What are the Tier 1 Consulting Firms?

I know most consider MBB to be the top tier consulting firms but I was wondering what you guys think of OW, Booz & Co, Monitor, etc in terms of their rank/tier. Also, I know Booz Allen and Booz & Co split up a few years ago and just recently their non-compete clause expired, so do you guys think Booz & Co or Booz Allen will ever be considered tier 1 consulting firms as it was before the split?

Prestigious Consulting Firm Rankings

When it comes to ranking consulting firms, there are many different opinions but it is important to note that rankings can change year to year depending on the yardstick you are using.

Xepa:
If you were actually in consulting you would know that the only thing that matters is accounts won and b-school placement. From that standpoint, it's very subjective based on situation, with the clear distinguishment being MBB for overall competitiveness.

Our users provided their own lists with explanations below:

24837 - Consulting Analyst:

Tier 1 Firms

What makes a firm Tier1 is that its top notch across different regions and industries.
That certainly holds true for McK and BCG, and mostly also for Bain.

  • Bain
  • BCG
  • McKinsey

Tier 2 Firms
The Tier2 firms each have unique strengths and weaknesses.

It's impossible to rank these objectively, as e.g. perhaps Monitor's regional weakness in Europe might be irrelevant to an American applicant, but a huge deal to an applicant from France.
Hence people largely agree that MBB are Tier1, however after that it gets somewhat blurred.

Large Tier 2:

  • ATK
  • Berger
  • Booz
  • Deloitte
  • Wyman

Examples for Tier 2:
OW is very strong in financial strategy, however does little strategic planning.
Berger is Tier1 in Europe and China, but small in the US.

Tier 2 - Small with Regional Focus:

  • LEK/li>
  • Monitor/li>
  • OC&C

Tier 3 - "Scale > Quality":

  • Accenture
  • Capgemini
  • EY
  • KPMG
  • PWC

The Recruiting Factor:

  • Another factor is recruiting - the rockstar candidates who get offers from various firms will always choose MBB over others.
  • Booz is a huge firm, but they simply can't hang with MBB when it comes to cross-offers, big problem.
  • Berger has a hard time shaking off it's Euro-centric image (you're on their career website http://join.rolandberger.com/and click on an Event... boom, everything in German all of a sudden.)

B4A23 - Consulting Analyst:
My own consulting list, for what it's worth is below. My rankings come from personal experience, close contacts, industry perception, and current wins:

Tier 1:

  • Bain
  • BCG
  • McKinsey

Reasoning: Prestige is stupid, misplaced, and completely....well, relevant.

Tier 2:

  • Berger
  • Booz
  • Deloitte

Reasoning: Deloitte has done an outstanding job building a strategy group. They're the first to break from the Big 4 mold/stereotype. The only other Big 4 that's done anything to mirror that success is in the next tier...

Tier 3:

  • LEK
  • Monitor
  • OC&C
  • PwC
  • Wyman

Reasoning: PwC is on an acquisition spree. PTRM and Diamond are two major buys. Their book of business is pretty legit. Wyman has a lot of prestige points, but is still relatively a boutique at the end of the day.

Tier 4:

  • Accenture
  • Capgemini
  • EY

Reasoning: If we were going strictly by business segment, Accenture's implementation work is top notch. However, its strategy group is small, and its Management Consulting unit many times stays within the implementation sphere. EY just keeps chugging along.

Honorable Mention:

  • KPMG

Reasoning: KPMG is losing talent constantly, and pay/wins/prestige is last in the Big 4. I haven't heard a good story, and my friends have been applying elsewhere at a good pace.

My two cents, for what it's worth.

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That's not true. MBB is really the top - but other firms like Booz and Monitor have historically competed with them really well. Where do they stand today? I can't give you an informed answer. But I would really like some credible answers either backed by source or experience in the consulting industry.

And please don't give me the Vault guide as a credible source.

 

Stop trolling ivoteforthatguy. If you were actually in consulting you would know that the only thing that matters is accounts won and b-school placement. From that standpoint, it's very subjective based on situation, with the clear distinguishment being MBB for overall competitiveness.

And no one in real life goes down a "prestige list" in evaluation. From that standpoint, pure rankings like 1mpossible are full of shit.

P.S. ATK is highly underrated on these forums.

