The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at McKinsey & Company in Jan 2010
Interview
Applied through on-campus recruitment process. First round interviews consisted of two one-on-one interviews that were part behavioral and part case. The cases were typical McKinsey - just like what you see on their website. Don't underestimate the behavioral portion, as there is supposedly equal weighting on the case and the personal experience parts. Be prepared to "deep dive" on the real life examples you share.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about a time where you disagreed with someone and were able to convince her or him of your position.
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