Accenture Vs asset management in small bank

If you don't enjoy asset management, find strategy at Accenture appealing, and have no other offers, go for it. Your exit opps won't be harmed.

Thank you very much for the comment , it seems more objective than the other topics. Does someone know about the working hours? I am not afraid about working till midnight occasionally when there is a deadline but not everyday..

Then don't go into consulting. You might be working till 3 AM for a week, or you might get out every day at 6 PM. If you're afraid of variability, you shouldn't be in the profession.

I don't know if this is true for Accenture - I think the hours are slightly more reasonable than MBB can be - but if you don't like working late stay in your current 9-5, or 9-9 or whatever. The pay and the opportunities do have a cost.

accenture is a very good firm. their strategy group has really gotten stronger in recent years and the MBB, OW/, Booz and Monitors of the world have been increasingly running up against Accenture for business. not saying it's as good as those firms, but it's definitely a better choice for you given how you feel about the AM job.

I actually know a Consultant in Accenture Strategy who had to pull 90-100 hour weeks in a project (but it only lasted couple of months). 8-7 with some hotel and weekend hours are more normal.

Don't know that much about them but here what I heard and think.

-If you can tell already now that asset management is too repetitive and you now have the chance to join an elite group with varying projects and challenging work, to me it seems your question is very much answered - go for it

-key thing holding you back is the assoc with an obviously bad brand, but the work itself will be identical to MBB. The longer I am in the job the less I can believe how 'lack of brand on campus' keeps people away from the marginal non mbb consulting firm/strategy group

-check your network's network or linkedin whether the exit ops are attractive for you. Perhaps also ask them what kind of work you can expect -- happy to provide thoughts on what you receive

If its in strategy go for it. If its in IT forget about it.

thanks for such a number of answers that really help me in making my decision (it seems quite clear now). Another question: Is it possible to integrate a top MBA with such a position (strategy consultant) after a few years ?

Most of the strategy firms help the transition from analyst to MBA. Accenture is a good firm, they should be no different. Accenture places strategy consultants pretty well.

Actually know a Accenture Strategy Analyst making it to Harvard MBA last year. He was not a superstar (from early promo sense). But regardless, one data point, and the brand name obviously didn't kill him in a tough year. Will you get into Harvard? Probably not. But try hard enough, Top 10 shouldn't be impossible.

Sorry to derail but why do people think you can't get into a top b-school unless you work at the top banks or consulting firms?

I know plenty of people who worked so-so jobs after college but due to amazing grades, strong GMAT and a good essay got into HBS, Wharton, Stanford etc. Telling someone that Accenture is the reason they won't get into a good b-school is really bad and more importantly incorrect advice. The thing keeping most people out of the top b-schools is the rest of their profile.

Well, those amazing grades, strong GMATs, and good essays tend to match up better with people who work at prestigious firms... not a hard and fast rule, of course, but still.

Plus, if you look at the numbers, you just have a MUCH better chance at getting into HBS coming from a BB firm or MBB. I saw something (on the interwebs, so I won't campaign for veracity or lack thereof) that said McK sends ~100 to HBS, GS and BCG tie up around 60 each, and Bain, MS, JPM etc. round out with another 100-200. That locks up around half the class... so unless you worked at those firms, your odds just went way down.

It isn't impossible, and your profile has a lot to do with acceptance, but Accenture doesn't get those "protected" spots - that's the argument people are making.

So let me get this. Harvard admits 900 students per class, 50% coming from MBB/BB per your internal portal (I am assuming from McK). Then I go look at Harvard site itself, and 34% comes from Consulting and IB. http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html So not only the minnows from 3rd tier consulting firms and MM banks are in the negative percent of admitted students, but so are 16% of whatever your source claims.

I don't know how many Analysts McK takes in each year, but I'd be hard pressed think its lot more than 100 (maybe 150 max?), and after attrition, etc. if you are claiming 80% of them show up at HBS in 3-4 years, all the power to them. And obviously tough luck to the other top 10 schools who have to fight over the other 20%.

^ Thank you someone who uses their brain.

I don't know how people convince themselves that ALL of the top graduating students at Ivies ALL go to MBB/BB and then ALL go to b-school and the only ones they attend are H/S/W. 1) it's not true and 2) it's not possible.

Also it would be a great help to my friends who are at MBB/BB applying to b-school now since according to bleedblue there are "protected spots" waiting for them - they'll be able to relax!

Ok, let's play a game. Here's round 1, where you don't need to believe anything that's not publicly available - BCG lists current HBS students who are BCG alums on their website. Link : http://hbs.bcg.com/meet_us/bcgalumni.aspx

Go ahead and count them - should be around 60. Oh, jeez - is that the number I cited above?

So let's use some quick math and say 180 from MBB, because I doubt BCG is any different from McK or Bain. And, hell, since consulting firms are smaller than banks, and the analysts classes are too, let's be conservative across, oh GS, MS, and JPM. That's 360. Thoughts?

Oh, and brick - the class at McKinsey is well in excess of 150 worldwide.

christ... when I said protected spots, the reference was that HBS does indeed take a shit-ton of people from MBB and BB banks, not that they literally save seats. Sorry to burst your precious bubble, but yes, it's fucking tough to get into HBS, and yes, being at MBB and BB banks make it significantly easier.

HBS takes a lot of profiles, but the easiest way to get in is, sadly, to have Harvard, Yale, or Princeton on the ol' resume, McKinsey or Goldman Sachs and then TPG, and a year helping the poor and downtrodden in India or some festering shit hole in the middle of Africa. There's a reason people do it - it works.

Feel free to post strident denouncements of all this and tell me I'm an idiot. I know the sources I'm drawing on and frankly they're better than yours.

A note to the above poster:

I did the same type of calculation in the past; although your numbers seem about right, you forgot to consider the fact that if 360 from MBB/BB are at HBS on a given year, likely half are in their first year and half in their second year, so on average about 180 enter every year.

This accounts for about 20% of the incoming students; still a high percentage, but more in line with HBS website numbers.