Dear PrepLounge community,
I want to ask for some educated advice on the preparation plan I have drawn up for myself.
The situation
I'm invited for interview days at Roland Berger (Munich) on February 24, and BCG (1st round) on March 23/24.
My preparation so far
Since November I've been preparing part-time for case interviews. The “Case Interview Fundamentals” course from Crafting Cases served me as an introduction to the world of case interviews. Up to that point, I had not had any contact with interview formats for strategy consultants.
- Hours spent on preparation since November: ~80-100h
- Case Interviews with partners so far: ~ 10
The upcoming journey
Last week, I finished university and am now able to dedicate 100% to interview prep. I've worked out a plan to structure my preparation process for the next few weeks (see table below). During my past preparation, I have noticed that structuring and estimations are my major weaknesses. Therefore, I think these two elements shall be emphasized in my upcoming preparation.
Short summary of the preparation plan
- In sum, ~6 weeks á 56 hours prep time
- Total hours dedicated to case interview & personal fit prep: 352h (152h till RB interview; 200h more for BCG interview)
- Total # of cases planned: 42
- Total # of drills planned: 211
My specific questions
- Do you think the time dedicated to interview preparation as indicated on the spreadsheet is reasonable?
- Are the weights allocated to each preparation method appropriate?
- Do you think the resources (Cases, Drills, Videos, Casecoach) are appropriate/sufficient?
- Am I missing important features of a good case interview preparation?
Maybe some of you are more experienced and have deeper insights as to whether there are other factors I've not considered so far which may have a significant impact on my success. I'm thinking about effects such as “case blindness” or “overdrilling”, i.e., focusing too much on quantity and ignoring other important aspects of successful interview preparation. However, I do my best to account for such side effects by having an open mind, using various sources of information, and also generating business acumen (see screenshot for more details).
I would really appreciate any feedback on my preparation plan. Perhaps this might be helpful to other candidates in applying for consultant positions as well.
(I hope the info on the screenshot can be read, maybe you need to zoom in a bit)
Thanks in advance!
P.S.: I know some of you will advice me to consult a coach for the best possible preparation. However, currently this is not an option for me. Therefore, advice specifically related to the prep plan elaborated so far would be appreciated.
(edited)
Hello Benjamin, Thanks very much for the elaborate answer! I'll definitely take the hints with me. To clarify some of the questions raised: - I will not ignore the other elements such as quantitative analysis, hypothesis testing etc. But I want to put focus on the weaknesses that I've been pointed to in case interviews so far. - I don't think the amount of prep will cause a burnout. In fact, I initially planned with 10h/day, but granted myself a little bit more spare time since the total preparation time seems to be far above average (when giving credit to online sources which mainly state 60-80 hours for case interview prep). Of course, this is up to the individual and cannot be generalized. - To me, numerical drills involve much more than just mental math. It's about being proficient in analyzing charts and data, focusing on the most important numerical aspects and contextualizing the insights as well as creating synthesis with the hypotheses and issues stated at the beginning of the interview. - 90% of my case practices are performed with a case partner. However, it is not easy for me to find "high quality" case partners since the network at my university includes only very few consulting aspirants. What I'm doing is always asking my interview partner to be very critical and give detailed feedback at the end of the interview. In return, I'm doing the same for them! Thanks again for the valuable and highly appreciated input! Best wishes
(edited)
Me again - sorry for the mess, the sub-comment sections seem not to give the option to structure the text. A pity!