PwC Management Consulting vs Dropbox Rotation Program Offer

Hi All,

I currently have two full-time offers one from PwC Management Consulting in NYC and another for Dropbox's Rotation Program in SF. If I were to go to PwC I would want to try to get get aligned to strategy and TICE(their tech, media, communications, etc group), however there doesn't seem to be any guarantee about placement until a week before you start and I have heard that you might not even get projects within your alignment. Dropbox is more of a operational focused rotation program (sales, user ops, etc).

I eventually think I want to get into some sort of strategy position for possibly a tech firm and go to a top B-school. Which option seems more attractive? In terms of culture, I like both firms so it really comes down to opportunity and exit options out of each. Thanks so much!

 

By PwC Mgmt Consulting do you mean "Strategy&" f.k.a. Booz? I don't know how it works organizationally there but PwC does LOTS of different kinds of consulting so I'm just curious if you'll be within Booz-only work or available to all of PwC's consulting projects.

Either way, I would go with Dropbox. But if you had an offer with Booz, then it would be a little more difficult.

Here's why you don't go with PwC: PwC is an accounting firm. The caliber of people here are not nearly as high as the top tier consulting firms. While the consulting side will be better than audit, there's no getting around the fact that audit and tax are the bread and butter of this firm. When it comes to the top projects in consulting, they will go to MBB. As the projects become less high-profile and interesting, clients start moving down the ladder to get to a price point that fits. The projects at PwC won't be as cool as at MBB (opinion here...). It has brand recognition, but not as a consulting company. With that on your resume, people will know PwC, which helps, but it won't necessarily help you. Nobody will be impressed. Pay will likely be lower. NYC is VERY expensive and I, personally, dislike the culture. When it comes to MBA applications - you'll be lumped into a VERY difficult group. Accounting firm (PwC along probably has 300,000 employees - what about the other acct firms too) and consulting (MBB and Deloitte will dominate you). Tough.

Here's why you should go with Dropbox: New company that is growing rapidly with a LOT of brand recognition and a LOT of VC-backing. Experience here in an operations role will be very valuable when it comes to lateralling to another tech company. Also, if they go public and you're around, that experience will be worth a lot with other startups who might want to go that route. You''ll be hot shit. The entire tech community knows Dropbox. PwC is these guys' auditor. Everybody knows and admires Dropbox for who they are and what they do. And this has attracted some of the best and brightest as employees. The top performers at PwC will likely be average at Dropbox. There's no beating Silicon Valley for what it sounds like you want to do. Also, when it comes time for MBA applications you have brand recognition (like PwC) without the competition and with experience that you know will be very good. And your experience will SET YOU APART as being unique. Plus the rotation aspect is nice.

And finally an anecdote: I once wanted to get into a traditional route (HF / PE - actually ended up here but am going back for an MBA to make a change into something like this Dropbox job) and had the opportunity to meet with one of Sequoia Capital's partners at their offices. I was about one year out of school at the time. We had a great conversation and after I told him about where I wanted my career to go, he very simply told me that that was stupid idea. In his opinion, the experience that will be most highly valued in the future will be operations experience in a large, brand-name corporation. With all the start ups and proliferation of consultancies and banks, corporate jobs are getting little love from grads. But at the end of the day, you want experience that people can trust and that is applicable to many different companies. Also, as an investor - you make the most money by finding value where others don't and I can promise you that droves of grads are busting their balls to get into banking and consulting. Crowded investments rarely work out.

So, take my advice or not, but a billionaire tech investor and entrepreneur would probably tell you to go to Dropbox.

 
bmcrhino:
Also, as an investor - you make the most money by finding value where others don't and I can promise you that droves of grads are busting their balls to get into banking and consulting. Crowded investments rarely work out.

Don't know enough about either job to really comment either way, but I found this really amusing. Where have you been the last few years? Have you seen the number of people chasing after jobs at tech start ups?

 

No. Have you? How many? How does that compare to the number of grads trying to get into consulting?

The point I make is that in my opinion consulting is a much more crowded industry than tech. Moreover his options are a top-tier tech startup or a mid- to low-tier consultancy. No brainer.

And the fact remains that crowded investments are difficult to make money in. I never say that tech is not a crowded investment, just that it's less crowded than consulting.

 

I would also recommend Dropbox -- in addition to everything bmcrhino said, Dropbox will give you a significantly higher quality of life than PwC. I have a lot of friends who work there, and they love it. Great food, great hours, typical techie perks. Exit ops within tech are excellent.

The quality of people in the rotational program is excellent, there were even some from my MBB offer class who chose Dropbox instead.

 

Thank you for all the responses everyone; all the insights are extremely helpful. My main concern about Dropbox is the fact that the rotation program focuses on "sales" and user "operations"....does anyone think that this work may turn out to be dull/limited in scope? Thanks!

 

I don't think this would change much. It's early in your career, you will most likely end up doing something later in life that you won't do after college, so what's the difference? Right out of college you want to make sure you get some solid brand recognition on your resume, great experience, and set yourself up for new opportunities.

I think the Dropbox does these things better than PwC. If you know deep down that you only want to do consulting, you should still do Dropbox, then do MBB after an MBA program. And, like I said, your chances at a top-tier MBA will be better from Dropbox, IMO.

 
Best Response
bmcrhino:

I don't think this would change much. It's early in your career, you will most likely end up doing something later in life that you won't do after college, so what's the difference? Right out of college you want to make sure you get some solid brand recognition on your resume, great experience, and set yourself up for new opportunities.

I think the Dropbox does these things better than PwC. If you know deep down that you only want to do consulting, you should still do Dropbox, then do MBB after an MBA program. And, like I said, your chances at a top-tier MBA will be better from Dropbox, IMO.

If he does PwC, he's pretty much guaranteed to get into a M14 businss school, and a lower-end M7 if he has good stats. Dropbox is more variable...if Dropbox continues to grow, he has a shot at HSW, but if its collapses in a year or two, he's not in great shape for business school applications.

 

Just to clarify...this is the Dropbox rotational program or the Box rotational program? Both companies seem to have similar offerings. If it was one or the other, would any of your decisions change?

 

First, it's important to distinguish between PwC and Strategy&..not clear to us which your offer is from. Second, even if it was Strategy&, I would lean towards Dropbox. As someone mentioned, it's one of the hottest startups right now, and from what I've heard, it's very difficult to get a job there. Don't work in tech but from what I've gathered, a lot of the "Sales" functions include some combination of account management and basic analytical work (as opposed to cold-call type of work). Looking at the Dropbox Rotation Program, it mentions people exiting to marketing and business operations among other jobs...bizops is usually what tech companies call their internal strategy/management consulting function. I'm at an M7...take this with a grain of salt since I have no say or experience in the process, but if I was in admissions, I would take the dropbox guy.

 

Labore ut velit architecto incidunt aut. Velit voluptas eos facere quia vitae maiores neque. Possimus velit qui eos. Dolorum autem iusto similique.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • Cornerstone Research 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • McKinsey and Co 97.7%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Consulting

  • Partner (4) $368
  • Principal (25) $277
  • Director/MD (55) $270
  • Vice President (47) $246
  • Engagement Manager (99) $225
  • Manager (152) $170
  • 2nd Year Associate (158) $140
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (108) $130
  • Senior Consultant (329) $130
  • Consultant (586) $119
  • 1st Year Associate (538) $119
  • NA (15) $119
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (145) $115
  • Engineer (6) $114
  • 2nd Year Analyst (342) $102
  • Associate Consultant (166) $98
  • 1st Year Analyst (1046) $87
  • Intern/Summer Associate (188) $84
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (547) $67
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”