Tuition Reimbursement - First of second tier consulting companies offer tuition reimbursement?

Do any first or second tier consulting companies offer tuition reimbursement for MBA students who intern at the company? If yes, which ones? Is everyone at those companies offered reimbursement or just those who stand out?

 

@kingfalcon is right. However, one thing that they gloss over, or at least that new hires sometimes miss, is that you have to be promoted to Manager within two years in order to receive the tuition reimbursement. Not all MBA hires get promoted within two years (I think you have to be a 1 or 2 rating, which is like ~40%). I have also hear that Accenture offers a similar package, but don't have any first hand knowledge.

 
BGP2587:

@kingfalcon is right. However, one thing that they gloss over, or at least that new hires sometimes miss, is that you have to be promoted to Manager within two years in order to receive the tuition reimbursement. Not all MBA hires get promoted within two years (I think you have to be a 1 or 2 rating, which is like ~40%). I have also hear that Accenture offers a similar package, but don't have any first hand knowledge.

Dang... so they wait 2 years before deciding whether to give you a one-time bonus equivalent to a year's worth of tuition? If so.. is that one year tuition "reimbursement" replacing your sign-on bonus? Or is this in addition to? The reason I'm asking is because I remember someone telling me that Deloitte's 1-year-tuition-reimbursement policy is really just a bigger sign on bonus, and that it also has a deadline.

 

I know a guy who worked MBB right after college, then a strategy type gig in industry, then bschool. He did his internship at a completely unrelated company, yet still got a full-time offer at his MBB firm that included his second year of tuition.

Must be nice.

 

@another_consultant Hopefully someone on here can shed a little more light on this. I don't exactly remember how the payout works. As in, I don't know if you get it as a lump sum two years later, or if it's prorated over the two years and then you have to pay it back if you don't get promoted? I assume it's the first, but not totally positive. And I believe this is in addition to your regular signing bonus.

All my info is from a couple of years ago, and is second hand from SC's that were starting at the firm after their MBA. Things definitely could have changed/my info could have been slightly off.

 
Best Response

Last year and for several years prior, MBA interns (at least at top schools) who returned to Deloitte and Accenture full-time received tuition reimbursement. I've never heard the wrinkle about needing to make Manager at Deloitte to receive the full benefit. It's possibly the case, but I'm surprised I haven't heard of it. Like signing bonuses and MBA sponsorships at any firm, I would expect the tuition benefit to come with a 1 or 2 year minimum commitment (possibly pro rata). The gross amount of the benefit varies between the firms and is something like $80k at Accenture and $60k at Deloitte. This is taxable income. This is on top of a healthy signing bonus and a smaller additional early signing bonus for not re-recruiting with other firms as a 2Y. I can also think of a couple of boutique firms with similar programs.

 

I'm hesitant to answer, because I'm not 100% sure on most of them. I also don't know the amounts or whether it is part of a standard offer or only for some candidates. That said, firms that I believe have picked up at least some tuition in the past include Booz, ATKearney, and The Cambridge Group. Take this post with a giant grain of salt. If some knows better than me, please post.

 
OP2000:

Does any of the MBB offer this?

holla_back:

MBB will sometimes pay for the second year of business school.

No. MBB reimburses tuition for BA/AC/A's (pre-MBA) who pursue MBA's and then return to the firm.

hobonumber:

But you get a sizable signing bonus

It's certainly nothing to sneeze at, but other firms (Deloitte and Accenture) have bigger signing bonuses. MBB still has the advantage on benefits and year-end bonus potential, but the gap has been closing. The draw at MBB is the experience, exit opps, and much steeper salary curve.

 
BigPicture:

I don't think for interns, OP2000

for sponsored consultants...sure of course

Plenty of firms will offer to pay for the second year of business school following a successful internship.

 

Some, yes. And in the cases I know if, they offer to pay for one year of tuition if you come back post-mba, versus two if you had been at the firm pre-mba.

"Buy gas. It's a sure-fire commodity with no risk except for the sure risk of fire." - Stephen Colbert
 

Thanks for the responses.

Maximum - what do you mean convince them you need it? As in have a strong enough profile that they will use it as incentive to tie you down? Or financial need?

 

I can't imagine doing a part-time program while keeping up with work at MBB (or any of the others you mention). I'm at a top B-school and my full-time class includes 3-4 sponsored students from almost every Vault Top 10 consulting firm. Not all of them are planning to go to back to consulting, but they all have the option. Those firms all sponsor, but it's an option that is only open to top performers.

