2nd tier consulting MBA opportunities

Rankings are meaninglgess, what firms are we talking about?

I know very small firms (probably not in anyone's top 10) that still do legit work who send people off to top programs.

I was referring to: Accenture, Deloitte, A.T. Kearney and Capgemini.

2be your segmentation is not exactly right. Accenture, Deloitte and Capgemini are generally not regarded as tier 2 firms and are quite heavy on IT / process consulting, which won't help you for business school from a content perspective (you are unlikely to get a holistic view on how firms should be run & the experience does not provide you with the same analytical skillset), and which doesn't carry the 'prestige' of the work you'd do in tier 1 and 2 firms. Finally, the calibre of people working there is different.

The main tier 2 firms are, in no specific order, AT Kearney, Oliver Wyman, OC&C, LEK, Roland Berger, Monitor, and Booz. These firms have quite different focusses in terms of work they do, but are competing for work that is perceived as standard MBB territory by people on the street. Working in one of these will provide you with a good shot at top MBA programmes.

Please do not pay too much attention to the notorious 'rankings' such as Vault. The methodology to rank 'prestige' there is seriously flawed, as 'prestige' seems to highly correlate with positioning in previous years and 'brand names', which leads to funny results such as OC&C (who do strategy work) ranking lower than Deloitte (who don't do strategy work and thus are not necessarily comparable players).

Hope this helps. Any more questions, give me a shout.

m2, great comment, thank you very much.

Although I am being called for interviews at McKinsey, A.T.Kearney, Deloitte and some more in my country, what I really wanted is a tier 1 company in London, but It's being hard to get an interview there. Are they hiring as much as they did before?

If I don't get what I want (MBB London) I will try MBB here and then I will try tier 2 firms but my main goal is to get into a TOP10 MBA program later on.

To which countries are you referring to when you say the main tier 2 firms? I mean, I have the same chance of getting in a TOP MBA working at McKinsey here (Spain) than in USA or UK?

all the best!

Thank you.

2be, no pasa nada tio. Basicamente el hecho de que tienes entrevistas con McK ya me parece muy bien. Por lo tanto tu CV hay que ser bastante impresionante, y solo por eso ya esta realistico que van a darte un lugar en un programa de MBA 'elite'. No obstante, buena suerte con todo.

On your questions:

1. Not sure whether they're hiring more or less than last year in London but that's not the point. The point is that the number of spots in MBB Lon is fairly limited and these are, essentially, going to white middle class Oxbridge graduates that have studied any random topic and have one (1) extracurricular activity and one (1) internship in the city / MBB. I believe, without knowing your profile, that your chances of getting in there are relatively slim unless you have personal connections. Obviously trying doesn't cost anything (who dares wins blabla).

2. I am working in London and the list I mentioned is from a London perspective. I am not sure what the firm landscape is like in Spain, but believe it should be similar. It is similar elsewhere in Europe, for example.

3. If your goal is let's say H/S/W, then try getting into MBB ideally, otherwise tier 2. I am not sure whether working in MBB London would give you that much over MBB ESP from an MBA application (or any other!) perspective, and actually think your working at MBB ESP would add points to your application in the diversity department. I believe the MBA admission consultants who tend to post in the business school barrage forum should be able to help you there. If MBB ESP doesn't work out either, go for a tier 2, and it probably depends on the firm you're looking at whether London or Spain would make more sense.

Good luck.

Yes, DELOITTE does have an active S&O group, but size typically ranges from 0% to 20% of all work done out of any given office. To say they don't do strategy is just plain wrong....it's just not their focus that puts bread & butter on the table.

Having gone through a few interviews in my city and talked to a lot of their clients, the reputations of MBB are actually falling quite a bit here. I'm not saying other notables (big 4) are pulling up the slack, but I guess a lot of small firms are actually filling in the holes, esp. with respect to strategy.

Is anybody else sensing these changes in their regions/cities?

Also, plenty of 2nd tier boyz and girls get in at H/S/W....I know of a couple and they've said the ranks are full of 'em. I will also say that hiring at HSW are seeing some of the steepest declines in hiring (%-wise), so don't assume it's a golden ticket. You still need to have a plan when going in and you still need to execute that plan.

Maybe the slide in MBB/HSW reps are aligned.....cuz HSW has even taken a beating in the news.

Just to add on to that, I know someone who went to HBS this year from Strategy group of my 2nd/3rd tier firm, after only 2.5 years of work, coming out of state school. I know few other from other management consulting groups who ended up in Top 10s, also coming from state schools.