- Starting too late (fall semester is already too late)
- Treating prep like a sprint instead of a marathon
- Practicing cases without a system to track your gaps
Plus: the summer prep roadmap that gets you ahead of your entire cohort before school starts. Katie Neff (Black Belt Advisor) joins with data from 250+ BB members who landed at McKinsey, Bain, and BCG – including the 22-case benchmark.
Resources
- Want structured support before the semester starts? Join Black Belt
- Not sure yet? Book 15 minutes with Katie
- Pre-MBA program deadlines start May 3
- Create a free MC account to access the Application Readiness Course + other helpful resources for consulting candidates
If you're weighing options and want an honest recommendation, book a free 15-minute consultation with Katie. She'll help you figure out what support makes sense.
Transcript: MBA Summer Prep Playbook
Why the MBA consulting pipeline is shrinking
If you're an MBA looking to break into consulting, today's episode is just for you.
Did you know that only 19% of McKinsey's new hires today are MBAs? That's down from over 80% in the mid-1990s. The pipeline is shrinking, which means competition today is more fierce than it's ever been.
Today, Management Consulted case coach Catherine Lee – ex-Deloitte, ex-BCG, Harvard MBA – breaks down the 3 mistakes that sink incoming MBAs and the summer case prep roadmap that gets you ahead of all of them. She'll help you build your case foundation before school starts.
If you want structured, systematized support to build that case foundation, join Black Belt – learn more at the link. Let's dive in.
The 3 fatal mistakes incoming MBAs make
You're an MBA, you're intelligent, you're ambitious. Most MBAs lose their best prep window not because they're not intelligent, but because they don't realize the real timeline. I was slightly guilty of this – but I was able to save myself.
Waiting too long to start, treating prep like a sprint, and prepping without a system. These are fatal flaws we see over and over again.
Waiting too long: you think, I'm coming into my MBA, I'll wait to get started on prep along with recruitment in the fall after I get started in classes. It's a mistake because it gets way too busy. You have courses, you have networking, you have a lot of events tied to your MBA program. You're not going to have time. Prep is truly a marathon. This is a skill you must be strong at executing in a high-pressure situation.
With prepping without a system: just assuming that if you do cases over and over, eventually you'll get better – but how do you know where your gaps are? We really emphasize: don't walk into these fatal flaws.
Just to drive home why the pressure is on – only 19% of new McKinsey hires today are MBAs, down from 80% in the mid-90s. The number of slots available to MBAs is much fewer than it was in the past. The competition is really steep.
Pre-MBA programs at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain
What's important to know is that prep opportunities are happening now.
If you didn't know it, there are pre-MBA programs available to incoming MBAs. McKinsey, Bain, and BCG all have pre-MBA programs. BCG and Bain have a select set of schools that can apply. McKinsey is open to everyone – but they're all application-required, so it is competitive.
These are a pipeline to get ahead of the competition. You're already in an elite pool as an MBA. But the even more elite pool is the set of applicants who choose to pursue these pre-MBA programs. You might land an internship before you even start school. That's not guaranteed and it doesn't guarantee an offer, but it gives you a chance to network in advance and already understand much more than your peers.
Preparing through an MBA: one coach's experience
Hey everyone. First, I'm so excited for all of you going into your MBA – it's going to be some of the best years. But there is also a bit of anxiety. I remember going into that program, because you are investing a lot of your resources and your time, and you may have specific firms you'd love to work at once you finish your MBA.
I remember that intensity going through recruiting at Harvard Business School – the feeling of expectation, being in a group of highly motivated, competitive people. The key to balancing a great MBA experience with a successful recruiting outcome is exactly what you're doing today: getting ahead of it, getting prepared even before your first days on campus.
I ended up at BCG in the New York office, and I was really happy with that outcome – but I did find the recruiting process quite stressful. Not just the case prep, but the emotional side of getting ready for it. I also went through case prep as an undergrad and ended up at Deloitte in Toronto. But unless you're consistently practicing your case interview skills, you do tend to lose it over time. By the time I was doing it again as an MBA, I had forgotten a lot of the basics.
What we do at MC is teach candidates a very structured approach to practicing cases and behavioral interviews, so that you can consistently perform at a high bar – not having these one-off instances of a good case versus a bad case. That's why we're here today: to give you some pointers on the common mistakes MBAs make as they're preparing for consulting, what to keep in mind, and how the MC system can help.
What the first semester actually looks like
To put into context what your experience will be like when you start the first semester: it's going to be a fire hose. It's going to be incredible when you first start classes and get to meet all of your fellow classmates. But once you hit the ground running, there are so many activities that are going to take your time. You're going to want to spend a lot of that time just getting to know your classmates – that really is a big part of the MBA experience.
What we tend to find is that when you're faced with all these trade-offs, it becomes really hard to peel off time and master the skills that would get you to an excellent place for interviews, which come right around the corner in January – applications are due in November.
