McKinsey Interview Bars

Question

Hi everyone,

I've been preparing for McKinsey interviews and came across the term "bars" frequently. I have a few questions regarding this:

What is the meaning of "bars" in the context of McKinsey interviews?
Why does each McKinsey office have different bars?
How are these bars measured or assessed during the interview process?

Any insights or detailed explanations would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi there,

The “bar” refers to the performance level you need to meet in PEI and Case to get an offer.
It's the same across offices globally.
McKinsey Case Interview & Personal Experience Interview

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 2

Interviewer jargon :)

1. It's a theoretical concept. It's the expected / required performance level in order to get an offer or pass to the next round.

2. Mckinsey doesn't have (theoretically) different bars. But if for an office there's a relevant imbalance between openings and number of candidates, the bar may be higher (never lower).

3. There's an expected level of performance for the personal experience interview and the case interview. There's multiple criteria involved.