Consulting is the industry of renting out brains to companies. In a nutshell, a consultant is like a doctor for a firm experiencing a problem — analyzing it, diagnosing it, and finally prescribing a method of treatment. Consultants use a wide range of structured problem-solving methods to break down ambiguous goals and objectives (such as raising profits or determining whether Company A should acquire Company B) into component parts, identifying key drivers and areas of improvement, and formulating actionable recommendations that are eventually presented to the high-level executives who have the final say.

A case interview is a type of interviewing method that simulates a client-consultant interaction. The candidate is presented with a business situation (for instance, Company A’s profit margins are down, how do we increase profitability?) and is expected to gather information from the interviewer using a structured “framework." After amassing the necessary information, the candidate will then be expected to synthesize the information into several conclusions and asked to give the company a recommendation.

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This method of interviewing is used because it measures several dimensions of a candidate. Hard skills such as quantitative ability and logical reasoning are evaluated just as much as soft skills such as communication, confidence, and ease of dealing with ambiguity. Because consulting is a profession that requires both soft and hard skills, case interviews are one of the most effective methods of determining whether a candidate is a good fit for the work consultants do.

While we do not expect any prior casing experience from our applicants, you may find the following resources helpful.

Books:

1. Case Interview Secrets by Victor Cheng

2. Crack the Case System: Complete Case Interview Prep by David Ohrvall

3. Cracking Case Interviews by Max Serrano and Jonathon Yarde

Websites:

1. PrepLounge

2. Management Consulted

3. Master The Case

4. Crafting Cases

For our Pro Bono Division, time commitments may vary from anywhere between 4 to 8+ hours a week (depending on whether there is a major client update coming up), including project meetings and workstream check-ins.

Our Bootcamp division requires 1 to 1.5 hours a week depending on whether your mentor assigns homework from a given session.

Every Fall and Spring quarter, we recruit a new class for our Consulting Division and our Recruiting Bootcamp. You can apply to one or both divisions within the same application, and a decision regarding one application does not affect the other.

Many of our most successful members applied several times before being admitted to Prism.

For our Consulting Division, we look for students across all majors and backgrounds in the College who are in their first through third years and demonstrate a passion for the type of collaborative problem-solving and critical thinking skills necessary for consulting work.

For our Recruiting Bootcamp, we look for students who demonstrate a clear interest in consulting; no prior casing experience is required.

Depending on which division(s) you're applying to, you will be asked several behavioral questions to gauge your interest in consulting as well as additional, division-specific questions to determine your fit for the division(s) you're applying to.

Following submission of the written application, Consulting Division applicants may be invited to participate in two rounds of case interviews with Prism leadership. These interviews involve a market sizing component as well as brainstorming and quantitative questions.

Our interviews are not meant to assess what you know, but rather how you think about approaching a business problem. We do not expect candidates to have prior casing experience or business knowledge.