It’s just one month after Felix Lutter picked up his diploma, and already he is mapping his route to McKinsey & Company’s Frankfurt office. The MBA Felix splashed €61,700 on has paid dividends. He enrolled at Barcelona’s ESADE Business School in 2014. A year later, the world’s best known management consultancy cold-called Felix to pitch him a job. He’ll enter McKinsey’s private equity practice as an associate in June.
One of ESADE’s youngest MBAs, at 26, the German joined the school after 2.5 years at Deloitte, the professional services firm. In under two years, he rose to the rank of senior consultant in Deloitte’s M&A transaction advisory services wing.
Before that, Felix cut his teeth at Gardnyr Michael Capital, a boutique investment bank in Alabama, US. He studied finance and economics nearby at Spring Hill College.
During the MBA degree, Felix served as president of ESADE’s Finance Club and spent three months on exchange at Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
What are your tips for other MBAs for getting hired by McKinsey?
There are a couple of hurdles you can’t influence. They look at your high school diploma, undergraduate degree and GMAT score. But once you get that interview, I would prepare with McKinsey-specific case studies. [In my opinion], they are different and more structured than Boston Consulting Group’s or Bain & Company’s cases.
McKinsey also have three principles, and they want to hear at least one story or one experience from your previous work in a high level of detail, which relates to the principles.
You should also be quick on your feet. Be open-minded about the cases and don’t be scared to make solid recommendations. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what people pay McKinsey for.
How has the MBA helped you secure your position at McKinsey?
McKinsey contacted me because they saw my profile in the ESADE CV book. That was pretty neat.
Case study-thinking also helped. In the application process, McKinsey give you a wide case and they expect you to look at everything, from marketing and operations to the potential environmental impact of your solution.
The MBA has broadened my horizons. In my undergraduate degree the classes were not case study-based. What helped me was to have those case studies at ESADE that covered a broad range of areas.
When and why did you decide to begin an MBA?
To improve my leadership skills and get exposed to more senior people. I got my undergraduate degree in the US, so I wanted to stay in Europe for my MBA. I chose ESADE because I didn’t speak Spanish, and for its international cohort, and its focus on teamwork. From one subject to another, the team dynamic might change because of the background of the students.
My goal to get a masters degree — I’ve had it all along.
At the age of 26, did people doubt your experience entering the MBA program?
I have only two and a half years of full-time work experience. And normally the criteria is three years. So my admissions officer said this might be a problem. This was the weak spot in my profile. My GMAT score was good. My experience at Deloitte was good. He liked my international experience. But he said the length of experience might be trouble.
I was a little intimidated coming to ESADE. But nobody ever really asked my age. I was direct and outspoken in class; people were surprised when they learned of my age. My height also had something to do with it — I’m six foot seven.
You were promoted to senior consultant at Deloitte after less than two years. What’s your advice for MBAs hoping to progress in the firm?
Expect to learn; be open to learning a lot, especially in the first six months. But don’t let that crush your confidence. I sometimes was frustrated because, I’m not stupid, but there were a lot of mistakes to make. You have to expect to be educated on the job by other consultants.
What unique experiences did you have on your exchange to Chicago Booth?
The focus of Chicago Booth is different; it’s very finance driven, and since that is my background and what I wanted to do after the MBA, I opted for the exchange. At Booth, I took the entrepreneurial finance, private equity and negotiation classes. And also quite an advanced Excel modelling class.
Those finance classes were unique. The teaching style was different; it was a little more formal. At ESADE, through the teamwork, people know each other and it gets less formal in class at times. At Booth, people don’t know each other as well and they don’t interact with each other as much out of class, so it’s more strict and professional.
How is the finance club able to provide career opportunities for its members?
The idea was not to get people a job but to expose people. People at that stage in their careers are old enough to use career services to get a job or synthesize their own opportunities from networking. I didn’t spend my time trying to get members internships.
It was very driven by investment banking before I joined. We tried to broaden the spectrum a little bit. We visited Amazon and Siemens. And EY and Deutsche Bank.
