Why McKinsey asks whether you picked McKinsey for reasons that are true of McKinsey and true of you. A strong answer names one or two things McKinsey itself says set it apart, such as running as one global partnership or the obligation to dissent, ties each to something you have done or want to learn, and backs it with what a McKinsey person told you. Keep it near a minute and keep it separate from why consulting. To rehearse it out loud, Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app for consulting, investment banking and other finance candidates, runs why consulting and why this firm drills with follow-up questions and scored feedback.
Updated
Your answer is stronger when it rests on what McKinsey says about itself, not on its reputation. Everything below is from McKinsey's own pages, checked on October 27, 2026, with the page linked under each section.
McKinsey, from its pagesHow the firm describes itself to candidates.
Where why McKinsey comes upMcKinsey's interviews for most client-facing roles.
McKinsey calls itself "a values-driven organization" and says it sets aside one day a year to reflect on what its values mean. Its mission is to help clients make "distinctive, lasting, and substantial improvements in their performance" and to build a great firm that "attracts, develops, excites, and retains exceptional people."
Group 1
Six values, among them putting client interests ahead of the firm's, preserving client confidences and keeping an independent perspective.
Group 2
Six values, among them the top-management approach, holistic impact, using the global network for every client and building client capabilities so improvement lasts.
Group 3
Six values, among them being nonhierarchical and inclusive, a "caring meritocracy", apprenticeship and mentoring, the obligations to engage and dissent, and governing itself as a "one firm" partnership.
These are the features McKinsey's careers pages put forward. Each one gives you something specific to react to.
One firm
McKinsey says that since its founding nearly 100 years ago it has run as "one global profit pool", so it can bring expertise from every practice and region to each client and give people broad staffing options.
Apprenticeship
McKinsey says you work side by side with senior colleagues from day one who give continuous feedback, and that 100% of colleagues get regular feedback and career reviews.
Dissent
Its interviewing page says candidates often hear stories about the culture of apprenticeship and the expectation to engage and dissent, and invites you to discuss the values with your interviewers.
Leaders
McKinsey says consultants work with boards and CxOs from day one and calls its work "CEOs' make-or-break problems." It adds: whether you stay "two years or 20", the skills carry with you.
Who
From a wide range of fields, including law, medicine, engineering, military service and professional sports. McKinsey says what matters most is thinking critically, tackling complex challenges and creating meaningful impact.
Values
McKinsey writes that it is "particularly excited about people who resonate with our values." That makes the values page the first thing to read.
Undergrads
Its undergraduate page says the people it hires share "curiosity, drive, and a habit of pushing past good enough."
Honesty
McKinsey says using AI to generate real-time answers in an interview "goes against our values". Practicing interview questions with AI beforehand is listed as encouraged.
Interviewers often ask both, one after the other. Our advice on keeping them apart.
Why consulting
Solving new problems, learning several industries fast, working in teams. It would be true at any consulting firm.
Why consulting?Why McKinsey
Something true of McKinsey that you want and can show, such as the one-firm model or the obligation to dissent. It should not work if you swap in another firm's name.
Why this firm?The link
End why consulting on what you want from your first years, then open why McKinsey with where McKinsey gives you more of it.
From McKinsey: purpose, mission and values, McKinsey: interviewing, McKinsey: consulting roles, McKinsey: life at McKinsey, McKinsey: careers and McKinsey: undergraduate roles.
McKinsey does not publish a rubric for this question. This is our reading, built on what its interviewing page says it wants to learn.
Not just consulting, and not just the biggest name. The interviewer wants reasons that would not fit another firm.
McKinsey says it is particularly excited about people who resonate with its values, and that its values guide who it hires.
You know how McKinsey works, for instance its one-firm model, and you talked to people there.
Firms want offers accepted. A clear, specific answer signals you would join.
This is a short spoken answer. McKinsey asks for a conversation, not a rehearsed story, in its personal experience interviews, and we think the same holds here.
From McKinsey: interviewing and McKinsey: purpose, mission and values.
A structure in our own words. Fill it with your own facts, then say it out loud until it sounds like you talking, not reading.
Part 1
One sentence on what you want from your first years, drawn from your own story. This is the bridge from why consulting.
Part 2
Pick from what McKinsey says about itself: the one global partnership, apprenticeship and feedback, the obligation to dissent, early time with senior client leaders. One, explained well, beats four in a list.
From McKinsey: consulting roles and McKinsey: values.
Part 3
A short fact from your past that shows why the feature matters to you. If you pick the obligation to dissent, a time you spoke up to someone senior is the proof.
Disagreed with your managerPart 4
Name the conversation, not the person's title alone, and what it changed in your view. This is the part no other candidate can copy.
Coffee chat questionsPart 5
One line on how you would contribute in the role you applied for, as a Business Analyst or an Associate.
Our structure. McKinsey publishes no format for this answer.
Why McKinsey rarely stops at one question. These are the follow-ups we prepare candidates for, in our own wording, with what a strong answer does and the probes that come next.
The same question asked four ways.
Why McKinsey?
One or two features McKinsey itself puts forward, each tied to something you have done, plus one thing you learned from a McKinsey person. Practice it, see a model answer
Why consulting?
