimes), just to develop the muscle. I am fine working another 8-9 months in banking to hit the 2 year mark, but curious if you had this kind of vague aspiration/timeline towards consulting how would you approach preparing? I just read these books on the weekends and do mock cases, but will up the intensity when I eventually get my buddies at Bain/McK to circle me in with interviewers, I do think I have a pretty good shot given I am in banking already which hopefully demonstrates I had to clear a decently high bar to get in to this role itself as well.
Congrats on the interview invite, it sounds like McKinsey is interviewing you lol but my second guess would be BCG. I would say get a head start, don't leave it to the last 18 days. Take the first week to work on your behaviorals, understanding what the firm does and also read case in point so you have an idea of the way casing works.
After that, case once every day with one of your friends (case with 3-4 people on a rotating basis so that you get diverse feedback). As far as the casebooks are concerned, there are so many available online. Case In Point is a good place to start. Google "X Casebooks" (replace X with business schools, like Wharton, HBS, Ross, Fuqua, Stern etc.). I think the Fuqua and Stern guides have slides on industry overviews (what constitutes revenues & costs, general trends etc.) so those are very helpful to read as well.
While you case, don't forget the behaviorals, they're heavily underrated. If you do well on those and they like you as a person, they will be willing to overlook minor mistakes you make on the case (obviously behaviorals won't matter if you completely screw up the case). Hope this was helpful, let me know if you have any q's!
Awesome, thank you. I took your advice on the rotating people and have built a small group of 6 to rotate around every day. Will definitely check out those casebooks too.
Thanks!
Crafting cases free one week course will accelerate your prep a ton, supplement with LOMS. Then just mock interview a ton
I agree with this plan. CraftingCases has a great crash course and focuses heavily on the specific skills to improve structuring and thinking.
Just started it and its actually super helpful. Thank you so much. This is definitely a fantastic starting point.
Thanks for sharing. Started using this too and really liking it so far!
Many good points above. Things that helped me get offers: 1. Don’t neglect fit. Create a matrix for the fit interview of qualities (eg conflict resolution, leadership etc) versus personal stories (the time I did x...). Develop the qualities from online sources eg McK website on what they’re looking for, consulting sites etc. make sure you have two stories for all of them. Know your fit stories very well in the STAR format (while making this sound natural) and concentrate mostly on ‘what you did’ rather than context (such a common pitfall). 2. Have a list of the most common type of cases (profitability declines, growth strategy, acquisition etc.) and make your own general approach for each that is flexible enough to cater for the case at hand. 3. Do practice cases with people, anyone you can
Thank you! I think that first point is definitely something I would have overlooked. Will def. focus on it in conjunction to my case prep.
Darden has a really great case book out there. When I was prepping I found the format of that book to be super helpful as well. I echo many of the sentiments from other posters, good luck!
I mocked someone today and used the Darden book to do so. I agree! Will be using it for myself as well
I slacked in my interview prep until the last month and still landed the offer. Here's what I did last minute to prep:
- do a ton of frameworks, this will make or break you especially in the final round
- find someone who is also interviewing and run a few cases with them, being the interviewee and interviewer help
- practice math in your free time, and run through those easy formulas that might come up (profitability, revenue, etc)
- reach out to alums that do interviews for the firm, and ask if they'll case you
- DO NOT forget fit!! especially important for final round
- listen to Victor Cheng audios (or anything similar) where he interviews students and gives feedback during the interview
Good luck!
Something to look out for is a loss in creativity over time as you’re running cases. It’s really important to avoid slipping into a habitual use of one or two frameworks and neglecting to tailor your approach to the specific problem.
It’s something that has happened to myself and a lot of the people I spoke to who went all out into case prep.
Rocketblocks is great for running quick case-starts, which can help break you out ‘relearn’ how to build a framework ground-up if you find that you need to
Can we get an update from the poster? How did it go?
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