Seniors Snag Money for Consulting Prowess

Three seniors finished the weekend $1,500 richer after their team won first place in Harvard Student Agencies' first annual Case Study Competition.

The event, which took place Sunday at the Charles Hotel, gave 75 undergraduates the chance to hone their problem-solving skills for case-style business interviews.

J. Justin Pasquariello '01, Harini Reddy '01 and Radim Rimanek '01 took home first place honors after three rounds of competition that pitted 25 teams of three randomly assigned students against each other.

In the first two rounds, teams prepared answers to case questions and were each judged by a representative from one of the five consulting firms that sponsored the event--McKinsey, Bain, Monitor, Oliver, Wyman & Co. and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

The questions in the first two rounds varied from team to team, depending on the firm that was judging the specific group. The panel of judges for the final round included representatives from all of the sponsoring firms.

For Reddy, the win was entirely unexpected.

"I was really surprised. I came not even hoping to win and definitely thought I would be eliminated early on," she wrote in an e-mail message. "I really just came to the competition hoping to learn something."

The winning team's first question from McKinsey asked them to estimate the size of the market for AA batteries.

Their final round question, also from McKinsey, asked the team to identify key issues that should be considered by the CEO of an entertainment company considering a multimillion-dollar investment to increase the capacity of its video game production.

The teams had 40 minutes to prepare for the first two rounds and only 35 minutes in the last round, with a 15-minute time limit for presentations. The 25 teams were winnowed to 15 in the second round and five in the third.

Pasquariello said the experience of competing against 24 other teams of Harvard students was great preparation for the real world.

"I learned about how to work with a team in a fast-paced environment," Pasquariello said. "It was good practice for any case studies that I'll do in any interviews."

The winners said they appreciated the chance to work with new people.

"I think I learned a lot from working with other people," Reddy wrote. "Normally, when preparing for case interviews, you work through cases by yourself, so you don't really get a sense of other perspectives on the problem."

"During the competition, I learned a lot from the way my teammates approached the cases. It also gave me a good sense of my own strengths and weaknesses in solving these types of problems," she continued.

Rimanek said he enjoyed the exposure he received as a participant in the competition.

"It was pleasant to meet the people from the consulting companies and get feedback on what we did well and what we didn't do well," he said.

The competition began at 8 a.m. Sunday morning and lasted through 2:30 p.m.