Some experiences feel uncertain while you are going through them. With time, they become stories that help you understand how far you have come.
Privacy note: To respect the privacy of the people involved, I have not used their real names. Interviewers are referred to as Interviewer 1, Interviewer 2, Interviewer 3, and so on. Other individuals are described by their role in the story. This is a personal recollection of events as I remember them, not an official account of the recruitment process.
I have wanted to write about my McKinsey interview experience for a while. This is not a success story or a complaint. It is simply my account of how the opportunity came up, what happened during a long and unpredictable interview day, how I felt at the time, and how I think about the experience now.
This post covers the journey from first hearing about the opportunity through the interviews and the result. I’ll be sharing a separate post about my work experience and what I learned during the internship later this week.
How it started
On September 21, during a meeting with our placement team, we were told that several major companies would be visiting campus. McKinsey was among the names mentioned.
I remember feeling genuinely excited. I associated the firm with consulting, business problem-solving, and working through complex questions. The possibility of getting an interview felt special, and I wanted to give it my best.
The assessment took place on October 9. A few days later, around October 13, the interview updates arrived, with interviews scheduled for October 16. There was not much time to process the news or prepare.
I also had to travel to Chennai, and getting a ticket was difficult. Heavy rain and cyclone-related disruption made the trip more complicated. I eventually travelled by bus and reached Chennai on October 15.
Looking back, the journey itself is part of the memory: the weather, the travel, the preparation squeezed into a short window, and the feeling that something important was about to happen.
The morning of the interviews
On the morning of October 16, I spent more time than necessary deciding what to wear. I was choosing between a pink shirt and a green one. I went with green.
It is a small detail, but nerves can make even ordinary decisions feel important when a big day arrives.
At the venue, around twenty candidates were waiting for their interviews. There were multiple interviewers and rooms, and the process was taking a long time. Some candidates appeared to be in discussions for close to an hour or more.
I waited, watched people get called in, and tried to stay prepared. My name was not being called for a while, and as lunchtime approached, I was getting hungry and increasingly unsure about how the day would unfold.
Interview 1: Margins, profits, and cost drivers
My first interview was with Interviewer 1. We discussed my projects and background before moving into a business case.
The case involved understanding a business scenario through its margins, profit, and major cost drivers. It was different from simply explaining a technical project. I had to organise my thoughts, clarify the problem, and work through the business implications.
The interview lasted roughly thirty minutes. Since some other interviews seemed to be running longer, I started wondering what the shorter duration meant. Was it a good sign? Had I missed something? I had no way of knowing, so I tried not to read too much into it.
Lunch plans were unclear, and the candidates were asked to wait for further instructions. The waiting continued, and I was called again later in the afternoon.
Interview 2: A game-hosting business case
I initially wondered whether I was going into a second round. It turned out to be another discussion with a different business problem. My interviewer was Interviewer 2.
The scenario involved a game-development company: how would I host a game, and how would I prioritise the budget?
This was a case I enjoyed. I had some familiarity with games, assets, and 3D modelling, so I could connect the scenario to things I already understood. I started thinking about the requirements, available resources, costs, and what should be prioritised first.
I felt more comfortable because the problem connected with something I knew. At the same time, I was learning that familiarity alone was not enough: I still had to structure my answer and explain my assumptions clearly.
After the interview, I returned to the waiting area and compared notes with other candidates. People seemed to have experienced different formats and interviewers, and we were trying to work out how the process was progressing. It was difficult to tell whether everyone was following the same sequence.
Interview 3: A conversation that gave me something to think about
As the afternoon continued, I was told that another interview was pending. My third discussion was with Interviewer 3, who joined from Poland.
The introduction was comfortable, the business problem was explained clearly, and I felt more settled by this point. I enjoyed working through the case and could focus more on the problem than on how long the day had become.
One part of the conversation has stayed with me. I asked for feedback on how I was approaching the discussion. The response was direct: in consulting, people often need to work with clients who understand the business but may not know the technical side, or who know the technology but need help connecting it to the business. Bridging that gap is important.
I appreciated the honesty. It gave me something concrete to reflect on—not just for that interview, but for any role where technical work needs to be explained in a way that supports business decisions.
By then, I had completed several interviews and was tired, but I was still trying to give each conversation my full attention. I was also beginning to feel the weight of the long day.
Interview 4: Estimating cars in Chennai
Around 6 PM, I was called for another interview. This time, the discussion involved estimating how many cars there might be in Chennai and thinking through where a tyre manufacturing or assembly plant could be located.
