MBB interview ended 10 min early. I fumbled on the quant at times but was able to pull through. Any thoughts on if I can make it to R2?

Question

Ariadna · Accepted Answer

Hi there,

I don't think that's a bad sign in itself. Where you able to finish the case? Including recommendation?

After the case, the last part is typically you asking questions. Did you get to do that? And how did the interview actually end?

Usually interviewers are told to not finish early, but there could be exceptions (e.g., when the candidate wants to finish early or when something truly urgent happens with the interviewer).

Ariadna

Peter · Answer

HiIt's hard to tell without the full detail - but usually if a case itself ends early it's a bit polarising - either you crushed it and the interviewer was satisfied enough that they were happy to end early, or you didn't.  R1 cases are usually run 'by the book' to ensure they get an accurate assessment across all case dimensions - they typically don't end early per se. On the other hand if the fit portion of the interview was relatively short and you still engaged in the case for ~25min or so then that would be a different situation.JMO - good luck!

Florian · Answer

Hi there,The time itself does not give any indication. It could be that the PEI was very quick, and for the case, enough observations were collected on your performance.From the outside, it's always difficult to predict these outcomes. However, one fumble in math + showing that you can be coached should not lead to a rejection (if the rest of the case was good).Fingers crossed!Cheers,Florian

Benjamin · Answer

Hard to tell - so many factors at play.

I have passed candidates who have not been perfect at math, and I have failed candidates who were perfect at the math (but were poor at other aspects).

Best thing you can do now is wait for the official decision.

All the best!

Fathu · Answer

Hello there,Interview finishing ahead of time might have had nothing to do with your performance as a candidate. For instance, your interviewer might have felt they had enough information for a decision so they decided to take those last 10 minutes to prepare for a forthcoming SteerCo (Steering Committee) meeting.Also, simple errors on the quant alone would not typically lead to a rejection. Decisions are made about the case performance overall.If you were able to get the case back on course and delivered a logically coherent recommendation based on the facts and prior analyses, you should be less worried but there's no way to tell with certainty which way the decision would go.All the Best,Fathu