Two reasons about the work itself, backed by things you have done, that hold at any firm. Save McKinsey for the next answer. Practice it, see a model answer
Walk me through your resume, and why McKinsey now.
Two minutes, in order, each choice leading to the next, ending on why McKinsey is the right next step at this moment. Practice it, see a model answer
What do you know about McKinsey?
How the firm works, not its rankings: one global partnership, how a project team is built, the role you applied for. Then why that matters to you.
Tests whether your reasons survive a direct comparison.
Why McKinsey and not BCG or Bain?
Say what drew you to McKinsey in particular, without criticizing the others. Respect for the other firms reads as maturity.
Where else are you interviewing?
An honest, short answer, with a common thread across the list that makes sense with your story. Then why McKinsey stands out within it.
If you had offers from us and another firm, how would you decide?
Name the two or three criteria you would use, such as how you would be developed and who you would work with, and why McKinsey scores well on them today.
Why not a role in industry or at a startup?
Show you weighed it. Say what you would gain at McKinsey first, such as breadth and apprenticeship, and what you want to do later.
Tests how far your research goes.
Why this office?
A real tie to the city or region and a reason about the work done there that you learned from people in that office. Show you know McKinsey staffs across offices too.
Which industries or practices interest you, and why?
One or two, each tied to your background or a question you want to answer. Show openness to staffing elsewhere early on.
Which McKinsey value matters most to you?
Pick one value from McKinsey's own list and give a short example of living it. A value you have acted on beats a value you admire.
Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone more senior.
McKinsey names the obligation to dissent as a value. Show how you raised the point, with facts, and what you did when the decision went either way. Practice it, see a model answer
Who have you spoken to at McKinsey, and what did you learn?
One or two conversations, what you asked and one thing that changed or confirmed your view. Never a list of names.
Often the last few minutes.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Skills you want to build and responsibility you want, such as leading a workstream. McKinsey itself says people stay a few years or a whole career, so either path is fine to name. Practice it, see a model answer
Why should we hire you?
Two strengths the job uses, each with proof, and one sentence on how they fit the way McKinsey works. Practice it, see a model answer
What questions do you have for us?
One or two about the interviewer's own work or experience at McKinsey, never one its website answers. McKinsey calls interviewing a two-way process. Practice it, see a model answer
"It's the best firm" tells the interviewer nothing about you and would fit any top firm. Replace it with one feature and why it matters to you.
Naming five values in a row sounds memorized. Pick one and show you have lived it.
Smart people, steep learning and big clients are true across consulting. They belong in why consulting.
Criticizing other firms reads as poor judgment. Talk about what draws you to McKinsey instead.
A list of people you met proves nothing. One conversation and what it taught you does.
For its personal experience interviews, McKinsey asks for a conversation, not a rehearsed story. Treat why McKinsey the same way: know your points, not your script.
McKinsey's own rules ban real-time AI answers and prepared notes in interviews. Practice with AI beforehand, then speak for yourself.
Read these before your first coffee chat, so you spend the chat on what the pages can't tell you.
Read 1
The 18 values in three groups. Pick the one or two you can back with an example.
Read 2
What McKinsey looks for, the PEI and problem-solving interviews, its values and integrity section and its rules on AI.
From McKinsey: interviewing and McKinsey: assessment integrity.
Read 3
How each level's work changes over time, the one global profit pool, apprenticeship and feedback.
From McKinsey: consulting roles and McKinsey: life at McKinsey.
Talk
Find your school's recruiting page and events. North American undergraduates and non-MBA master's students can join Connect with McKinsey. Then talk to two or three people and ask what the pages can't say.
From McKinsey: Connect with McKinsey and McKinsey: undergraduate roles.
Practice
Answer why McKinsey and its follow-ups out loud with someone, or something, that pushes back.
Soreno's AI interviewer asks why McKinsey, then pushes on your answer the way an interviewer does: why not BCG, why this office, what did you learn from people there. It scores the session and shows you what to fix. Soreno is not affiliated with McKinsey.
Open with what you want from your first years, name one or two things McKinsey says set it apart, tie each to something you have done, add what a McKinsey person told you, and close on what you would bring. Keep it near a minute.
In our experience, often near the start, alongside your background and before the personal experience questions or the case. It can also come up in a recruiter call or at the end. McKinsey doesn't publish a fixed slot for it.
Eighteen values in three groups: adhere to the highest professional standards, improve our clients' performance significantly, and create an unrivaled environment for exceptional people. They include putting client interests first, a "caring meritocracy" and the obligations to engage and dissent.
Its purpose is "to help create positive, enduring change in the world." Its mission is to help clients make distinctive, lasting and substantial improvements in their performance and to build a great firm that attracts, develops, excites and retains exceptional people.
About a minute in our experience, then stop and let the interviewer follow up. McKinsey publishes no length for it.
No. The PEI asks for detailed stories about your own experiences. Why McKinsey is a motivation question, though your PEI stories can show the values you mention in it.
McKinsey lists practicing interview questions with AI as encouraged. It does not allow AI or prepared notes during the interview itself.
The structure is the same, the facts are not. Each firm describes itself in its own words, so each answer should rest on that firm's own pages and people.
