How does case interviews difficulty from an undergraduate (AC/BA) differs from the difficulty from a masters (Associate)

Hi,

I would prepare in the same way for both roles. Interview difficulty will be the same, though the acceptance rates depend very much on a country, particular office, and your school:

1. I've seen many times a situation when BAs were overprepared (case clubs very popular among students), while experienced hires were underprepared (lack of time and information about consulting interviews). In this case, the competition among BAs applicants was much tougher than among associates.
2. It depends on the org pyramid in the particular office. For example, there may be enough BAs but not enough associates, so the acceptance rates for associates will be higher.
3. MBA hiring is different for different schools. For example, at Stanford and Harvard, you can meet many people with 2-3 MBB offers, while it's not the case in other business schools. I also can't say that people doing MBA have lots of time to prepare. I believe that brand matters and they hire more people in top schools in general. 

Best

Hi Antonio,

in my experience the main differences are in the fit part of the interview and expected client interaction/communication skills, while the case part per se is not significant different. In particular:

• Fit part: there will be higher expectations on questions on leadership, impact and drive in an interview for Associates compared to Analyst (using McK as reference for the name of the positions). You are supposed to have clear examples in your MBA/working experience showing the skills.
• Client interaction/Communication: as an Associate, you have more client interaction responsibilities than an Analyst; thus they will test more this side during the interview (eg checking how do you react to pressure, how clearly you communicate your thoughts and clarify information, etc)

Both areas may be covered also for Analysts, for Associates the bar will just be higher.

I agree with Vlad that there may be post-MBA candidates not as well prepared as recent graduates. As the case part is similar, for both the type of interviews you can expect a preparation of 150-200 hours starting from zero on your own to be able to receive an offer (less if you are practicing with experienced peers or expert coaching), which is usually more difficult to reach for someone working full time than for a student.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Antonio,

Based on my experience as a Bain interviewer (and interviewee), the difficulty of the case itself does not vary significantly from an undergrad-level interview to a MBA-level interview.  However, there are a few key differences:

• In undergrad-level interviews, it's more common for interviewers to forego business jargon or technical terms, since the bar of assumed "common knowledge" among interviewees is somewhat lower.  For example, since you have English majors, math majors, business majors, etc. all doing the same case, requiring detailed knowledge of supply chain segments is not necessary, whereas it might be in an MBA-level interview.  However, you would still need to know (at least at a high level) what a supply chain is.  Therefore, structure may be a bit more straightforward but difficulty per se does not differ.
• The "bar of performance" is set much higher for an MBA-level interview, and as such, an outstanding performance from an undergrad candidate may be quite average in the context of an MBA-level candidate pool.  Therefore, getting the basics right is table stakes in an MBA-level interview; you will really need to differentiate yourself with insight and recommendations.

All in all, the skills needed to perform well in an undergraduate-level interview are the same as those needed for an MBA-level interview.  It's just that in the MBA-level interview, the expectations are a bit higher and so those skills need to be a bit more finely-tuned.

Hi,

First of all Masters (if not MBA) does not guarantee you an associate position.

Second, it depends very much on a country, particular office, and your school. In general, I would not expect BA interviews to be easier than Associate interviews. 

1. I've seen many times a situation when BAs were overprepared (case clubs very popular among students), while experienced hires were underprepared (lack of time and information about consulting interviews). In this case, the competition among BAs applicants was much tougher than among associates.
2. MBA hiring is different for different schools. For example, in Stanford and Harvard, you can meet many people with 2-3 MBB offers, while its not the case in other business schools. I also can't say that people doing MBA have lots of time to prepare. I believe that brand matters and they hire more people in top schools in general. 

To sum up - you should never expect that your interview will be easier for any reason and you should do your best to prepare.

Best,

I agree with parts of what Vlad, Antonio and Francesco wrote but will add a few things as well. 

• Cases will largely be the same for everyone, but more help / guidance will usually be provided by the interviewer for undergrads / non-MBA grads
• Interviews will vary by country, but rarely by office 
• The bar will be higher for the fit / personal impact section of the interview for an MBA or experienced hire candidate versus an undergrad or even grad (but non-MBA) candidate
• Your school DOES NOT matter. Once you make the cut to the first round, you are lumped in with everyone else. Certain schools are given priority only for economies of scale (I could talk at length about this having run several recruiting budgets with recruiting targets)
• There is a BIG difference in the first round interviews and 2nd / final round interviews. Partners and senior partners will often have different types of fit questions (with high bars) and their own cases, which typically come from real world experiences

As for preparation, no one gets a break for not being prepared regardless of whether they have a demanding job, they are writing a thesis or they have 50% free time.  

For associates (pre MBA) and consultants (post MBA) interviews are the same. There is a different expectation in level of preparation around some business concepts and business sense. For PL and P, a case might or might not be given. More frequently a case situation is given and candidatenis asked on how he would organize the team and case itself: how many people, how many weeks, what are the modules, what are deliverables, what is in initial data requests and so on. Fitnquestions for P/PL are also more oriented around knowledge of industry and ability to develop client relationship and team capabilities.

hopecit helps,

Andrea

Hi Anonymous,

unless you are interviewing for Engagement Manager - Project Leader positions or above (in which case they may ask you questions related to project simulations as mentioned by Andrea), the case part would be basically equivalent; the main differences would stand in the fit part of the interview and expected client interaction/communication skills. In particular:

• Fit part: there will be higher expectations on questions on leadership, impact and drive in an interview for post-MBA/experience hire compared to new graduates. You are supposed to have clear examples in your MBA/working experience showing the skills.
• Client interaction/Communication: as post MBA/experience hire, you will have more client interaction responsibilities than a new graduate; thus you will likely be tested on this side during the interview (checking how do you react to pressure, how clearly you communicate your thoughts and clarify information, etc)

I agree with Vlad that there may be post-MBA candidates not as well prepared as recent graduates. As the case part is similar, for both the type of interviews you can expect a preparation of 100+ hours starting from zero on your own to be able to receive an offer (less if you are practicing with experienced peers or experts), which is usually more difficult to reach for someone working full time than for a student.

Best,

Francesco

Hello!

Long story short: the interview parts and competences are the same, but the bar is higher with MBA candidates due to their experience. 

Cheers, 

Clara