Are some people simply not build to case?

Question

I have spent countless hours and 2 years doing more than 200 cases.
I have spent $1500 on coaching, and another $200 on another coaching platform.
I have practiced with both coaches and peers, all industries and all complexities.

I have interviewed with about 10-11 firms and i have been rejected. Lets say a firm has 3 rounds, i'd do good in 2 but mess up in 1. That either would be a partner round where i'd mess up a business implication, or it would be a math issue where i'd need a "nudge", or it would be anything minor, like forgetting to ask the clarification question after the prompt is given. Or forgetting to number the structures. Or forgetting to bifurcate the creative answer of a brainstorming question. Or forgetting to start answer first on a recommendation. If i feel confident in the first 2 rounds. Something inevitably comes up in the 3rd round that is going to fail me.

I refuse to believe that this is a holistic process and in fact perfectionism is required in case interviews. Like zero mistakes. But is that humanely possible? Is this a flaw of the interview process? Clearly rapport doesn't matter because the process is pretty objective. the interviewer has to check the box.

What are these firms even looking for, if not just playing a round of Squid Game everytime?

Answer 1

Thank you for this, I can understand what you're saying - after all of this how is it still not working?

And you're right, it doesn't need to be a 100% perfect process with zero mistakes but it is a holistic process. For example, when you mess up, how do you come back from it? Do you let that derail you for the rest of the case (with the extra baggage in your mind about past interviews/cases)?

We can get in our heads quite easily.

What about taking a short breather from casing/interview prep? If you have been on the journey awhile it might be time to take a breather, re-set and you can always pick it up again once you have had time to recuperate and re-strategize.

My suggestion:
1) take a breather (at least a month or two)
2) come back to evaluate your mindset as your preparing / interviewing - are you coming from a place that brings all the past interviews and makes yourself worried, or can you start fresh? If you mess up in an interview, how can you move on and not let that feeling permeate the rest of the interview
3)Review your case materials before starting new cases - if you have done 200 cases, spend time reviewing them and ensuring any mistakes made dont happen again.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi,

The answer to your question in the title is yes - not everyone is built to case or built for consulting. Consulting is just one job among countless other jobs that exist in the world. And by many standards of measurement of 'success' - be it wealth or happiness, many people who arent 'built for consulting' have achieved that.

So the question is - do you believe you can do it or not? This is a fundamental belief that you have to get an answer to. For some people, it is defined by a timeline (e.g. I will try for x years, and then give up after). For others, it is defined by number of attempts (ill try 2 times, and if it still doesn't work, i will stop). There is no right answer on what is an acceptable time horizon or # of attempts or other metric that you are trying to determine whether you are built for it or not. It's a negotiation between yourself & what you perceive others expect you to follow.

Assuming you still want to try - now what?

First - i think from your descriptions of your experience, it is clear to me that your fundamentals are still not fully there, and this is leading to the inconsistency
It's less about us interviewers counting the # of mistakes you made, but for you to be able to convince them you have the necessary skills and have the right way of thinking. To put it in the extreme, there have been candidates that me/my peers have made that did not make mistakes, but also did not standout enough to warrant a pass.
So now the question becomes - how do you fix your fundamentals? I can think of 2 paths
1. Starting again from scratch - maybe your original instruction or learnings were not ideal / optimal
2. Don't start from scratch and try and isolate the types of problems/mistakes you make -> identify solutions -> practice and ensure its internalized

Point 3a above of course sounds drastic - but not unreasonable depending on where you actually are now and what your goals are. I can give a more detailed analogy based on some of the skill-based activities I do.. just drop me a dm

Answer 3

Hi there,

That sounds really frustrating, and you’re definitely not the only one who feels this way.

Firstly, I want to highlight that although the MBB hiring process is designed to help identify top candidates, it is not perfect. There are definitely false positives (i.e. people are not great consultants but receive an offer) as well as false negatives (i.e. people who would be great consultants but did not receive an offer). With this in mind, I hope this could help you manage how you perceive these rejections.

Secondly, the MBB process isn’t about being flawless, but about showing consistent, structured thinking even when something small goes wrong. Most successful candidates still make minor mistakes, but they recover quickly and stay calm. I know plenty of consultants who made small mistakes but still got an offer.

Without observing how you perform in cases, I can only share high-level advice. At this point, it might help to focus less on hitting every step perfectly and more on how you handle uncertainty or pressure in the moment to try and minimize the type of mistake you make. If you are stuck, it helps to admit that you're a bit stuck and walk the interviewer through the parts that you understand, up to the part where you don't understand, explain why you're confused, and ask specific questions that you're wondering about, to help the interviewer nudge you in the right direction.

A common mistake I see are candidates that overprepare without actually honing actual structured problem solving and critical thinking skills. The result is that they would be able to solve many cases but not all, and definitely not consistently. If I were you, I'd reflect on this as well.

If consulting is still a career that you want to pursue, I hope you would be able to bring yourself out of this rut and not be disheartened.

Feel free to book a free 15 min with me and I can share my own personal story of how I also felt discouraged after being rejected left, right, and center, and how my approach 2nd time around in preparing for interviews helped me land an offer.

Wishing you the best luck!

Answer 4

Hi there,

I completely understand your frustration. Putting in years of effort, hundreds of cases, and still missing the mark can feel discouraging. The truth is, casing is a mix of skill, mindset, and a bit of innate aptitude.

Some people are naturally wired for this type of problem-solving. They think in structured steps, have strong mental math, and an intuitive sense for business logic. For others, it takes a lot more work to reach the same level. It is not so different from sports or music: talent gives you a head start, but practice and persistence still matter enormously.

You are not “not built” for casing: You are already performing well enough to reach partner rounds, which means you are capable. What might be holding you back is not ability, but pressure, fatigue, or overthinking. At that stage, interviewers test composure and clarity more than technical perfection. Small mistakes rarely kill an interview, but losing confidence after them can.

So yes, casing rewards certain natural strengths, but success is still possible through focused practice and the right mindset. The goal is not perfection; it is to show calm, structured thinking even when things go slightly off-script.

Best of luck!