By Zhu Xiaofeng (IMBA Program Student Assistant)

11:20 a.m., April 11^th, when most classrooms of Shunde Building were empty for students’ lunch break, Room 301 was the exception. Here was a student activity organized by Tsinghua-MIT International MBA Class of 2013 – Consulting Industry Case Interview Group Sharing，with nearly 20 students at present. Walking into the classroom, one would be impressed by a relaxed while academic atmosphere – preparation of PPT presentation, distribution of materials and introduction to the agenda, surely, not without friendly chats.

At 11:30, group sharing began with an introduction by Cathy Poon, the initiator and the chair, to the theme and purpose of this activity: to explore and share experiences in consulting industry interview cases. She nicely shared her resources with the classmates: different types of case interviews, capabilities expected by interviewers, frameworks of consulting suggested by experts, as well as her experiences in an interview she attended. This was heatedly responded by attendants with questions and discussions, for example, what was supposed to do to answer various questions by interviewers, to design the framework in mock consulting and to display expertise and logical reasoning in interviews.

Group sharing reached the most exciting part with demonstration of two consulting cases in an interview---- a bad example by Cathy Poon and Shawn Xiao and a good one by Cathy and Yan Jing. It is interesting that there is no comment by role-players, which gave attendants enough chances to voice their opinions. One would certainly marvel at their rigorous reasoning and constructive suggestions in a friendly manner.

The activity was wrapped up with stories shared by Yan Jing, a graduate student of Tsinghua SEM, about her success in an interview offered by McKinsey. This was followed by Cathy’s introduction to on-line resources concerning consulting industry. The group sharing was highly acclaimed by attendants as a cherished opportunity to improve expertise and practical skills in their potential career.