I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company (New York, NY) in Jan 2012
Interview
Initial communications included a few calls with people from the office and a dinner in early November in the city in which I live. There was not too much recruiting involved, I just talked to some folks at the office and some former business analysts at my school. First-round interviews were at McK's office in the city in which I'm studying. Three cases, all of them very structured and covering different areas of businesss (marketing, operations, strategy) and industries. Second rounds were in NY a couple of days later. Three cases, completely different than the first round (much less structured). The offer was given that same day in the evening.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What would you do if you found a hen that lays golden eggs?
On campus, met with three different partners/associate partners. Behavioral question followed with case. Behavioral interview they were fishing for something very specific in the story and more often than not I didn't even get to the end of what I prepared.
Case was much shorter than Case Book examples. They take your scrap work so make sure it's clean.
1)Framework (MECE is very important to them)
2)Insights from Graph (Important to hit 3rd level insights)
3) Math Calculation (Math wasn't complicated but had many coponents, organization is key)
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where you handled a conflict with a coworker
Long and hard. Overall, the people were really nice, but one of the partners in my very last interview gave me a very difficult time with one specific chart. The cases were much harder than I had actually prepared for.
I applied online. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company in Jan 2026
Interview
It consisted of three case interviews and a personal experience interview question. Mine were in one day back to back. The PEI was pretty standard. the case interviews were difficult.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a challenging situation you encountered when working with someone of an opposing opinion