The case required assumptions about the population, the share of people likely to own cars, and other factors that could influence demand. From there, I had to think about the business question and the location decision.
I worked through the problem step by step, discussing assumptions and reasoning with the interviewers. I found it helpful that the conversation was interactive. Rather than expecting me to know every number, the panel helped test and refine the assumptions.
That is one of the things I remember about case interviews: the aim is not always to produce a perfect number immediately. It is important to make reasonable assumptions, explain the logic, and adapt when the problem gives you new information.
After the interview, I returned to the waiting area. By then, everyone seemed exhausted, and we had spent much of the day waiting, discussing cases, and comparing experiences.
I thought that might be the end of it. It was not.
The unexpected final case
Later, the placement coordinator asked another candidate and me to come to a conference room with our laptops. We were told there would be one more short case, with around ten minutes to prepare.
By that point, I was mentally exhausted. After a full day of interviews, I had reached the stage where organising my thoughts quickly felt difficult. The new case involved a company that produced chicken feed and raised chickens.
For a moment, my mind went completely blank.
The other candidate started writing down ideas, and I remember thinking that I could not simply give up. I tried to picture how poultry farming might work in practice: sourcing feed ingredients, managing land and infrastructure costs, and deciding how to organise the operation.
I began laying out a few assumptions and possible cost considerations. At one point, Interviewer 2 asked whether the case was about male or female chickens. I answered that female chickens are typically raised for egg production, while birds may also be raised for meat depending on the business model.
The question caught me off guard, and the exchange made the room laugh. For a few seconds, I wondered whether I had misunderstood something or said something silly. I was tired enough that I could not tell whether I should be worried or laugh along.
Then the panel told us that both of us had been selected to move forward.
The relief was enormous. After the uncertainty, the travel, the waiting, and the interviews, hearing that news felt as though the pressure of the entire day had finally lifted. I left the room exhausted, relieved, and with a story I knew I would remember.
The result—and how I felt about it
Getting through that interview day was a big moment for me. I had travelled to another city, spent hours waiting, worked through several unfamiliar business problems, and kept going even when I was tired and felt stuck. Hearing that I had been selected to move forward made all of that effort feel worthwhile.
The internship that followed became an important chapter in my journey, but I will share the details of that experience in a separate post later this week. This post is about the road to the opportunity, the interview day, and the result.
I did not receive a full-time conversion offer at the end, while the other candidate did. I am happy for them, and I understand that different people can have different outcomes. It was natural to reflect on what I could have done better and to wonder what might have changed the result. But I do not want to reduce the entire experience to that one outcome.
At the time, I had a mix of feelings: excitement at getting the opportunity, nerves before the interviews, confusion during the long waits, satisfaction when a case went well, and exhaustion by the final round. When the result came, there was relief and happiness—but also the knowledge that this was one stage in a much longer journey.
What I think about it now
With some distance, I see the experience differently. I still remember how much the opportunity meant to me and how intensely I wanted to do well. I also remember the smaller moments: choosing a shirt, travelling through difficult weather, trying to estimate demand in Chennai, and struggling to think through the chicken-feed case when my brain felt done for the day.
Those details make the story feel real to me. It was not a perfectly smooth day, and I was not perfectly composed throughout it. I felt nervous, confused, tired, and at times unsure of myself. But I kept showing up for the next conversation.
I am grateful for the opportunity and for what the experience taught me about approaching unfamiliar problems, communicating my thinking, and continuing when I do not immediately have an answer. I can acknowledge that I hoped for a different final outcome without treating the whole experience as a failure.
Would I consider working at McKinsey again if the right opportunity came along? Yes, I would be open to it. But I do not see my entire career as tied to one firm or one outcome. I want to keep learning, explore opportunities that fit my goals, and make choices based on where I can contribute and grow.
Privacy reminder: Names have been withheld and replaced with labels such as “Interviewer 1” to protect the privacy of the people involved. The events are described from my own recollection, and some details have been generalised for the same reason.
One last thought
Career journeys rarely follow a perfectly straight line. Sometimes you get the outcome you hoped for; sometimes you get a different one. The experience can still matter because of the effort you put in, the people you meet, and the lessons you take forward.
For me, that long day in Chennai remains a meaningful part of my journey—not because everything went exactly as I wanted, but because I got to experience it, learn from it, and move forward.
This is only the first part of the story. A separate article about my work experience during the internship, the projects I worked on, and what I learned is coming later this week.
This post reflects my personal recollection and opinions. Names have been withheld or replaced with labels for personal privacy. This is not an official account and should not be taken as representing the views of any employer or individual.