Consulting · Interview
2026 McKinsey Business Analyst Campus Hire: Full Selection Process
In 2026, I completed the full McKinsey BA Campus Hire process: from receiving the invite in August 2025, submitting my application in September, through R1 in December and R2 in February 2026, roughly six months end to end. I happened to be interning at the Taipei office during the application period, but the BA Campus Hire is a separate pipeline with no connection to internship status. In the end, timing meant I didn't take it all the way through. This is a complete account of the entire process, including the Interview Preparation Workshop that most candidates overlook when preparing.
The Process: Solve, HR Screening, Through to R2
The BA Campus Hire process is longer and has more checkpoints than most people expect. The written stage uses McKinsey Solve, McKinsey's proprietary digital assessment platform. Its ecosystem structure and game-based design are different from the traditional PST logic. You need to familiarize yourself with the interface and mechanics in advance. McKinsey's official page has examples and videos; I'd recommend going through them before the actual assessment rather than encountering the interface for the first time when it counts.
After passing Solve, there's a 25-minute online HR interview before any case interviews. This isn't a case round: it's more of a background and motivation check, closer in feel to an informational conversation than a formal evaluation. Passing this gets you the Workshop and R1 scheduling.
After HR screening, there's an easy-to-overlook step before R1: the Taipei office runs an in-person Interview Preparation Workshop led by current Business Analysts. The Workshop is unscored: your performance does not affect the selection result. But the feedback from the BAs is genuine; they're not going through the motions. You get to see directly where you stall under near-real conditions. That's hard to find elsewhere, and it's worth treating seriously.
R1 is two case interview rounds, R2 is also two rounds, all conducted in person at the Taipei office (Taipei 101). The two R1 rounds are scheduled two weeks apart, and the result came the day after the second round, a shorter wait than I expected. R2 moved more slowly, and I ended up completing only the first R2 round before withdrawing (more on that below). The full 2026 process sequence: submit application, Solve, HR screening (25-minute online), Interview Preparation Workshop (in-person), R1 two rounds (Taipei 101), R2 two rounds (Taipei 101).
Each round in R1 and R2 follows the same format: PEI plus Case, conducted in person at Taipei 101. The language is a mix of Chinese and English, with the proportion determined by the interviewer: it's not fixed as all-English or all-Chinese. The case format is standard McKinsey. PEI follow-up questions are deep, so prepare thoroughly.
Process timeline
2025/08: Received McKinsey BA Campus Hire exclusive invite
2025/09: Submitted application
2025/10: Online information session and HR screening
2025/11: Interview Preparation Workshop, Taipei office in-person
2025/12: R1 two rounds, spaced two weeks apart; result came the day after round two
2026/02: R2 first round
Why I Chose In-Person Instead of Online
BA interviews have an online option, but I chose to go in person. Two reasons.
One is about visibility. In a face-to-face setting, everything is visible in real time: when you adjust your framework, how an assumption gets revised. You can also use scratch paper, which lets you transfer thinking to the interviewer the way a whiteboard might, almost like building a micro-presentation live. A case interview is evaluating how you think, not just what you arrive at, and in-person makes that process more transparent.
The other reason was more practical: I was interning at the Taipei office during that period, so the interview day meant stepping away from work for an hour and then going back. When everyone involved is already in Taipei 101, meeting in person versus sitting at home on a screen produces a different interaction. Face-to-face still has its intangibles.
McKinsey's culture is more relaxed than the outside impression suggests. A request with a clear rationale usually gets a response. I explained my situation, they agreed. If you're preparing for the BA interview, this option is available. It's worth thinking about whether it makes sense for your situation.
Practice Volume and Resources
I did roughly thirty-plus cases in total, from the start of prep through the final round. BA-level cases are significantly deeper than the CCN internship level: the complexity and structural requirements are higher, and official samples alone aren't enough. Here are the channels I actually used during that period.
LinkedIn peer practice. This is the most cost-effective channel for BA case prep. Send messages to people applying to MBB in the same cycle. The reply rate is higher than you'd expect because everyone needs a partner. Schedule two or three mock cases per week, alternating interviewer and interviewee. Over a month, the volume adds up. Playing the interviewer role is also genuinely useful: you need to truly understand a case to run it, which fills in gaps you thought you'd covered. The other person's angle will also surface blind spots in your own framework that you can't find practicing alone.
RocketBlocks question bank. Good for short practice sessions. Large question bank, well-organized by industry and question type. I didn't use their 1-on-1 coaching (too expensive), just the bank for maintaining feel in spare moments. It works as a supplement, not a substitute for live mocks.
Tutors on AmazingTalker or Preply. Both platforms have tutors with consulting backgrounds, at much lower rates than dedicated case coaching platforms, and with flexible scheduling. Especially useful for targeted work on specific weaknesses. If you know you consistently rush through clarifying questions, or your synthesis never lands cleanly, two or three focused sessions with a tutor will do more than ten more solo reps.
AI for real-time walkthroughs. Having ChatGPT or Claude play interviewer, generate prompts, and ask follow-up questions fills the gaps when you can't find a practice partner. AI follow-ups aren't precise: they won't pick up on your hesitation and probe exactly that point the way a real interviewer does, but they're genuinely useful for "forcing yourself to say the assumption out loud" and "not being allowed to leave the ambiguous part vague." Especially useful late at night when no one is available.
Solve requires separate preparation: traditional case prep doesn't help with the interface logic. Its game-based design and time pressure are a different feel from case work. I'd recommend going through the official practice materials before the actual assessment to get familiar with the pacing, rather than encountering the interface for the first time when it counts.
If you're not yet comfortable with foundational business vocabulary (MECE, revenue, cost, market size, market share, and so on), start with the resources section of my CCN Research Intern interview article: that section is more detailed. BA cases build on the same foundation.
Why I Ended Up Not Going
It was purely timing. Another process happened to move faster, and I wanted my first full-time role to be a chance to try something different: a different industry, a different kind of work. I liked the people at McKinsey and how they approach their work, and I'm genuinely grateful for what they taught me. The timelines just didn't line up.
In the end, because of timing, I didn't continue through the remaining McKinsey rounds.