How to Answer 'Why Consulting?' (and 'Why This Firm?')

A strong "Why consulting" answer frames the job as the solution to a real tension in your own story, not a list of perks. Connect your background and interests to what consulting uniquely offers (variety, steep learning, hard problems, client impact), then back it with evidence from your actual experience. For "Why this firm," get specific on two sides: why it fits you, and what makes that firm, office, or practice unique, ideally referencing people you've spoken with.

I sat across from candidates for over 100 McKinsey interviews, and "Why consulting" is where I learned the most about who had actually thought about their career and who was pattern-matching off a forum post. The question is easy to answer badly and surprisingly hard to answer well. Here's how to do it well.

Why this question matters more than candidates think

Interviewers ask "Why consulting" and "Why this firm" to test sincerity and self-awareness. We've heard the canned answers thousands of times, so a generic response doesn't just fail to impress, it actively signals you didn't prepare. A specific, evidence-backed answer does the opposite. It tells me you know yourself, you've done the work, and you're likely to still be motivated 18 months in when the hours get long.

This is one of the most predictable questions in the entire process. Not having a polished answer is a red flag in the same way that not preparing "Tell me about yourself" is, and I cover that in consulting behavioral interview questions.

The framework for "Why consulting"

There are two clean ways in, depending on your story.

If consulting is the natural endpoint of your origin story, don't force an explanation, just let the narrative carry it. One candidate's parents immigrated and ran a small business; he grew up at the cashier, watched a relative give business advice that genuinely changed the company's cash position, and decided early that solving business problems was what he wanted to do. By the time he says "which is why consulting," it's already obvious. No framework needed.

If you discovered consulting later, frame it as the solution to a tension you were already living. Three patterns work:

• Merging interests: "I love business and I love quantitative methods. Consulting is one of the few jobs that demands both."
• Filling a gap: A PhD candidate says, "I love hard problems, but working alone, I missed clients, teams, and deadlines. Consulting gives me both."
• Exploration: "I've tried a fraction of what's out there. I want a place that gives me variety across sectors before I commit to one."

The mechanism is the same: name a real thing about yourself, then show consulting resolves it. That's far more credible than "I want to make an impact."

What NOT to say

These are the clichés that made me wince. Avoid them or, at minimum, never use them without a specific story attached.

The same editing discipline applies to your whole answer: if a sentence could be said by any candidate about any firm, delete it. And if you claim something you can't corroborate ("I love data" when you studied English with no quantitative work), cut it. Everything must trace back to your actual experiences.

One more trap: desperation. Don't oversell. Lines like "It's been my dream since childhood to work here" or "I'd do anything to join your firm" read as cringey and needy, not committed. Confidence comes from specificity, not intensity. State your reasons plainly and let the evidence do the persuading.

Where these answers belong in the interview

Timing matters as much as content. "Why consulting" usually surfaces inside "Tell me about yourself," so you can fold it in naturally as your story moves from past to present. Keep it tight there, two or three sentences, and let it flow out of your narrative rather than feeling bolted on.

"Why this firm" is different. Don't exhaust the topic if it comes up early. Give a teaser and offer to go deeper: "I spoke with someone in your office about their healthcare work, and I'd be happy to elaborate on why this specific office fits me." That signals you have substance without monologuing, and it invites the interviewer to pull the thread. If they do, you unload your prepared three-part answer. If they don't, you've still planted the flag.

"Why this firm" needs to be specific on two dimensions

This is where most candidates go thin. A good "Why this firm" answer is specific from your end and from the firm's end. Generic on either side means anyone could say it, or any firm could claim it.

Watch the difference. Generic: "I'm interested in McKinsey because of their training and development." That's true of every MBB firm and tells me nothing.

Now the prepared version, in three parts:

• Part 1, why it's relevant to you: "I was in program X with a formal mentor, and I saw firsthand how much apprenticeship accelerated my growth. I want an environment built around mentorship and sponsorship."
• Part 2, why this firm is genuinely good at it: "I spoke with someone in your New York office who told me about the structured mentorship program, the partner socials every Friday, and how naturally sponsorship relationships form there."
• Part 3, even more specific: "I've been reading partner X's reports on topic Y, which is exactly my interest. I'd love to contribute to that work."

That third layer, naming a real person, report, or project, is what makes it undeniable. To get there, do the research: ChatGPT deep research, LinkedIn, the firm's published reports, and crucially, conversations with people at the office. Look at what industries and functions are strong in that specific office and connect them to your interests. Networking is the single best source of this raw material, and I lay out exactly how to gather it in my consulting networking guide.

Tailoring to McKinsey, BCG, and Bain

The firms are more similar than their marketing suggests, but the texture differs, and weaving in what each values signals genuine interest. Speak to a firm's real strengths and culture, not a brochure summary. If you're still deciding which firms to target or weighing MBB against the Big Four, see MBB vs Big Four consulting.

What matters more than the firm name is that your reasons are specific to that firm's office, practice, and people. The firms test fundamentally the same qualities and offer broadly similar work; they just package and name things differently. So resist the urge to recite each firm's marketing taglines back at the interviewer, because they've heard their own slogans more than you have. Instead, anchor your answer in concrete differentiators you actually care about: the strength of a particular practice in that office, a research stream a partner leads, the staffing model, or a cultural detail a real consultant described to you. The mechanism never changes: pair a genuine thing about you with a genuine, verifiable thing about them.

A short worked example

Question: "Why consulting, and why us?"

"I came into college torn between economics and data work, and I kept gravitating toward problems that needed both. Consulting is one of the few paths that refuses to make me choose. On the firm side, I spoke with two consultants in your Chicago office about the healthcare practice. One walked me through a payer project she'd led, and it matched the regulatory work I did in my thesis almost exactly. I also read partner X's recent piece on care delivery models, which is the area I'd most want to contribute to. That combination, the work itself plus that specific practice and those specific people, is why I'm here rather than applying everywhere."

Notice it never mentions prestige, exit options, or impact-in-the-abstract. It's a tension, a resolution, and evidence.

The bottom line

Frame "Why consulting" as the answer to a genuine tension in your own story, then prove it with experience, not adjectives. For "Why this firm," be specific on both sides: why it fits you and what makes that office or practice unique, ideally naming real people, reports, or projects you've encountered. Delete anything a generic candidate could say about any firm.

Go deeper

The full Cut to the Case course includes the exact "Why us" research protocol, firm-specific differentiators, and the Interview Dance method that's helped 130+ candidates land MBB offers.

Get the free resume module →

Get the complete Cut to the Case course →

One payment, lifetime access, 30-day guarantee.