If you want to prove you are smart, the right place to be. - Associate McKinsey & Company Employee Review

Super smart people Ridiculously connected firm Resume for life

Hard work Bad wlb Difficult staffing sometimes

+ People - both colleagues and most clients + Learning opps - both in terms of the consulting toolkit but also for the opportunity to get exposed to different industries, functions and geographies + Option value - great launching pad for career switching (pre-McK, I was in oil and gas in Houston, post-McK I'm in edtech in the Bay Area) + Alumni network - incredibly well-placed and people are actually super-responsive to asks for help + Brand recognition - helps in the jobs marketplace + Travel opps - if this is important to you

+ Lifestyle - enough said + Success/failure at the Firm is highly dependent on luck -- a lot really depends on the luck of the draw with respect to staffing. You want to be staffed on the right project with the right team at the right time. The Firm does its best to give you a fair shot, but a fair number of people fall through the cracks. + Nature of consulting -- eventually you might get tired of providing advice and want to actually build stuff. + People are uber-rational -- in MBTI parlance, almost everyone is an ''NT". It creates a very logical / rational culture - you need to make sure you can fit into the culture.