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$10,000 worth brand name?
 

pointassist300's picture
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 1:29am

you guys are going to laugh at my post b/c Accenture doesnt stack up anywhere close to MBB when it comes to prestige but a quick question...
i have offers from Accenture and a boutique consulting firm... ~$62,000 and $72,000 respectively. the thing is at the boutique consulting firm i will be coding a lot which i have no problem with since i am a comp sci major. BUT im looking at exit strategies: business school -> mbb management consulting (hopefully). At Accenture i will be doing IT Strategy work with lesser pay.

what do you guys think? what looks better for business school? mbb application?

worth giving up $10,000?

thanks.

Tags:
happypantsmcgee's picture

locations?

O
(Almost Human, 9,621
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 1:31am

locations?

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford

pointassist300's picture

boutique - acquity group -

 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 1:35am

boutique - acquity group - irvine, CA (near LA)

Accenture - Chicago

thanks

ragin286's picture

pointassist, you are

IB
(Chimp, 12
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 2:43am

pointassist, you are forgetting one very important: cost of living. housing is so much more in LA, that the 10k will be more than eaten up. that aside, though it may be tempting to go for the weather, stick with the brand name, one door opened up later on will wayyyy more than pay for the money even ignoring COL

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costof... (Irvine is in Orange County)

econ's picture

http://www.bestplaces.net/col

O
(Neanderthal, 2,415
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 9:18am

http://www.bestplaces.net/col/

Either way, exit ops trump the money, in my opinion.

For my aspiring Entrepreneurial Nomads, check out my blog.

CaptK's picture

As econ said - exit ops trump

PE
(Neanderthal, 2,341
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 11:29am

As econ said - exit ops trump the money every time. You're talking about a difference of $20k over 2 years, which you could easily make up (and more) during your first year of post-consulting work with a better exit opportunity.

- Capt K -
"Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham

pointassist300's picture

hi all, thanks so much for

 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 12:21pm

hi all,

thanks so much for all your opinions.

my other question is....would IT Strategy @ ACN really provide that much better exit ops than coding at Acquity Group. btw, Acquity Group supports performance based promotion. So if I do good maybe I can move up quickly. I heard promotions look really good on business school apps.

thanks.

2x2Matrix's picture

"Do well," not "do good,"

CO
(King Kong, 1,011
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 12:26pm

"Do well," not "do good," that's first grade shit. I would steer clear of boutiques that make you do a lot of coding. I worked at one, and though it's fun if you like programming, you won't have any real exit options to speak of unless you want to go to do the exact same thing at a client, and even if you get promoted you're still overseeing the same boring coding shit. You might get into b-school, but I doubt they'd place better than Accenture.

One of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.

abacab's picture

If you have offer for

IB
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 10:01pm

If you have offer for Accenture IT Strategy group (SITE), take it. It's not your system implementation stuff, generally pretty high end (just in IT).

whataboutquality's picture

This depends GREATLY. Here's

CO
(Chimp, 4
 
Points)
 on 2/24/11 at 11:39pm

This depends GREATLY. Here's how it plays these days:

Accenture is not the most respected name in the big 4 consulting world or even the boutique consulting world. I'm not positive I would put Acquity Group as a consulting group strictly speaking - even their own marketing material considers them to be a tri-pod function between consulting for tech, strategy setting, and design/agency work.

This being the case, it depends what practice area you are in in both companies and what else you want to go to B-school to do. If it is something a bit more in the marketing realm, I'd recommend Aquity Group. If it's specifically managerial consulting within the financial arena, go to Accenture.

However, if you want something that has possible active growth possibilities with the Asian market (specifically China and Korea) go to Acquity. They have offices there and are VERY respected in international business circles and in the US for their accumen towards the digital space.

Forget considering bonuses. You're new and chances are, unless the market picks up dramatically, you won't get those. Sorry, such is life. Your billing percentage would have to be nearly 100% to get that at this stage. As far as Chicago cost of living vs. Los Angeles, I think it's incorrect to say it cost SO much more to live in LA. That's a fantasy. Housing may be more but gas is comparable and utilities (with the weather especially) is MUCH cheaper. Food is better quality and cheaper and entertainment is plentiful and much of it is free or low cost - like museums, beach, street carnivals, and just hanging out. That being said, Chicago is a great town!

I'm intimately familiar with both those companies and with the B-school process. I do work with my school to interview and recruit prospects and have taught college as an adjunct.

What ABOUT Quality?

pointassist300's picture

hi whataboutquality, thanks

 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 12:09am

hi whataboutquality, thanks so much for giving a detailed insight on both companies. do you mind if I pm you?

So my biggest concern is b-school. i want try to get into top b-school...afterwards, possibly target mckinsey, bain or ibanking (of course its really competitive but i want to give it a try).

Acquity seems like a great company but I dont know how much business/strategy exposure i will get. I am being placed on the implementation team. At Accenture, even though i would be IT I would still be doing strategy.

Acquity definitely has a better offer money wise. And like you said its great company thats growing pretty fast (i heard they just signed a multi billion dollar deal in shanghai). Accenture has brand name and bigger network but like you said...not that great of a impression in the industry so i am not sure how much that matters.

Writing this post I just realized I am not even sure what I am asking. I am just confused i guess...but it would be great if i could pm you.

thanks so much again.

2x2Matrix's picture

LA? All I have to offer is

CO
(King Kong, 1,011
 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 12:29am

LA? All I have to offer is this:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/215476/the-cleveland-sho...

It doesn't look like Acquity is really a consulting firm, but if you're able to decipher exactly what they do from their website, kudos, because it sounds like gibberish to me. If you're doing implementation and coding there, why does it matter what they're doing in China? You're still just going to be coding. Though they may be expanding throughout Asia, I'm not entirely clear on how an entry-level analyst doing implementation work is going to get to play a role in the business's expansion, especially if you're based in Irvine.

One of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.

pointassist300's picture

hey 2x2Matrix, thanks for

 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 12:31am

hey 2x2Matrix, thanks for bringing up a good point. definitely keeping me in check.

2x2Matrix's picture

pointassist300 wrote: hey

CO
(King Kong, 1,011
 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 12:38am
pointassist300:

hey 2x2Matrix, thanks for bringing up a good point. definitely keeping me in check.

I think what I wrote might have been stronger than I intended. If you're leaving for business school in 2-4 years, the firm's long-term growth isn't relevant. If your goal was to stay through partner at one of these firms, though, I would actually suggest Acquity for the reasons that whataboutquality mentioned.

One of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.

pointassist300's picture

yea another thing is that I

 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 1:05am

yea another thing is that I accepted acquity's offer 2 months ago b/c I didn't have any other offers at the time. accenture contacted me last month and I just received an offer from them. so i might burn some bridges in the process which is never good.

pointassist300's picture

ok here's my last 2

 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 3:44am

ok here's my last 2 questions...

i am pretty sure b-schools havnt heard of (or dont care about) Acquity Group. So would having an unknown company with good work description look better on my b-school app than having a mediocre big 4 (accenture)?

if someone has actually worked at accenture.....how easy is it to move around in different domains and segments. is it possible to go from IT Strategy to Management Consulting Strategy - M&As (of course it will require a lot of training but do you have the opportunity to do so)?

abacab's picture

You are not going to move

IB
 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 8:46am
pointassist300's picture

thank you everyone for your

 
Points)
 on 2/25/11 at 11:41pm
sfgiants's picture

whataboutquality wrote: This

CO
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 3/1/11 at 12:35am

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