How I Got Into McKinsey With Zero Connections and Zero Internships (Copy)
How I Got Into McKinsey With Zero Connections and Zero Internships
- It started over Korean BBQ. A friend half-jokingly said I should apply to McKinsey. I had never heard of it.
- 200 cold messages, 4 responses. I added every single person at McKinsey Canada on LinkedIn until I got the limit warning. Twice.
- 10 days to learn everything. I found out I had an interview and had never seen a case in my life.
- 3.4 GPA, zero internships, zero network. I had myself and a free LinkedIn Premium trial that I cancelled on day 29.
- The offering: The exact messages I sent and the follow-up that actually worked.
June 2021. A friend mentions McKinsey over Korean BBQ. Half-joking, he said I should apply. I had no clue what McKinsey was. At this point I am a finance undergrad at Concordia running Ismahelps on the side, operating a proptech startup because I was a licensed real estate broker, and doing track and field at the national level. My GPA is a 3.4 on a 4.3 scale. I have never done an internship in my life. I just wanted to build things and skip class.
So naturally I go on LinkedIn, search "McKinsey & Company," filter for people in Canada, and start adding literally everyone. Partners, associates, analysts, anyone with a pulse. LinkedIn gives me the connection limit warning. I keep going. I grab a free LinkedIn Premium trial, use it for 29 days, and cancel before they charge me.
Out of roughly 200 messages, about 4-6 people respond. Two take calls with me. Two forward my CV to HR. A couple others just answer some questions over chat. That was enough.
Then I get an email. You have an interview. In 10 days. I have never done a case before in my life.
I panic. Then I get to work. Two people from McKinsey I had connected with agree to practice with me. I find a few more through Concordia's Management Consulting Club. I meet some others at a networking event that same week. My school offers free case prep and I read every framework on day one. Over 10 days I run about 15 practice cases from absolute zero.
Two rounds of interviews later, I got the offer.
- Be unapologetic. I did not pretend to be something I was not. I told people straight up — I do not come from this world, I have no experience in consulting, but I want to learn and I will outwork anyone. That was real and people responded to it.
- Control what you can control. I could not control who would respond. I could control whether I messaged 200 people or 20. I could control whether I followed up when someone left me on read. I did both.
- Ask clearly. "I would love to learn about your path. Can we do a 15-minute call?" That was it. No essay. No flattery. People show up when the ask is specific.
- You do not do this alone. Every single step had someone who helped. The friend at dinner. The strangers on LinkedIn. The club members. People at a random event. You sit on the shoulders of giants right? Acknowledge that.
- Follow up. Not aggressively. Just a short message a week later. Some of my best conversations came from that second message.
- Add everyone. Do not filter who you reach out to. You genuinely do not know who will respond. Cast the widest net and let the responses sort themselves.
Here are the actual messages I sent. This is real — copy-pasted from my LinkedIn in July 2021.
Why these worked: They are short. They have one clear ask. They are genuinely curious without being desperate. And they all end with a specific next step — a call next week. Not "sometime." Not "whenever works." Next week. That small detail matters more than you think.
The structure is dead simple. Find a personal hook if you have one. Say who you are in one line. Say what you want. Ask for 15 minutes. Follow up if they do not respond. That is the whole playbook.
