Which one of the MBB has the most quantitative interview?

Bain BCG MBB Mck McKinsey
Recent activity on Jun 02, 2019
6 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on May 02, 2019

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Ian
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replied on May 04, 2019
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Answer: It doesn't matter. Hone down your fast math, chart-reading ability, and market sizing. You need them all, regardless of where you're interviewing!

(Note: In my experience McKinsey does have a tougher reputation regarding math)

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Vlad
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replied on May 02, 2019
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

It really depends on how you define quantitative. Based on my sample of 300+ cases:

  • Bain has more printed graphs / tables
  • McKinsey has more hard operational math questions
  • BCG has more market sizing questions

Best

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Anonymous updated the answer on Jun 03, 2019

HI,

There's probably more variation between individual interviewers within the firms than there is between firms. You can expect to run into tables, charts, graphs, etc., especially in the first round. The final round interviews with partners are highly variable

Speaking of Oliver Wyman, interviews can range anywhere from purely qualitative to highly quantitative only. As you will have many interviews, some of them are more qualitative, some are more quantitative, so your quantitative skills will always be tested, though not necessarily by each individual interviewer.

Best regards

(edited)

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Guennael
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replied on May 02, 2019
Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

To add to Vlad's input (or muddy up the picture further): in my own BCG interviews, I had plenty of charts & operational math, but no market sizing.

=> Be prepared for anything, you can only control how good you are, NOT what is asked of you

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Anonymous updated the answer on Jun 03, 2019

Hi,

to add to the previous discussion, as mentioned above, there seems to be more inter-interviewer than inter-firm variation.

However, there seems to be slight deviations between the type of math problems one can typically expect from each of the firms. For example, when interviewing with Bain you should be familiar with Mekko charts and doing math with these, whereas at McKinsey one should expect to run into at least some math problems that have to do with "non-business" problems, e.g. optimizing outcomes within the public sector.

In general I feel that none of the firms warrant a specific quantitative focus / approach to practicing case math. In hindsight what one could do before the interview is to take a look at couple of the publications (McKinsey quarterly etc.) of the focal firm to get more familiar with the chart types the firm tends to favor (e.g. horizontal vs vertical bar charts, Mekko vs. other ways to look at a market etc.). Although the differences are very minor, being presented with a chart in the interview that looks relatively similar to what you've seen before might make the situation a bit less stressful, even if the effect is subconscious.

Anyway, these are very minor things and I doubt they'll make or break the interview.

Best regards

(edited)

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Axel
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replied on May 04, 2019
Bain Consultant | Interviewer for 3 years at Bain |Passionate about coaching |I will make you a case interview Rockstar

In my Bain experience you can always expect at least one market sizing case in your interview process and likely more than one. You should 100% be prepared to take on quantitative cases (math operations with pen and paper) if you want to have a high chance of making it through.

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Ian gave the best answer

Ian

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