Frequently Asked Questions

McKinsey Business Case Contest

1. What are the requirements to participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest?
You must be an active undergraduate student from ITESM (CSF, CCM or CEM campus), IBERO (Mexico City campus), ANÁHUAC (North or South Mexico City campus), UP (Santa Fe or Mixcoac campus) or ITAM throughout the entire duration of the McKinsey Business Case Contest (October 2020 - November 2020).
2. If I'm a foreign student, can I participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest?
Semester abroad students can apply only if they are in Mexico by the time the interview process takes place at the Mexico City Office (ie. February 2021 and/or August 2021).
3. Can students from all university campuses participate?
No, this program is only for Mexico City campus active undergraduate students of selected universities (see question 1 for detail).
4. If I do not want to participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest what is the traditional recruiting process?
Our traditional recruiting process consists of four stages:
1.- Submit online application for either Business Analyst Intern role or Business Analyst role
2.- Complete the Imbellus Test on pre-determined dates
3.- Based on your performance on your Imbellus, participate in first round interviews
4.- Based on your performance in first round interviews, participate on final round interviews
5. If I have already participated in the traditional recruiting process for a McKinsey Business Analyst Intern role, can I participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest?
Students that have already applied to McKinsey for a Business Analyst Intern role must wait at least one year from the date of their last recruiting process (this includes completing the PST, SHL or Imbellus tests, or participating in case interviews) to form part of this contest.
6. If I have already participated in the traditional recruiting process for a McKinsey Business Analyst role, can I participate in the McKinsey BusinessCase Contest?
Students that have already applied to McKinsey for a business analyst role must wait at least two years from the date of their last recruiting process (this includes completing the PST, SHL or Imbellus tests, or participating in case interviews) to form part of this contest.
7. Let's say that my team wins, and we are invited to first round interviews, but we do not advance to the next stage in the process, when can I apply again?
In this case, you have three options:
1.- You are welcome to participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest one more time, as long as, you are still an active undergraduate student throughout the entirety of this contest and part of the campuses established above.

2.- If you are no longer an active undergraduate student by the time the contest ends, you will have to wait two years from the date of your interviews to apply again to the Business Analyst role, following the traditional recruiting process.

3.- If you no longer wish to participate in the McKinsey Business Case Contest, and you wish to participate in the traditional recruiting process, please consider the following:

If you have one year or less left in your undergraduate career, you will have to wait two years from the date of your interviews to apply again to the Business Analyst role, following the traditional recruiting process. If, however, you have one and a half years or more left in your undergraduate career you will have to wait one year to apply again from the date of your interviews to the Business Analyst Intern role, following the traditional recruiting process.
8. How many times can I enter this contest?
Students are welcome to participate in this contest a maximum of two times throughout their undergraduate career. If a participant does not win the McKinsey Business Case Contest (s)he is welcome to re-enter the next edition of the contest (as long as (s)he fulfills the participant criteria) or apply through the traditional recruiting process.
9. How many participants can we have as a team?
Teams can have 2 to 4 participants and can include students from different universities and campuses as long as they are part of the selected list.
10. Do I need to be part of a specific undergraduate major to participate?
No, we welcome every active undergraduate student from the campuses established above who is interested in participating.
11. When can we register our team?
Participants can register their Teams on the Landing Page from September 28 to October 15, 2020.
12. What will be the winning prize?
The winning team(s) will receive the opportunity to participate in the first round of interviews at McKinsey in the recruiting process for the Mexico City Office, exempting themselves from taking the admission test (Imbellus) that is required for all applicants to McKinsey positions.
13. If my team wins, can we choose our preferred date and time for the interviews?
You will be able to choose from a specific set of dates (ie. February 2021 and/or August 2021) pre-established by McKinsey Mexico's recruiting team.
14. What is the criteria for winning this contest?
McKinsey will decide the winning team(s) based on an internal and confidential methodology and criteria and the decision will be undisputable.
15. If our team was not selected, will I have less or more chances of working at McKinsey than a candidate who never participated in this contest?
Not at all, your participation in this contest does not affect or help your chances of working at McKinsey in the future.
16. When will the winning team be announced?
McKinsey will get in touch with the winning team(s) by November 10, 2020.