How do the cases in B-school case books compare to MBB case interviews?

Question

Would the real consulting cases be more difficult?

Answer 1

Hi there,

What a great question!

Let's explore 3 dimensions to answer it:

Content: This is where cases from MBA case books are often closest to real cases. General content in terms of business problems to be solved is what you would expect from MBB.
Format: This is where differences become visible. In case of firms using candidate-led cases, differences are small (but they're there). For McKinsey i.e. interviewer-led cases, the differences are big at best but usually there's a complete disconnect. I have not seen a single case in any commercial or academic resource that actually resembled a real McKinsey case. Hence, I often have to start from 0 with candidates preparing for McKinsey, even those with many cases under their belt.
Delivery: Technically, this depends on the interviewer and has nothing to do with the case itself. Nonetheless, one can deliver the same case in many different ways, which is important to consider. Here too, differences can be very big between reality and what you may find through peer practice, your MBA consulting club, or even sub-par coaches (both for candidate-led and interviewer-led).

Bottom line, make sure you get some preparation time with people who actually know, such as the many great coaches on this platform. Otherwise, there's a risk you're investing/wasting plenty of time in preparing “the wrong way”.

Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!

Answer 2

Hey there,

In terms of difficulty level, they are comparable or even a bit too tough sometimes (which is good for practice)
For candidate-led interviews and firms that employ these, they work well
I have yet to see a case-book case that resembles an actual McKinsey case. Even if it says McKinsey in a university case book or on some products, it is usually not an accurate representation of their interviewing format and style, unfortunately. The best bet for that would be their website or some practice cases they send out in a couple of regions.

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 3

Yes.

But this is moreso because of the people casing you. Just remember, while casing with your peers is very helpful and recommended, it is still the blind leading the blind.

Real interviews tend to move much faster, be shorter, and have much more “questioning” and pushback than cases with your peers. You will also likely get less help from the interviewers.

The best way to really experience what a real interview looks like is to get a mock interview with a case coach!

Answer 4

As it relates to Case Books, I would say they are fairly comparable. When at INSEAD, I liked to pull cases from Kellog's book when casing with classmates.

Oftentimes, business school cases are fairly generic in their layout - charts, data, general objective - which allows for great flexibility in adapting the case so that they can be interviewer/ee led.

I would lean on business school case books after you have some experience undergoing practice cases from each of the firms so that when you do get an idea of the difference between interviewer/ee led cases, depending on which firm you are preparing for, you can adjust the case to where it best suit your (or your partners) needs (i.e., interviewer-led case style ahead of a McK interview, for example).

Answer 5

They are pretty comparable. A lot of cases are created working in conjunction with folks and recruiting teams at MBB. For practice I would highly recommend them.

Answer 6

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