Articles

About the Market/Industry

About the Market/Industry

October 22, 2019

You know you are going to get a lot of cases that ask you to analyze the market/industry. Below is a list of core questions you should be thinking and asking about the market/industry. You need to learn these so you can rattle them off in your sleep. It will speed up your structure (because…

About the Client

About the Client

October 15, 2019

You know you are going to get a lot of cases that ask you to analyze a company (the client). Below is a lists of core questions you should be thinking of and asking about the company. You need to learn these so you can rattle them off in your sleep. It will speed up…

Corporate Diversity Begins on Campus

Corporate Diversity Begins on Campus

October 8, 2019

There was a WSJ article of the same title. Basically, it said that companies should change their campus hiring strategies if they want to increase the representation of women and minorities. Having worked in Harvard career services for 18 years (1988 – 2006) I can tell you that the firms have been trying to increase…

Math In a Case Interview

Math In a Case Interview

October 1, 2019

There are three kinds of people in the world, those good at math and those not so good. Sometimes there will be a little, sometimes a lot, but nothing that you haven’t seen before. The most common math you’ll see in a case interview are percentages, ROI, break-evens, weighted averages, net present value, and multiplication…

If You Get Stuck During a Case Interview

If You Get Stuck During a Case Interview

September 24, 2019

If you get stuck during a case and the interviewer doesn’t ask you a question to help you along, then there a few things you can do. First, take a moment to recap where you’ve been. Chances are you’ve either gone into too much detail and are now stuck in the mud or you went…

Advice for International Students

Advice for International Students

September 17, 2019

I’ve advised thousands of international students pursuing careers in consulting. Most of these students initially wanted to work in the U.S. before returning to their home countries. While many were successful, like their American classmates, most were not. Consulting jobs are very competitive and highly sought after. There are other variables as well, the US…

Why Consulting

Why Consulting

September 10, 2019

You know the interviewer is going to ask you why you want to be a consultant: not only should your answer be immediate, but you must also look the interviewer right in the eye. If you look away, it indicates that you are thinking about the question, and that’s enough to end the interview right…

Stating a Hypothesis

Stating a Hypothesis

September 3, 2019

Consulting firms – and only consulting firms – care about a hypothesis. They would like you to state a hypothesis within the first few minutes of the case, usually after you walk them through your structure. I know that it seems crazy to give them an answer to the case before you have any information.…

A Case Journal

A Case Journal

August 27, 2019

I had a student who decided she wanted to do consulting, but she had no business background. Her first attempt at a mock case interview with me was a disaster. That day she started a journal. For every live case she did with me, her classmates, and alumni (she did around 30 live cases), and…

Making Your Own Structure

Making Your Own Structure

August 20, 2019

Every year I receive emails from readers about the Ivy Case System and how they finetuned it to make it easier for themselves. I love to get them! Some reader-hand-crafted frameworks are quite interesting, others not so much. When Smarth sent me his it caught my eye. It’s very complete, there is a lot of…

Giving A Case Interview

Giving A Case Interview

August 13, 2019

There will be times when you partner with a classmate and give each other a case. How do you ensure that it is not the blind leading the blind? How do you make sure that you are giving good feedback and not passing on bad habits. I have developed a Case Review Sheet that you…

MBA School Ranking for Consulting

MBA School Ranking for Consulting

August 5, 2019

BusinessBecause.com reported the latest MBA specialization rankings by QS. The methodology used for each specialization ranking is compiled with three central criteria in mind: career placements, employer reputation, and research strength. For career placement, the rankings consider the absolute number of graduates entering consulting. This is an absolute number and not a percentage of students.…