Founder of StrategyCase.com | Ex-McKinsey | Author of The 1% Case Interview Books | Helping 1M future consultants succeed in careers & interviews
Joined September 2017
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9 Sep 2025
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I’ve seen hundreds of candidates spend tens of thousands of hours preparing for consulting interviews.
Here’s the hard truth: most of that prep is wasted. 🧵
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BCG fit is not McKinsey PEI.
At BCG, fit is assessed in every live interview, right next to the case. It is more conversational, less scripted, and requires several flexible stories plus a sharp “why BCG.”
How to prepare:
strategycase.com/bcg-fit-int…
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Candidates waste time trying to fix everything.
Top consultants do the opposite.
They use the 80/20 principle to find the few drivers that actually matter, prioritize them, ignore the noise.
That is how you move faster in cases and real consulting.
strategycase.com/80-20-paret…
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McKinsey’s Technical Expertise Interview is not a casual experience chat.
It is a deep-dive into one technical project, with follow-ups on context, choices, trade-offs, outcomes, and lessons learned.
Here is how it works and how to prepare:
strategycase.com/mckinsey-te…
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Coming from Big 4 and aiming for McKinsey, BCG, or Bain?
Your challenge is not “lack of experience.” It is overcoming the “not a strategist” discount.
Here is how to position your background, choose the right stories, and case well:
strategycase.com/switch-from…
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Case interview frameworks fail because candidates memorize templates instead of building structures from first principles.
Strong frameworks are not generic. They are broad, deep, tailored, and tied to the client’s problem.
Learn how to build them here:
strategycase.com/case-interv…
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Most consulting resumes are rejected in seconds.
A strong review does not just fix formatting. It checks whether your CV shows consulting-relevant impact, structure, leadership, and problem-solving.
Here’s when a consulting resume review is worth it:
strategycase.com/consulting-…
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BCG cases reward one core instinct: you drive.
Not the interviewer.
Not a memorized framework.
You.
The strongest candidates structure from first principles, steer the analysis, show business creativity, and close with a top-down recommendation.
strategycase.com/bcg-case-in…
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Most candidates don’t need a prettier consulting resume.
They need one that survives the 10-second screen.
A resume review is worth it when screening is your bottleneck, not when case prep is.
My take as a former McKinsey screener:
strategycase.com/consulting-…
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Bain’s AI interview is not a test of whether candidates can outsource the case to AI.
It is a test of whether they can direct the tool, challenge outputs, and own the recommendation.
New tool. Same consulting standard: structure, judgment, synthesis.
strategycase.com/bain-ai-int…
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McKinsey EDAD is often misunderstood.
It can give selected Arabic-speaking candidates something extremely valuable: a guaranteed place in McKinsey’s assessment process.
But it does not guarantee an offer.
You still need to pass Solve, cases, and PEIs.
strategycase.com/mckinsey-ed…
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MBB MBA sponsorship is not something you negotiate at the offer stage.
You earn it inside the firm: 2-3 years of strong performance, internal sponsorship, MBA admit, then a 2-year post-MBA return commitment.
The financial upside can be massive.
strategycase.com/mba-sponsor…
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MBA vs direct-entry consulting is not a prestige question.
It is a $400-500K career capital question.
Direct-entry wins if you already have MBB access.
The MBA wins if you need a brand reset, career pivot, or long-term optionality.
Full ROI breakdown:
strategycase.com/mba-vs-dire…
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The MBB summer internship is not the prize.
It is the final round.
Win it by:
• Owning workstreams
• Speaking up
• Asking for feedback
• Improving every week
• Delivering fast
The interview gets you in.
The summer earns the role.
strategycase.com/mba-summer-…
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Consulting to Big Tech looks like the dream exit.
Brand-name company. Better lifestyle. Product-adjacent work. Strong pay.
But the real question is not “Can consultants enter Big Tech?”
It is “Which roles actually value consulting skills?”
Breakdown:
strategycase.com/consulting-…
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Consulting exit opportunities are not equal.
PE offers upside. Corporate strategy offers stability. Startups offer ownership. Big Tech offers comp and optionality. VC/HF exits are narrower and hard to land.
The best exit is the one you plan for.
strategycase.com/consulting-…
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1/ Brainteasers are no longer the core of most MBB interviews.
McKinsey, BCG, and Bain rarely use them today because they are less tied to real consulting work than business cases.
But they still show up in tier-2, Big 4, boutique, and industry interviews.
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3/ A strong brainteaser answer usually has 4 traits:
• Structured problem breakdown
• Logical reasoning under pressure
• Creativity without randomness
• Clear, concise communication
Getting stuck is not fatal.
Getting stuck silently usually is.
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4/ I broke down how to approach consulting brainteasers, the main types you might face, common mistakes, and how to practice them effectively here:
strategycase.com/how-to-appr…
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MBB target schools matter, but not in the way most think.
Your university can open doors, but it does not replace the real screening factors: GPA, resume spike, networking, and interview performance.
Here’s how U.S. target schools actually work for MBB:
strategycase.com/us-target-s…
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