Consulting case competitions for undergrads

Which consulting case competitions can you enter right now?

The list below is every consulting competition we track, each checked on the organizer's own page. Read the eligibility line first. Many of the big ones are invitation only, which means the school is invited and the school picks the team, so your real application is to your own case club or career center.

Timing in the list is what each organizer's page states. Where a page gives no dates, the list says so rather than guessing.

• Carolina Case ChallengeUNC Kenan-Flagler Undergraduate Business ProgramThe top three teams split a cash prize, amounts not stated; travel and lodging at the team's own expense.
• Wisconsin Invitational Consulting Case CompetitionWisconsin School of Business, UW-Madison$4,000 first, $3,000 second, $2,000 third, $1,000 fourth; one hotel night and meals for traveling teams.
• CBS Case Competition InvitationalCopenhagen Business SchoolNo cash stated; all participation costs covered except travel to Copenhagen; the top three present in the grand final.
• Deloitte National Undergraduate Case CompetitionDeloitte ConsultingNational round: $1,000 per team member first, $500 second, $250 third; campus winners get the trip to nationals.
• McDonough Business Strategy ChallengeGeorgetown McDonough School of BusinessNot stated on the page.
• Accenture Innovation ChallengeAccentureNot stated on the page.

Which ones are built for freshmen and sophomores?

Two firm-run competitions are written for underclassmen on their own pages, and they are the best first step because you compete against people at your stage and the judges work at the firm running it.

• Deloitte National Undergraduate Case Competition: freshmen and sophomores only, teams of four, any major, at participating campuses. Campus winners go on to a national round at Deloitte University. The page also requires work authorization in the US without sponsorship.
• Accenture Innovation Challenge: second-year students at US or Canadian colleges, in teams, working on a problem for a nonprofit partner.
• Your own school's internal case competition: no list can show it, but most case clubs run one, and it is how teams for the invitationals get picked.

How do the formats differ, and why does it matter?

Case competitions split into two families. Long-form cases give you days or weeks with the problem, so the judges expect real research, a clean deck, and numbers that tie out. Short-form cases give you hours, so they reward structure, quick division of labor, and a team that can build ten good slides under a clock.

Match your first competition to what your team is good at. A team of strong writers does well with the long ones. A team that has drilled live cases together does well with the short ones.

• Long case, weeks: NBMBAA Undergraduate Case Competition gives teams of four about 30 days with the case before presenting to executives.
• Case released ahead of the event: Wisconsin Invitational and Tippie National Impact send the case before teams travel, with a deck deadline.
• Short and long in one event: Marshall International runs a 5-hour case and a 24-hour case before finals; John Molson runs three 3-hour cases and one 24-hour case; Heavener International weights its two cases 25 and 75 percent.
• Nonprofit client: McDonough Business Strategy Challenge and Accenture's challenge both put a mission-driven organization at the center.
• Open to all gender identities, with a home-school rule: McCombs National Women's Case Competition asks for at least two team members from the home business school.

Does a case competition help you get a consulting internship?

It helps in three concrete ways, none of them magic. It gives you practice at the thing consulting interviews test, which is breaking a messy problem into parts and landing on a recommendation. It gives you a resume line that shows teamwork under a deadline. And it gives you a reason to talk to the consultants who judged or coached you.

What it does not do is replace case interview prep. A competition deck is a group product built over days. A case interview is you, alone, out loud, in thirty minutes. Treat the competition as a structure workout and keep drilling live cases on the side.

• Put the competition, your role, and the result on your resume, under activities or a leadership line.
• Write to one judge or coach within a few days, thanking them for one specific piece of feedback.
• Reuse the problem as a story for the behavioral question about working on a team under pressure.
• Note which firms sponsored or judged, and track their programs before the summer window opens.

How do you get onto a team for the invitational competitions?

Invitationals take one team per school, so the selection happens on your campus months before the event. The schools that send teams usually pick them through an internal case competition, a tryout case, or the case club's leadership.

1. Join your school's consulting or case club in your first semester and ask how competition teams are chosen.
2. Compete in the internal case competition, even as a freshman, so the club has seen your work.
3. Ask the career center which invitationals the school has been invited to; some, like Wisconsin's, need a career-center staff contact.
4. Enter an open or firm-run competition in the meantime so you have a result to point to.
5. When a tryout is announced, practice timed decks with the people you want on your team.

Questions students ask

Can freshmen enter consulting case competitions?

Yes. Deloitte's national undergraduate competition is for freshmen and sophomores only, and most campus case clubs run internal competitions open to first-years.

Do I need to be a business major?

Usually not. Deloitte's and the Carolina Case Challenge's pages both say any major or non-business students may take part. Some invitationals are run through business schools and draw teams from them.

How many people are on a team?

Four is the most common team size in the consulting list, but it varies by competition. Check the eligibility line for each one before you form a team.

Is winning necessary for the resume line to count?

No. Being selected for an invitational or reaching a national round is worth listing. Say what you did on the team in one line, and the result if there was one.

Should I do a case competition or case interview prep?

Both, but interview prep comes first in the summer before junior year, when consulting applications open. Competitions fit best in freshman and sophomore year, when there is no application deadline pressing.