How I got into MBB on my first try

I had always heard about consulting but I can’t say that I truly understood it until I was working at ASML and I saw how McKinsey was involved. For people who do not know ASML is one of the most integral companies in creating chips. They design the machines that utilize EUV lithography to turn silicone wafers into the micron scaled transistors that the entire world uses. These machines however, are not cheap at all. Imagine starting a business and each one of your products cost approximately $200 million.

These machines are also so complex that there are frquently issues. I mean imagine a scenario where one dust particle can ruin the output of such a machine. Imagine the manufacturing costs, sourcing these unique materials that aren’t being utilized anyhere except for this specific use case. That is what occurs at ASML. The sheer complexity is difficult to comprehend until you see the amazing things they’re doing. The question is, how do you make this machine more reliable, cheaper, easier to ship, etc… how do you sell a product like this?

That’s where the McKinsey team came in. I saw some of the strategies they were employing from sourcing warehouses, engineers, materials, shipping etc. It was pretty mind blowing they were able to make decisions like this and influence the direction of such a massive company.

I thought the whole idea of consulting was interesting. I understand that it is an industry that is absolutely despised by many groups of people but the numbers do not lie, they’re revenue is ridiculous in comparison to the amount of employees they have. Obvsiouly this is only taking into account MBB.

So I decided to apply to all McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. My top choice was initially Bain because they had the most cases in private equity and I am curious about this side of the world. Private equity groups are fascinating from an economics purposes and what they do. However I did not get selected for Bain, in fact I did not even get an interview. I did however get interviews from both BCG and Mckinsey.

Interview Process

The interview process was mostly similar with some key differences. BCG has a interviee led interview while McKinsey has an interviewer led process. Prior to the actual in person interview there is almost like a statistics game for both companies. They both differ but they’re both relatively simple and boil down to having limitied time and trying to optimize a situation or problem while mitigating some kind of loss. I have heard you do not have to be perfect on these online assessment/brain teasers and I know for a fact that I made some pretty major “mistakes” or missed out on opportunities to further fine tune my answers and situations but I kept moving regardless being more focused on finishing in the alotted time period.

This seemed to work well since I moved onto the next round. I used these resources to study which are linked here. I read case studies and tried to practice with anyone who was willing to give me the time. I still think I am pretty weak when it comes to case studies but hey you live and you learn. My experiences interviewing at both McKinsey and BCG was similar since I reached the final round. It was a lot of yapping and was frankly exhausting. Also, I never felt like I hit all the correct points after an interview and I always felt slightly uneasy. I think this is common since the questions are designed to be so open-ended there are many ways you approach a possible topic.

In the end I had to make a pretty tough decision. BCG was offering a great location, a team I liked, and the pay was solid. But around the same time I got accepted into Y Combinator to pursue my own company. I thought about it for a while and honestly it came down to what I would regret more. Taking a safe corporate path when I had this incredible opportunity to build something of my own? That didn’t sit right with me.

So I ended up foregoing the BCG offer to join YC and go all in on my startup. It was definitely a risk but I think if you have the chance to build something and you’re young enough to recover from failure, you should take the shot. Consulting will always be there but opportunities like YC don’t come around every day. Send me a message if you’re curious about either path, always happy to chat.