Student Reviews
Esade review
As I am just starting off in September, I do not have any hands-on information about the education or the university itself. However, I can tell you about the experience I have had with the admin staff, which was always extremely positive. As I am a scholarship student, I had some hardships with reserving my place as I needed to wait for the result of my scholarship application, otherwise, I would not have been able to attend the university. They kindly offered me to hold my place without paying which was a big help for me. Additionally, any time I had problems with the IT system or any administrative task they would always help me in a day or two.
Bachelor Business administration
ESADE University stands as a beacon of academic excellence and innovation. With its dynamic programs, world-class faculty, and vibrant campus culture, ESADE offers a transformative educational experience. From cutting-edge business education to a commitment to societal impact, ESADE surpasses expectations. It's a remarkable institution that nurtures tomorrow's leaders.
Excellent education.
ESADE is a quality university, the professors are the best in the area and this is evident in the student's academic progress. Additionally, the university is responsible for providing opportunities to access the world of work. It is a university internationally recognized for its quality and excellence. It is located in the best neighborhood of Barcelona.
Excellent teachers and classes and a superb international experience
If you are looking for a law specialization master's degree (LLM) in the non so traditional areas of law, and you are seeking for an international fully enriching experience, ESADE is your best choice.
ESADE started as a business school so the MBA and other business degrees are their core. Nonetheless, law education and in particular the specialisation master's (international business law and intellectual property and ICT law) are also on the top Europe's LLM of their fields. They combine an excellent program, with the best teachers available in Barcelona and with a more than enough amount of resources to study and help the student to get initiated in their career field. Also, this is the best international experience out there; personally, I got to share a classroom with other 25 students, where only 6 of them were Spanish, the other 19 including myself were a mixture of different nationalities, especially from Latin American countries.
What an enriching experience!
The program was super complete and touched on all the key points I considered important in a Master of Law, Intellectual Property and Technology. In addition, I was able to take advantage of business, communication, leadership and other disciplines, so important in the training of a complete and multifaceted professional. It is also great that all teachers are lawyers, so they can practice the knowledge they teach us on a daily basis. In this way, they are able to transmit theoretical knowledge to us with a much more practical approach, super useful for our future. In this way, we are able to penetrate the network of contacts in our areas, which can be extremely beneficial for our career.
I also believe that the University is really concerned with the students, in helping them in everything they need, which can be demonstrated, for example, in the current pandemic situation, since it has always tried to act in such a way as to harm the students as little as possible, providing the support and compensation that they considered fair.
In conclusion, I would like to thank ESADE for providing me with one of the best experiences of my life, in which I have made friends for life, and from which I leave with excellent academic preparation, ready to face the challenges of a professional career.
The online platform and the involvment of students and teachers
The online platform is very agile to work and gives you great flexibility to follow the program. Secondly, I was surprised by the involvement of students and teachers. This has made the program very interesting with links to extensions of the agenda. Quite a good surprise. I would clearly recommend it.
Great class cohesion, superb study location, super professors
I loved the class cohesion with plenty of international students from all over the world. Great to have that mix during a practical business project to do with the local economy of the Costa Brava.
Studying in Barcelona is simply amazing, and even though the university is not directly in the center, it is in a really nice part of the city with great views over the old town and the sea. I always enjoyed my walk from the metro station to the school.
The professors were nice and motivated, and as classes were small, it allowed a very good learning atmosphere.
Amazing experience!
The professors are qualified, passionate, and dive deeply into the topics while always making class engaging. Hands-on experience with companies to solve real issues - offering a great opportunity to apply the learnings and gain more relevant experience. The study tours and minor class trips are also adding value to the course, along with many career and social events, which help create a good environment. Would highly recommend!
Career Pivot
I decided to pursue the executive MBA at ESADE after speaking with several alumni about their backgrounds and reasons for choosing this program. Coming from tech, I wanted to learn about other aspects of a company and get assistance in creating my own business plan. The open day was well planned and informative complete with a sample class and case studies. If you’re in doubt, I recommend you attend one of these events.