The candidates who are in a good place have done their preparation ahead of the semester starting, during the summer, because it takes weeks to months of preparation to get to that mind space where you feel confident to deliver every time. The coping mechanisms for folks who are less prepared include not performing their best academically, or missing out on crucial getting-to-know-each-other activities and trips – which really does take away from the MBA experience. That's not what we'd want for you when the option of being prepared going in is available.
The first mistake: waiting too long
Here are the top 3 mistakes we see MBAs make that end up making everything harder.
The first one is exactly what I was describing: when you're in the middle of preparing for interviews in the fall or early January timeframe, you're just not consistently performing. That's because you're juggling all the other commitments that school puts on you. It's not really just about putting in the hours. A lot of people think: if you just do this in a dedicated crunch, you can make it. But as candidates begin the case process, they realize there's a very specific way of conducting a case that requires not just technical skills and creative skills, but a certain polish to really stand out.
The challenge is that if you're only starting to prepare when you get the interview, it's going to be extremely stressful. The emotional toll should not be underestimated. We see candidates who are rushing in over 2 or 4 weeks to get ready, and the pressure of feeling like "I'm not quite ready – am I going to be ready?" weighs on them as much as the actual effort of doing the cases or behavioral prep.
The 22-case benchmark
We have surveyed over 250 of our Black Belt members who landed offers at firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Accenture, and Deloitte. We asked them one question: how many cases did you do before you went to that interview and landed the offer?
The answer? An average of 22.
You don't need to do hundreds of cases, but you do need a structured approach – and that is what our Black Belt program offers. We provide one-on-one coaching with a structured plan tailored to your goals, your timeline, and your gaps. If you are serious about consulting, click the link to learn more and join Black Belt today.
The second mistake: treating prep like a sprint
There's quite a difference between preparing for case interviews and, say, learning a new subject or cramming for an exam. Case interviews require repetition over time and consistency – periodically getting feedback through mock interviews on what you're doing wrong, how to get better, and then actually iterating on that feedback consistently.
Something someone told me when I was first learning and really struggling with my case prep is: expect that when your actual interview day comes along, you're going to perform at pretty much the lowest of any given case you've done as a mock over the last two weeks. That's because there's a kind of muscle memory – a baseline behavior – that you build over time. If you're stressed on the day, which you most likely will be, it's human nature to go back to your comfort level baseline.
If you're doing a sprint prep over 4 weeks or 2 weeks before your interview, you tend to either reach a plateau – maybe at B or B+ – but not consistently getting to A. You unfortunately need to ace every single interview to get the offer, given how competitive the space is. Or you go up and down and feel very volatile in how ready you are.
To get to case mastery, you're really trying to improve that baseline – the default you'll get to. The way to do it is to spread that work out over a longer period of time, so you're able to deliver consistently and build confidence: "I'm much better at the math analysis now. I feel really confident about structuring cases now."
The third mistake: prepping without a system
The third mistake is trying to prepare without some way of categorizing where you're going well and where you're going wrong. Think about the difference between doing 15 mock cases – some with a friend, some on your own – and just getting the impression of "that felt okay" or "that felt terrible," without really understanding beyond "I need to do better" what exactly went wrong.
If you're casing with a friend who is going through the same process, there's a certain blind spot. You can only coach another person so much on what you can see in yourself. With a system like the one MC has, there's a real way to identify and categorize the areas where you're strong and the areas where you can improve – whether that's specific technical skills, communication areas, market sizing, structuring, communicating your logic upfront, or being creative with brainstorming.
With a system and a step approach, you're able to start with the foundational elements and build block by block, so you're not just thrown in with an overwhelming sense of "There are several things I'm not good at – what's the best way to improve in the time I have?"
What a system does for your chances
A system really increases your chances of landing an offer. A system makes sure you're focusing on the essential pieces that will optimize your chances instead of meandering around doing what your panicked mind thinks you need to do in the moment.
Our Black Belt program takes what is an industry-standard acceptance rate of under 5% – to 80% of our Black Belt clients landing at least one offer. We have a track record: over 10 years of experience. If you commit to the process, you are really optimizing your chances.
What Black Belt solves
When we think about what Black Belt solves – it solves a couple of things.
We provide a structured step-by-step system that really focuses on case prep, because at the end of the day, that is the core of landing that offer. But we also give you all the pieces working up to that. Maybe your resume is already highly consultified, so we skip straight to case prep. But maybe you're starting from square one and need all the pieces: resume, networking, online assessment practice. We're going to get you there.
How? Feedback. One of the most important things you need is feedback. Marathon runners who win races have a coach – someone who tells them "you're running wrong this way" or "you need to move your arms differently." That's what a coach is for in consulting, and you are in an elite competition.
Guided progression: we're all procrastinators. The accountability of another session with your coach is what keeps you showing up more prepared.
And how do you know when you're ready? We have seen, over more than a decade, that about 22 high-quality cases optimize your chances of getting an offer. Not because that's a magic number, but because those 22 cases are paired with drills, working through challenges with a coach, and really understanding the firm.
