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How to Prepare for a McKinsey Interview

Solve, the process, the PEI, and the case: explained by a former Associate Partner who conducted 300+ candidate interviews in the room, not from a case book.

By Michael Kirchner, former McKinsey Associate Partner · Last updated July 2026

Reflects generalist Business Analyst and Associate hiring (undergrad and MBA, intern and full-time) in the United States. The process evolves over time, including toward more AI-driven elements that pressure-test the same underlying skills. Confirm current specifics with your recruiting coordinator.

The McKinsey interview process, start to finish

Solve

Online assessment

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Round 1

2 interviews

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Final Round

3–4 interviews

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Offer

Decision meeting

Section 01 covers Solve, section 02 covers what each round looks like.

Before You Interview: McKinsey Solve

Before you speak to a human interviewer, most candidates complete McKinsey Solve: a game-based problem-solving assessment taken online, usually right after your resume clears the firm's initial screen. It replaced McKinsey's older written test, and it evaluates how you work through a problem, not just the answer you land on: the hypotheses you test, the decisions you make along the way, and how you adjust as new information changes the picture.

Solve is scored in deciles, one through ten. Most candidates only receive a pass or fail. McKinsey doesn't proactively share your decile, though recruiting will usually tell you if you ask directly. Your result is considered alongside your resume before you're invited to case interviews, so treat it as a real gate, not a formality. A weak Solve result can end a strong resume's chances before anyone reads your case.

No business knowledge or gaming experience is required, and McKinsey provides an in-game tutorial before you start. In my experience, Solve doesn't disappear from the picture once you clear it. It's part of the fuller context an evaluator has on you relative to your applicant pool, even once you're in the room.

How McKinsey Runs the Process

Most candidates walk in without a clear picture of the structure, which makes an already stressful hour feel more unpredictable than it needs to be. Here's the shape of it.

Scope: the format below reflects generalist Business Analyst (undergrad) and Associate (MBA) hiring in the United States, intern and full-time. Timing, round count, and format can differ by office, region, and specialist track (McKinsey Digital, for example), and continue to evolve. Always confirm current specifics with your recruiting coordinator.

Round 1

Typically 2 interviews, usually with more junior interviewers: Associates or Engagement Managers.

Final Round

Typically 3–4 interviews, held in the office you applied to, with more senior interviewers in the mix.

Exact format can vary by office. Always confirm specifics with your recruiting coordinator. But the shape of a single interview is consistent, and it's almost always 50 minutes, interviewer-led:

5 min Intro and rapport-building

10–15 min Personal Experience Interview (PEI)

20–25 min Case interview

5 min Your questions for the interviewer

The PEI is evaluated on four dimensions McKinsey states directly on its own careers site: Connection, Drive, Leadership, and Growth. Each interviewer typically goes deep on just one dimension rather than covering all four, so don't expect a single interview to touch on everything. It's worth reading McKinsey's own interviewing page before you prep. Going straight to the source is smarter than relying only on secondhand summaries, this guide included.

The PEI

What McKinsey is evaluating

McKinsey publishes the four PEI dimensions and a sample question for each directly on its careers site. Here they are, word for word:

Connection

Working with our clients to deliver the right answer requires respectful debate supported by trust-based relationships.

"Explain a challenging situation you encountered when working with someone with an opposing opinion."

Drive

Overcoming obstacles and achieving challenging goals requires resilience, creativity, and judgement.

"Talk about a time when you worked hard to achieve excellence in particularly tough circumstances."

Leadership

Harnessing the power of diverse thinking requires leadership grounded in understanding; empowering and motivating people to be at their best.

"Share an example where you worked effectively with people with different backgrounds despite challenges."

Growth

Growing as a professional requires constant learning and openness to feedback and change.

"Revisit a time when you had to rapidly learn something new to tackle a challenging situation."

What to prepare

Prepare two stories per dimension (Connection, Drive, Leadership, Growth), not one generic story stretched to cover all four. They don't need to be work stories. A club, a team, or a personal project counts just as much as an internship, as long as it's specific and you were the one actually driving the outcome.

Depth beats breadth. Interviewers follow up repeatedly on the same story: your specific role, the tension in the moment, what you'd do differently. A story that can't survive five "why" follow-ups isn't ready yet.

Draw from your whole background, not just the resume line you think sounds most "consulting." School projects, athletics, and student leadership all count. McKinsey says so directly on its own site.

Know the outcome cold, but prepare the middle harder. The specific decision points, what you actually did and why, are where the follow-up questions live, not the ending.

Preparation: Tips and Tricks

Build one flexible structuring habit, not a library of memorized frameworks. McKinsey's interviewer steers the case and feeds you new information as you go. A rigid, memorized framework will break the moment the data doesn't fit it.

Drill mental math in short, daily bursts. Speed and composure under time pressure matter more than getting a single exotic calculation right. Little and often beats one long session a week.

Record yourself running practice cases, and re-listen. Most candidates are shocked by how much they hedge, ramble, or bury the actual recommendation once they hear it back.

Practice with a partner, not just alone. Giving a case teaches you as much as taking one. You start hearing what actually sounds structured versus what just sounds confident.

Keep one running log across every practice case. Most candidates repeat the same two or three mistakes for weeks without noticing, simply because nothing captures the pattern from one case to the next.

The Case: Tips and Tricks

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Lead with a hypothesis, not a list of buckets. McKinsey's interviewer expects your structure to update as new information comes in. It shouldn't sit there unchanged as decoration for the rest of the case.
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Say what you expect before you calculate. Stating the number you expect, and why, before you do the math shows judgment, and makes it obvious fast if you've set the problem up wrong.
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Synthesis is a sandwich, not a summary. Recommendation first, two or three supporting reasons, one risk or next step. Done. Recapping what you already said is the single most common way a strong case loses points right at the finish line.
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Ask before you accept. One or two sharp clarifying questions before you structure signals judgment. Zero questions reads as generic; three or more starts to read as stalling.

Who wrote this

Michael Kirchner

I spent 9 years at McKinsey, rising to Associate Partner (AP), one level above Engagement Manager, one below Partner. Along the way I conducted 300+ candidate interviews, writing scorecards and sitting in the decision meetings that decided who got the offer, across undergraduate and MBA recruiting. I led UNC recruiting, became a leader for BA recruiting in the New York office, and supported UCLA MBA recruiting.

Colleagues knew me as one of the most calibrated reads in the process, meaning my evaluations were consistent, trusted, and accurate across candidates and rounds. This guide is built from that seat, not from the candidate's side of the table.

Coming soon.