I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research
Interview
4 rounds of 1:1 in-person interview, ~50 minutes each. Interviews started with a brief introduction and then had cases. There were ~5 minute breaks between interviews. Cases did not have 'correct' answers in the sense that they were asking how to approach problems as economists.
I applied online. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research in Dec 2025
Interview
1st round is two back-to-back 45-mintue case interviews with people from different offices; one damage analysis and one merger case, both adapted from the interviewers' actual work. Also asked about PhD research and why econ consulting, why CR type of questions. Overall nice people to chat with.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (Boston, MA) in Nov 2025
Interview
5 in-person interviews in their office. I feel like you have to absolutely nail each interview or you won't get it. I felt as if I crushed 4/5 interviews, with the last one being about average. Ultimately, did not get the role, but it was a great experience and everyone was very friendly.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Talk about one of your past papers. Case interviews
First round interview has 2 back-to-back interviews with 2 associates, including behavior and case questions relevant to their fields of work. They will walk you through the case and ask about model setups. They also toast over your research.
Summer Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Cornerstone Research with 3.1 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 68% positive. To compare, the company-average is 69.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Summer Associate roles take an average of 19 days to get hired, when considering 19 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Cornerstone Research overall takes an average of 17 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Cornerstone Research as a Summer Associate according to 19 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 33%
Phone interview: 21%
Skills test: 17%
Personality test: 13%
Presentation: 13%
Background check: 4%
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