The MC 4-step system for building case mastery
The system is really about building skill sets step by step. Here are the 4 steps that get you to that end goal.
The first and second steps are more about the technical foundation. In consulting, there's a lot of focus on structuring – thinking in first principles, breaking down a problem into its component parts, and thinking about problems that are very poorly defined at the outset where you are the one who has to add structure and creativity. Making estimates that nobody really knows the answer to, but providing the best estimate based on reasonable thinking.
Market sizing is an example of something that tests all of these things: you have to come up with something you don't think about often, make intelligent estimates, do numerical reasoning quickly, and do it all in a way that is calm, composed, and polished.
The second step is math and brainstorming. In the case you're going to be presented with exhibits and tables. Verbally, you'll be told a bunch of numbers that you'll have to decide what to do with and come up with the formulas to take you to the right answer. This is something that even very analytical, quantitatively-inclined candidates need to work on. This type of math is not the same as plugging things into Excel – it's very concrete, tactical thinking about the most efficient way to answer a particular segment of a problem and relay that back to the overall goal, then think through implications and risks for the client.
Once you've gotten that technical foundation down – you're able to structure, you can think out loud, you can talk in a way that is both stream of consciousness but also logical and reasonable, and you can do math on the spot and analyze graphs quickly – then step three is about developing basic business understanding and intuition. When the firm thinks about putting you in front of a client, they need to trust that you can have sophisticated conversations with business leaders. McKinsey, BCG, and Bain serve large corporations with very experienced senior executives. Having business judgment will really help you build trust with those executives. During the recruiting process, the firms are looking to see if you have that basic instinct – what is really common sense. But it's not common sense everyone has if you haven't spent years embedded in an industry. Our program gives you that business foundation in the quickest way possible through a series of lectures and through the mock case process, where you learn by osmosis across different cases in different industries.
The final step is firm-specific prep. This is where we help you think through your identity, the firm's identity, and what makes a good match – so that when you're preparing your stories to describe your accomplishments, your character traits, and your spike, you know what you're saying. That spike – the one thing about you that really distinguishes you from other candidates and why that might make you a really good consultant – crafting that story and being able to state it confidently in various ways is a big part of the process.
The 6-8 week timeline and what the case count means
Each step compounds on the last. Market sizing and structuring fundamentals usually take a beginner about 1 to 2 weeks to get comfortable with. Then math and brainstorming is an additional 2 weeks. Business judgment, pressure testing, and wrapping everything together: we really find that most candidates need a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks to fully feel confident going into real-life cases.
On average, our clients have done at least 22 cases in order to land their offer. On top of those, they may also be doing a number of drills – where you identify a component of a case you may not be as strong on and work with coaches specifically on those. So think about a minimum of 8 weeks of prep, where you're building on top of each step: starting with 5 to 10 cases in the early weeks, and by the end you'll have done 30+ cases in addition to the drills that help you dig deep in the places you want to improve.
The challenge people come across is just not being able to put all of that together in a really tight timeframe. Imagine if you really just had 2 to 3 weeks right before your interview and you had class and you're leading some club – it becomes too much. You feel like at any time you're taking time to do one thing, you're losing out on another, and it's incredibly stressful. Each step on its own is manageable if you can chunk them out the way this process suggests, and ideally get ahead of it so that you can dedicate the right time to each step.
Who Black Belt is – and isn't – for
If you're serious, we're here to help you. If you're not serious about it, we won't be a good fit – because we're going to help you figure it out now, so that when you start school, you're already ahead. You've hit the ground running, you're enjoying school, you're networking, you're going to those invite-only events, and everyone else is panicking.
If you're still not serious about targeting consulting – if you're between investment banking and venture capital, or maybe you want to do general management – we're not a good fit, because we are going to drive home consulting-specific recruitment.
If you are really a solo rider and just want to figure it out yourself: great. It's a harder road, but that's okay.
And if you're not ready to commit the time – let me tell you, this is a commitment. I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at my family's dinner table doing math drills because I waited until the last minute. You don't want to be that person. You want to enjoy your time.
This is what we're here for: committed, ambitious, incoming MBAs who want to get that offer.
If you're still not sure, or just want to understand the best fit for you – because we have a couple of different versions of Black Belt – you can book a call and we can talk about your specific situation and decide what the best fit is and when to get started. If you're ready to jump in, you can pick the Black Belt option that is the right fit for you right now. Or if you're still figuring things out, continue along the way until you're ready.
On interview day, you default to your floor
On interview day, you default to your floor – not your ceiling. The whole game is building that floor high enough.
That's exactly what our Black Belt program is for. Learn more and join today at the link. Book a call with Katie if you're not sure yet what the right next step is.
Last thing: if you got something from this one, do me a solid and hit subscribe wherever you're listening or watching. It helps keep the show going and it means a lot to the whole team. See you on the next one.