MBB final round

Question

Had my final round today. 2 partners and associate partners.

First interview: PEI went superbly well. Structure was perfect - Interviewer told that, then exhibit was good but math took more time and it was already past the time. Interview started late. Math was super tough and it took 2 mins for me to get back on track. Since the time was almost over interviewer just asked me to tell the approach. I did and he said thats the right approach and he gave me a number for one step in the interest of time. I got the final answer and he said its right. Do such kind of instances hurt the chances?

Second interview: PEI didnt go as an aswer but interviewer asked me a series of questions and I answered them, Is it normal? Case was super tough but managed to get the structure, exhibit and math correct.

Third interview went amazingly well. I performed well on every section: Structure, exhibit, math and brain storming.

Answer 1

Hey! First of all congrats :) It sounds like your final round went well overall, with a mix of strong performances and a few moments where timing and flow were impacted. Here's what to consider:

First Interview (Math Taking More Time): While taking longer on the math can cause concern, the fact that you ultimately reached the correct answer and the interviewer acknowledged it suggests that this might not hurt you as much. Time management is important, but demonstrating a correct thought process and solution is key. Partners often consider how you handle pressure and whether you can recover when things get tough.
Second Interview (PEI in Series of Questions): It's not unusual for the personal experience interview (PEI) to be a bit different from standard storytelling in final rounds. Some partners prefer to dig deeper with targeted questions rather than letting you tell one complete story. As long as you responded thoughtfully and demonstrated depth, this should be fine.
Third Interview (Excellent Performance): This sounds like your strongest interview. Performing well in every section in at least one of your interviews can definitely boost your chances, especially in final rounds where partners are looking for consistent, strong problem-solving and communication skills.

In general, while minor timing issues or challenges in one part of the case can slightly affect the evaluation, what matters most is your overall performance across the interviews, how you recover from difficulties, and your composure under pressure. Your performance seems promising overall, and you handled difficult moments well, which could work in your favor.

Good luck!

Answer 2

1. Although a lot of candidates keep mentioning time... time is really secondary here (what really matters is that you know how to communicate in an effective way, or problem solve in the correct way... candidates that don't know how to do this usually take a lot of time. But the problem for the interviewer is not the time, but rather the bad communication or approach).

2. Yes, this is normal.

Answer 3

Hi there,

Let's break it down by interview:

First interview: A small issue would not have a big impact on the evaluation, provided it happened once in a case and not across several cases. It's of course better to move through every case without hiccups but that almost never happens :-))
Second interview: It's completely normal to receive many questions on the PEI. Some interviewers prefer you to talk through the story fully, then ask a few questions, others micromanage the interview which per se is not an indication of anything.
Third interview: Congrats!

Overall, it looks good but please bear in mind that it is impossible to determine the outcome if one has not been there since, as a candidate you might not always have a realistic perception of the situation (can be either too positive or too negative) and you don't exactly know what is exactly being evaluated.

Fingers crossed!

Florian

Answer 4

Time is not a dimension of MBB interview scorecards

You did a consulting interview, not a test for being F1 driver. Interviewers value accuracy and structured reasoning over speed.

Good luck with the interviews!