Didn't expect an interview - little to no consulting background

I'm a undergrad junior, and I admit I've spent way too much time on academics the past two years and not enough on building actual skills and my CV. So I've done zero networking, and I only joined a consulting club in my school literally this semester (ie 3 weeks ago).

I decided to throw my hat into the ring and apply for internships at a whole bunch of companies at once, including MBB, not expecting much. Cue my shock (and dread) when I found out that I have a Bain first-round interview on campus next week. I've done exactly 4 case interviews in my life, 2 when applying for the consulting club 3 weeks ago, and 2 more during trainings at the consulting club. The people in the club (most of whom have amazing consulting internship experience) say that I lack experience but seem intuitively decent at cases, which is how I got in. But I feel like my case experience thus far has been hearing the question, blanking out for 10 seconds, then something pops into my head which turns out to be a good answer... which isn't a reliable strategy in any way. I love the problem-solving aspect of cases (which i find really fun), but walk into every case with no certainty or sense of preparation at all.

I've been speed reading Case in Point and victor cheng's book, as well as trying to get people to case with me, but everyone's pretty busy with recruiting season and midterms right now, and my interview is in less than a week. What's the best use of my limited time in this case?

For reference: junior, semi-target school, science+econ double major, 3.99 gpa, perfect gre, meh internship and meh extracurriculars, zero networking

 

Firstly congrats, it sounds like the start of a cool success story. Secondly I would continue focusing on cases and general strategic thinking. Improving the speed of mental maths or thoughts helps too and can be done in the presence of someone or racing a clock. You can find resources online e.g. list all the elements of a pasta making company in 60 seconds and you go from wheat supply to marketing.

Pester everything that moves or breathes to help you with cases and after each one ask for as much detailed feedback as possible.

 
  1. Every case starts from a good structure (MECE). It is where you go back to refer to when you hit that 'ten seconds blank': 'okay, let's look back at our structure here...'
  2. Don't forget to prepare for fit part, especially it sounds like you don't have a lot to say, so prepare ahead will definitely do you good.
 

So my interview was last week, two case interviews. First one was in a slightly different format than I expected and I took a while to adapt to it, made some stupid math mistakes and didn't connect that well with my interviewer. Second interview went much better, did well, interviewer and I really connected and he said that I did a good job.

Waited for a week, no reply, assumed I've been dinged. Pretty sure final-round interviews for the US offices have already taken place. Oh well, life goes on. Then today I get an email from a recruiter. I applied to an international office, and the recruiter from that international office asked if he could set up a time to have a short call with me about my application. Does anyone know what a call from a recruiter could mean after a first-round interview?

 

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