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B-School Case book

BCG McKinsey and Bain Case Interview MBB
New answer on Jun 29, 2020
4 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Jun 24, 2020

Dear Community,

What do you think the three best business school case book (which year of edition) ? and Why ?

Thank you

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jun 24, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

Here's a "secret": The years on the school case books don't really matter. They might tweak a thing or two, add or remove a case or two, but that's normally it!

That being said, I personally like:

  • Ross - great firm overview, industry overview, key concepts, and the cases aren't bad (they also include proposed frameworks)
  • Stern - EXCELLENT industry overview, cases not just good but really clear and easy to follow
  • Columbia - awesome in late stages when looking to focus on certain areas. In their table of contents (and in header of each case), they lay out not just industry and case type, but firm (BCG, Bain, etc.), concepts tested (breakeven, brainstorming, etc.) AND difficulty across math, structure, and creativity
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BigRed2020
Skilled
replied on Jun 24, 2020
Actively preparing for MBB Interviews

I like Darden 2019, great in both cases and knowlege foundation. Next best are Fuqua 2015 and Wharton 2015 (I don't have access to newer versions), a little too much how-tos but cases are great.

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Anonymous replied on Jun 24, 2020

Hello,

I am not familiar with business school books but in any case I would concentrate on choosing only one book that you like (I have always worked with Case in Point which I find very good).

The most important thing is to build your frameworks toolbox and then switch to the next step: test yourself in a real interview situation (eg with other candidates then coaches). Indeed, in real life, you should generally not try to map frameworks with the case study but build something tailor-made. You can understand this through a real discussion that looks like a real interview.

At your disposal to talk about it in PM if you wish.

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jun 29, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Instead of focusing on one school in particular or even one year in particular. Once you have seen some, you will see that types of cases and conceps are indeed pretty repetitive.

I would try to choose a few, to avoid any "bias" that any of the schools are supposed to have, and build your own library.

On top, you can leverage the one in PrepL.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

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Ian gave the best answer

Ian

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