Is it a bad idea to not prep for case interviews? I have an upcoming round of interviews with McKinsey, and I honestly think I’ll be more creative and genuine by relying on my consulting background rather than studying frameworks, etc.

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I once cased with a MBB experienced consultant and he had used his knowledge experience and the brushed up on some casing litrature. The combination was fairly lethal and he did cases like Senna used to corner on rainy days!

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Casing Litrature- Online as casecoach, preplounge etc and going through some Bschools case books.

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Preparing for cases does not mean memorizing frameworks, especially if you already have consulting experience, but you should definitely practice both the case and the PEI parts of the interview…

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Depends how much you want the job…

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You are more creative if you prepped so much that you don't have to think about the basics (like pyramid principle, profit tree etc) and can use all your brain for creativity and intuition

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Yes. Part of preparation is understanding the frameworks well enough to apply them but the other part is practicing your communication skills enough to not sound overly scripted. You can only be creative and insightful once you’ve mastered the basics.

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Great advice. I always describe casing as a dance, where you have to know the role that each partner is expected to play. If you don't know the expectations of the role you're supposed to play, you're going to be terrible at the dance.

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You can prepare super wrong if you think memorization is key. Learn case structure and if you are an experienced hire, use your knowledge. Framework knowledge can even block you being more creative.

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I’ve never once prepped for an interview. Worked out well in most cases, really bit me in the ass a few times.

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Depends on your casing experience tbh. I tend to get nervous and so for me practising with others helps a lot

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If you’re already a consultant, screw the prep. Most of what’s out there is probably more detached from the reality of the interview process than you leveraging your own experience. Do ask for a practice case with one of us though, just to get acquainted to our style

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Honestly depends on the recent and depth of your consulting experience. I’ve interviewed loads of former consultants from b school and didn’t think there’s a strong correlation between consulting background and performance.

I also think that the typical pre MBA consulting roles don’t really prep you for case interviews. Mostly modeling and slide building - doesn’t really train to structure a problem in a life client conversation.

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Definitely agree with the others saying that prep helps you be more creative. Like you, when I first started interviewing, I thought I didn’t need to prep since I’ve done case interviews before and I use the underlying skills daily. But my first few case interviews after 4 years at OW were not great. I think what you have to realise / remember is that case interviews are a very contrived way of having a problem-solving discussion, and so while you may be great at structuring / solving problems IRL, you may not be good at communicating the process in such a condensed format.

Easiest prep is to do a few live practice cases - no need to memorise frameworks!

Light prep only but directionally agree!

What is a case and why do you need to prep for it? Every interview I’ve ever done was just talking about my resume/experience, so just curious about this

Funny because I remember reading a McKinsey article about case interviews not being a very good assessment tool.

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Depends on your capacity. No one else knows better than you. If you think you can ace the interview without having to do so much preparations then that's good for you. All you need to do then is to be confident.

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