McKinsey Insight, APD Recruiting and Case Study Practice!

Hi all! I'm a PhD student in biomedical engineering. I've always been interested in business, and now that I'm (kinda) on my way to graduating, I have been really interested in consulting, and more specifically, working at McKinsey & Company. I know McKinsey is one of few firms that recruits PhDs in the sciences, and I just submitted my application for the Insight program this will be held this summer.

Is anyone else in my boat? I know there is a case study portion for the Insight interview, so I would love to practice cases with someone as well. We do have some resources at our school, but it would be cool to meet people outside my network in other APD programs (JD, MD). I think I'll also apply to BCG, but McKinsey would be my top choice. After that, I would consider business/strategy analyst positions in pharma or working for a startup. Not sure if this is the most appropriate forum for a person like me, but it does seem to be the most active that I can find on Google.

Thanks!

 

I'm an APD but JD so I can't do insight and already secured a summer position at a law firm but I'd love to practice with you as I'm looking to interview for full-time positions in the fall. Send me a PM.

TLH
 

Why not apply to a life sciences strategy firm? Are you looking to get out of the focus on the sciences and into other industries? From what I understand, firms like LEK, ClearView, Health Advances, etc. take on project work that actually relies on your understanding of the science as a foundational and differentiating skill. As a fellow PhD who joined a life sciences firm, I've found the work to be incredibly compelling, where rather than discard my science, I get to use it to inform opportunity assessments and corporate innovation strategy.

I believe ClearView has a three-day immersion program similar to Insight - no interest in giving that a shot?

 

RoadDogg, I've considered going the life science boutique route as well. However, I've wondered about the types of exit opps available after leaving a place like Clearview compared to leaving an MBB after a few years of experience.

 
Best Response

Dead_Fox, exit opps are certainly different, but my experience has been that it's a question of cross-industry breadth (offered by MBB) versus within-industry acceleration (offered by boutiques).

Speaking from my personal experience and what I have seen of others, firms like ours tend to place people into market research, new product planning, and business development roles within pharma and biotech, as well as venture capital roles. All of the experiences you will gain will directly inform how to assess and value potential innovations - in short, is the cost of making/acquiring innovation X justified by the revenue potential? If you want a role specifically helping those companies with their investment/innovation strategies, then there's no better place to be. For me personally, the combination of targeted skills development plus rapid career stage growth has placed me on headhunter radars for Director-level positions within 2 years of taking the job - I don't have colleagues in MBB firms who can say the same.

However, if you want to cast a broader net, then MBB is clearly the right choice. For most PhDs I talk to, they still like the science, and often find innovation strategy to be far more fulfilling than organizational strategy. If you want the former, boutiques are the way to go. If you want the latter (or want to leave healthcare/life sciences altogether), then MDD makes more sense.

Hope this helps!

 

McKinsey and BCG are increasingly hiring PhDs. If you're at a big office, I'd estimate 15-20% of the graduate level classes at these firms are PhDs now, which is much more than it has been historically. This seems to be part of the movement to have more specialized technical knowledge at these firms and not just an army of generalists. Bain doesn't seem as interested in PhDs for now, but it wouldn't hurt to apply there too.

You're right to be looking for case prep partners. Buying the prep books is great, but there is no substitute for doing some live case prep sessions with a knowledgeable partner before your interviews.

 

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for responding - it's so great to hear there are people like me out there! Roaddog, yes, I have heard about Clearview's 3 day immersion program as well. However, I'm just not interested in technical/healthcare consulting at the moment. I think I specialized way too much during my PhD, and honestly I would just like to take a step back, do something interesting and learn something new. From what I have read and heard and the people I've met, McKinsey is definitely the best in terms of alumni network and also the most prestigious. I've also considered getting my MBA, as I'm really interested in venture capital (I have a lot of interests, which is good and bad sometimes =)), but it seems that I can get all that training and get paid at the same time if I work for a big three consulting firm.

One guy in our lab went to Bain a few years ago, but he also had an MBA (along with a PhD) so he probably targeted them directly. I do attend a target school for BCG and McKinsey, but for some reason have had not so positive experiences with the recruiter (probably because she has to deal with so many people).

I'm also part of dropoutclub Dot org and found that to be a good resource (not as good as this one). I just got my account set up so I'm still trying to get my settings/notifications in place. I also have the "Case in Point" book by Marc Consentino and have been leafing through it, but nothing beats old fashioned practice. I've never been huge social media person but figured this would be the best way to connect with people with similar interests (and it seems it has! I'm still floored by the response and support...was expecting nothing, especially considering my username haha). Patrick, thanks for the preplounge link...I had no idea!

Thanks again everyone, and I hope to be in touch with some of you soon! Would love to keep this thread going if anyone wants to share their experience as an APD or interviewing with different MBB.

 

Hi all, I am a PhD candidate at a target school. I applied to the McKinsey Insight Engineering & Science and got invited for a phone interview. Anyone else here heard back?

I read that the interview will be 20-30 minutes and go over resume and interest in consulting related questions, as well as a business scenario problem. Anybody with an idea of what the business problem could be like? I have been going through some of the case interview problems, but I am not sure what could be asked on phone in such a short duration.

Any thoughts? Anybody wants to practice?

 

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