A few more things to consider: -MBB promotion cycles are pretty rigid. At 2-2.5 years out of undergrad, you either get promoted to the post-MBA role (C1 @ B or B, AC1 at McK) or you get coached out. -Direct promotion is more common than it used to be, but still not the norm. Even after promotion, many opt to do an MBA. -MBB experience and resume-branding (for MBA or exit ops) are worth more than at most other firms. Is it worth $150k more if you don't end up with a sponsorship option? I don't know. That's something you have to decide and depends on personal preference and what you think you might want to do down the road. -MBB "genuinely likes" everyone they make an offer to. Otherwise they wouldn't. It's not that you're not special, it's that everyone is just as special. How you did in the interviews won't determine your career track. How you do on the job will. Focus your energy there; you've got at least 1.5 years before you even start thinking about applying for an MBA.

 

At my old MBB firm, they were very explicit about tuition reimbursement extending to two years of a JD/MD/other relevant degree (i.e. Kennedy School). They wouldn't pay for the whole thing since an MBA is only two years.

But no, you're not going to bill for any more because you have a JD, or an MBA, or are a direct promote, or whatever. If you're a first-year Associate, the client will get billed either the standard rate, or whatever they negotiated, which has nothing to do with who they staff.

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Thanks for the comment. In terms of the second half of your comment, while they might not be able to bill me at more, couldn't they use that as a point in initial proposals by saying something along the lines of "By selecting our MBB firm, you will obtain the best available team to solve your company's problems. Our staff consist of top graduates from well regarded business school as well as consultants with joint JD/MBA degrees from schools including XYZ who have the ability to intersect business and law to ensure our we provide legally sounds business solutions, this provides you with more value than other firms"?

 

Sorry there, the marginal value of a JD/MBA in proposal process is almost none. Most of the time when a project is sold, little is known about the consultants on the case. And by selecting any MBB firm, the client is more likely than not to get "top graduates from well regarded business school as well as consultants with joint JD/MBA degrees". Very few buyers of projects care that the staff "have the ability to intersect business and law to ensure our we provide legally sounds business solutions", that should be a given if you are shelling out $MM for a project.

Also from my past MBB experience, and colleagues at other firms, 2 years of tuition is all you get, JD, JD/MBA, MD, PhD. Guess that is the market rate these days.

 

Can't comment on how MBB firms work re: tuition reimbursement (seems like you already have the answer anyway) but dude, take yourself less seriously - you aren't going to be a hotshot superstar consultant if you get a JD as well as an MBA, and I'm sure (as someone above said) they won't be saying "you'll have brooj14, with an MBA business schools ">M7 MBA and T14 JD, solving your company's problems if you hire us."

 

I'm going to assume you are in the very early stages of looking into law school. A few things you need to know:

1) A T-14 JD (Actually you really need to be looking at Harvard/Stanford/Chicago/Columbia/Penn pretty much exclusively) imparts close to zero legal skills. Even the law schools will openly admit this ("We teach you how to THINK"). As a result, your value-add as legal counsel would be zero. Plus, business entities that are not law firms are forbidden from giving legal opinions.

2) "Only 4-5 years" is a fairly long time in consulting (and biglaw as well for that matter). At that point you would be transitioning into a business management role and prepping for the final run to partner.

3) To get the reimbursement for a JD/MBA you would be required to go directly to your sponsoring consulting firm, meaning you would never get the basic training as a lawyer and would have a hard time transitioning into practice at a major law firm. Basically, you would have wasted money on the JD portion of the JD/MBA from the very outset if you are 100% set on going back into consulting.

4) DONT GO TO LAW SCHOOL. SO BORING.

 

i don't understand why you would pay more for a JD/MBA.

MBA = 2 years of forgone salary + 2 years of tuition at $55k = $200k to $400k JD/MBA = 3 years of forgone salary + 3 years of tuition at up-to 70k = $300k to $600k

A lot of extra cost for nearly zero extra value. For MBB or any business school recruiting, the value of the additional JD is around zero, and in some cases perhaps negative.

 

Most consulting firms will only pay for a standard MBA BUT if you're a superstar (i.e., distinctive in all your evaluations) and they desperately want you to come back (i.e., have a couple of partners pushing for them to make an exception), I'd be pretty sure they'd at least consider it.

I don't think that you'd be able to get a firm answer either way until closer to the time- most firms only fund the MBAs of good performers and so probably wouldn't commit to funding you until they were sure that you were one.

Also, bear in mind that to get your MBA funded you need to commit to coming back to the MBB firm for at least a couple of years. Your billing rate will not be impacted at all by what degrees you have- firms bill based on their internal seniority (i.e., analyst, associate, engagement manager)

I previously worked for McKinsey in London and have started a blog about consulting and how to get into it at www.theconsultingcoach.com
 

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