Updated May 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant MBA summer associate consulting recruiting at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain is the single most important cycle in your two-year MBA. Applications open in October of your first year, interviews are held in January, and the summer associate role runs 8-10 weeks between your first…
Read more
Updated May 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Harvard Business School sends 18-22% of its graduating MBA class into management consulting each year. McKinsey, BCG, and Bain combined typically place 130-170 students annually, putting HBS firmly in the top three MBB feeder programs globally. The HBS consulting recruiting process runs through the…
Read more
Updated May 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant MBA consulting recruiting runs on a tight 20-month cycle. Pre-MBA networking starts in the spring before you matriculate, internship resumes drop in October-November of your first year, MBB case interviews happen in January, and full-time offers for most candidates are wrapped by October of…
Read more
Updated October 30, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Strategy& runs a genuinely separate recruiting funnel from PwC general consulting despite the shared parent. Most candidates don’t realize this and either apply only through the PwC general consulting portal (missing Strategy& entirely) or apply to both without understanding they’re distinct processes. The…
Read more
Updated October 30, 2026 | By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Strong MBB-prepped candidates fail at L.E.K. with surprising frequency. Not because the firm is harder than MBB — the bars are different but comparable — but because L.E.K. tests for a specific mindset that doesn’t show up automatically in candidates trained for general…
Read more
Florian spent five years at McKinsey as a Senior Consultant and is a highly experienced consulting interviewer and problem-solving coach. Having conducted interviews with hundreds of candidates, he understands exactly what top-tier firms look for in successful applicants.
He founded StrategyCase.com to make top consulting careers more accessible by providing tailored, up-to-date insights into the recruiting process. Recognized as the most successful case and fit interview coach, Florian has helped his clients secure 700+ offers at MBB, Tier-2 firms, Big 4 consulting divisions, in-house consultancies, and boutique firms over the past four years.
He is the author of “The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interview,” “The 1%: Case Interview Workbook,” and “Consulting Career Secrets”, all available on Amazon.
