A Case for Success: Consulting Club Members Tackle Recruiting Season Together

One evening in October, EmJ Joseph ’26 joined 100 of her classmates in Yale SOM’s Zhang Auditorium for the weekly meeting of the school’s Consulting Club. On the agenda were a math skills tutorial followed by one-on-one mock interview drills.

October is a critical time on what club leaders call the “summer internship recruiting road map.” First-year students seeking coveted positions at prestigious firms spend the month networking and prepping for rigorous interviews. Joseph is one of dozens of consulting club members navigating the recruiting process, with the help of devoted second-years who know the ropes.

“We have a packed agenda tonight,” club president Megan Grossman ’25 told the crowd. “We have a lot of firm events coming up, so make sure you’re ready. Make sure you’re starting your cover letters now, and make sure you’re scheduling time to practice casing with your team.”

Consulting interviews include a “casing” exercise—a nail-biter for many students—in which applicants draw on their quantitative and qualitive skills to solve real-world business problems live with an interviewer. Through review and strategizing, the club helps students develop the necessary skillsets.

“I’m genuinely impressed by the lengths they go to,” Joseph said of the club leaders. “On top of developing a comprehensive curriculum, they dedicate countless hours for discussion, mock interviews, and step-by-step case preparation. I’m incredibly grateful for the time they invest in helping us succeed.”

Every year, club leaders spend the fall semester preparing their first-year counterparts to succeed in this competitive field.

“The club perfectly embodies the SOM community’s culture of giving back,” Grossman explains. “We have 10 leaders and over 60 volunteers serving more than 200 active members. I think most students would agree that the club provides the most tangible support during recruiting. That was certainly the case when I was a first-year.”

Second-year students lead groups of four to seven first-years on casing teams that meet weekly to review content and practice for interviews. There are 32 teams this year, and Sojung Choi ’25 is leading one of them, as well as serving on the club’s overall leadership team.

An international student from South Korea, Choi says the club was instrumental in helping her navigate consulting recruitment in the U.S. That experience has inspired her to look for ways to help more first-year students.

“I was supported by leaders with diverse backgrounds, and I’d like to enhance our diversity by providing more structured and formalized guidance tailored to individuals from various cultures and with different personality types,” she says.

Choi also serves on the club’s social and events team and on the networking committee. The events team has planned various club events this fall, including a kickoff party, a geography fair to explore consulting firm offices in different regions of the U.S. and internationally, and a meditation and wellness session.

Case team leader Claire Kelly ’25 says that part of the club’s role is to help first-year student maintain perspective and manage their stress levels during the hectic recruitment season. “I’m positive I would not have made it through recruiting last year without the club,” she says. “I came in very nervous and doubtful that I’d be able to learn how to case and build connections, along with everything else required during your first term in business school. The club provides a very structured process that puts you in a great position to succeed, if you take advantage of the help.”

That process is powered by SOM’s distinctive recruiting culture, she adds. “I like to tell the story of how generous our students were at a recruiting event last year, opening up our support circle to other students walking up,” she says. “The circle got so big, no one could hear what the firm rep was saying. I greatly appreciated the SOM spirit of inclusion rather than competition.”

For Nicholas Agresti ’26, the Consulting Club provides community as well as a set of resources. He wants to focus on making a broad societal impact by helping business leaders solve their most complex strategic problems, he says. The club is setting him up to do just that.

“The leaders and second-years guide us through casing, prepare us for behavioral interviews, and provide endless resources to ensure that we each put our best foot forward throughout the entire journey,” Agresti says. “It’s truly a community of ambitious, supportive students who appreciate the value of collective success.”