I have applied for a BA Intern position at a small European McKinsey office, and even though I was informed at the start of the process that R2 is 2 interviews, the last one being with a partner, I was only scheduled for one with an EM from a bigger office. Also, since then it's been 6 working days and complete silence. How should I interpret that? My feedback from R1 was mostly good with one are for improvement.
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Hi,
Sometimes the process lapses and they don't get back in a timely fashion for a variety of reasons. Often times they may just have challenges finding availability of the interviewer. I wouldn't worry about it, and instead just wait a few more days before following up.
You can find more thoughts and suggested actions in this article:
This is a completely reasonable situation to feel confused about. The timelines and structure you see on the website are the ideal state, but in practice, recruiting often bends based on senior consultant availability and regional capacity—especially for intern roles outside of major recruiting hubs.
The shift to a single interview with an EM from a larger office is a strong signal that your local office is capacity-constrained and is borrowing senior time. Crucially, the EM round likely consolidated the filtering process: given your mixed R1 feedback, they used this single, deep interview to decide if they should invest the non-trivial amount of Partner time required for the final round. If you had a strong conversation, this is actually an efficient way to move you forward, provided you addressed the R1 area for improvement.
Regarding the silence: six working days is not a delay; it is the standard speed of operations when Partner schedules are involved. When interviews are conducted across multiple offices (your local office and the borrowing hub), feedback needs to be pooled, reviewed, and decisions are often batched. The decision only moves forward when the recruiting lead or a Partner sponsor formally signs off on the entire week's results. Until you pass the 10-day mark, assume they are still compiling the results. It sucks to wait, but right now, patience is your only strategy.
All the best!
You shouldn't interpret it in any way.
They might be just taking longer with scheduling. They might also just want you to have the first interview and then schedule the second from the second round. That does happen sometimes.
So don't read too much into it.
Best,
Cristian
Hi there,
This is quite common, especially in smaller European offices
- R2 formats can change and sometimes start with a single EM interview before deciding on a partner round
- Being interviewed by an EM from a larger office is not a negative signal
- Silence for up to a week is normal due to coordination and travel
- With mostly positive R1 feedback there’s no reason to assume rejection
If you don’t hear back after 7 to 8 working days, a short follow-up to the recruiter is reasonable.
Best
Evelina
Hi there,
I suggest you reach out to HR to follow up on scheduling the last interview. You have not gone through the full process so rest assured that they have not made a decision on your candidacy yet.
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