McKinsey is a top-flight firm. Whether you disagree or not, Passing a test is hardly “impressive” to them.
I agree that passing Level I really isn’t that meaningful. I was approached by McK some time ago for a BA position as well too, potentially in their corporate finance practice, since I come from a finance background and figured this would be the easiest way for me to leverage my existing skills and qualifications. I know a couple dozen people that are/were business analysts at McK, and the feedback that I got was that if you interview for CFP, they will definitely be interested in your financial knowledge. Passing a couple levels of CFA can help you with these interviews, but it’s not something that will really make a huge difference on your candidacy. Fact is, people who are looking to join McK as experienced hires tend to come from investment banking/equity research backgrounds so their knowledge of modeling and accounting will likely exceed that of someone who’s only taken exams, practically speaking. (again, as I always say, relevant work experience is most important) And then f you are applying for a junior role (like a first-year BA), they want to see your financial acumen but also your natural intellectual horsepower. There is nothing in the CFA program that a McK consultant can’t understand, so if I were you, you can certainly mention how the CFA program has helped you out, but it certainly isn’t a differentiable skill unless you have the work experience to back it up…so just be careful that you don’t come across as thinking that passing one or two levels of CFA makes you analogous to someone with two years of a BB investment banking or equity research experience from a modeling or accounting perspective, because it won’t. Nevermind the fact that McK will also spend a lot more time focusing on what really makes you a stand-out candidate, what your leadership qualities are, etc…so when you take all that stuff into account, passing one or two levels of the CFA (or even all three) doesn’t really make you that “special” in and of itself.
Thank you guys for your input! I appreciate it very much… I have more questions: does any one know if they are going to videotape the interview process? I don’t know where I got this crazy idea. So please verify… I was also told that third interview would be right after the second interview if I do well on the second one, like only an hour after. So does that mean if I do well on the third one, I would be told that I am hired right after? P.S Numi: how was your interview? it will be interesting to know your experience. I am doing case studies. I felt that was doable. Were you asked any weird questions, somelike how many gas stations in town?
You won’t be told you are hired, but you will be told you successfully passed the process and are being given an offer. Whether or not to accept, will be up to you, depending on the terms suggested 
that sounds very human. Thank you, Neud And idea on the duration of case interview and experience interview? 1 hour for each? 30 minutes? 45 minutes? are they intertwined?
naivejoe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thank you guys for your input! I appreciate it > very much… > > I have more questions: > does any one know if they are going to videotape > the interview process? I don’t know where I got > this crazy idea. So please verify… Sounds pretty crazy to me. Never heard of this happening. > I was also told that third interview would be > right after the second interview if I do well on > the second one, like only an hour after. So does > that mean if I do well on the third one, I would > be told that I am hired right after? No > Numi: how was your interview? it will be > interesting to know your experience. > I am doing case studies. I felt that was doable. > Were you asked any weird questions, somelike how > many gas stations in town? I’ve been asked case questions before in consulting and private equity interviews, but never ended up actually interviewing at McK. I had thought about it when I was trying to figure out what the best route to getting into private equity would be, since I had some friends at McK that successfully transitioned to some very recognizable private equity firms. However, most of my friends at McK either went straight to business school or went into industry or a start-up, and even though there are a good number of people from McK going into private equity, the friends that I spoke with said that it was still a challenging interview process and most of the big firms had a limited number of spots for non-finance people anyway. In the end, I realized for myself that I was more interested in private equity, and that if I could get into a good firm directly out of equity research as opposed to having to do two years in consulting, I’d rather go that route. Fortunately, I was able to make that transition. That being said, I still seriously considered applying to the top consulting firms after having done a couple of years in equity research, because I think the contacts you develop and your exposure to a broad range of industries are extremely valuable. Who knows, if for some reason I find out that private equity isn’t what I want to end up doing, I might even go for a consulting internship during business school…but that’s looking a bit further ahead.