 
Xepa:
Stop trolling ivoteforthatguy. If you were actually in consulting you would know that the only thing that matters is accounts won and b-school placement. From that standpoint, it's very subjective based on situation, with the clear distinguishment being MBB for overall competitiveness.

And no one in real life goes down a "prestige list" in evaluation. From that standpoint, pure rankings like 1mpossible are full of shit.

P.S. ATK is highly underrated on these forums.

  1. no
  2. i was
  3. stupid questions deserve stupid answers
 
Best Response

I'm inclined to agree with Xepa's point that the type of work matters a lot. The list from 1mpossible mixes these things (and, at the lower levels, doesn't match my personal experience).

ATK is fairly well regarded but on a bit of a downward trajectory - they have been steadily increasing in the % of projects in operational cases, to the point where they aren't always included on RFPs for top line growth or DDs even where they have offices and relationships.

I think PwC and Accenture are both a bit high and Parthenon is a notable one that is entirely missing.

Especially on the Big 4, though, it is important to distinguish between practices. It'd be silly to compare Systems Integration for Accenture to Marakon, for example. To my best understanding, Deloitte's S&OP practice is the only one of the Big 4 practices considered to be reasonably competitive in completely non-IT engagements. For the others, even their strategy/management work tends to be a functional portion of systems work or, at a minimum, cross-sold without an RFP. For example, I don't think my office has been in a competitive proposal with KPMG, EY, or PwC since I've been here (over 2 years now).

Frankly, after MBB, tiers don't matter nearly as much as your personal experience. If you have a chance to go to a firm where you interned or the partners already know you and trust you enough to let you steer your own career a bit, that is worth way more than moving for an incremental "prestige" slot. What you learn and how that fits into your career (or, for b-school and other interviews, into your "story") will certainly outweight any difference within the category of strategy boutiques (or the strategy practices of Big 4/Accenture).

 

The comments highlight the need to differentiate different work.

Economic consulting firms (Analysis Group, Charles River, Cornerstone, etc.) are again an entirely different beast. Many go to MBA, which would make them seem similar, but a lot go to law school and the industry/PE exits are very limited and different from strategy work. The concept of ranking entirely different firms by prestige becomes a pointless exercise when they don't compete for work and their analysts don't compete for exits...

 

What makes a firm Tier1 is that its top notch across different regions and industries. That certainly holds true for McK and BCG, and mostly also for Bain.

The Tier2 firms each have unique strengths and weaknesses. It's impossible to rank these objectively, as e.g. perhaps Monitor's regional weakness in Europe might be irrelevant to an American applicant, but a huge deal to an applicant from France. Hence people largely agree that MBB are Tier1, however after that it gets somewhat blurred.

examples for Tier2: OW is very strong in financial strategy, however does little strategic planning. Berger is Tier1 in Europe and China, but small in the US.

That being said, I suppose most people would agree that the "clusters" go as follows:

Tier1: Bain BCG McKinsey

large Tier2: ATK Berger Booz Deloitte Wyman

Tier2, small with regional focus: LEK Monitor OC&C

"scale > quality" Tier3 Accenture Capgemini EY KPMG PWC

another factor is recruiting - the rockstar candidates who get offers from various firms will always choose MBB over others. Booz is a huge firm, but they simply can't hang with MBB when it comes to cross-offers, big problem. Berger has a hard time shaking off it's Euro-centric image (you're on their career website http://join.rolandberger.com/ and click on an Event... boom, everything in German all of a sudden.)

 

Generally agree with 24837's list - like it or not this is how the rankings are for prestige etc.

One minor disagreement from me would be about Capgemini - if Accenture, PWC are Tier 3, Cap is Tier 4.

 
whaat:
because it's so small and many people haven't heard of them

Fair enough, but as far as boutiques go, they've got to be pretty close to the top, no?

"The disdain of profit is due to ignorance." - F.A. Hayek
 
ilovews:
don worry, parthenon is very prestigious in the US

Yeah, I mean, a firm that readily broadcasts that it exclusively recruits from Harvard, Stanford, Williams, Duke, and Dartmouth for its U.S. offices can't be too bad lol

http://www.parthenon.com/Undergraduate/RecruitingResources

The absence of Wharton is interesting. Maybe it's because Parthenon looks for "smart, NICE, and driven" recruits, and they figured out a while ago that they can't find anyone nice at Wharton :p

"The disdain of profit is due to ignorance." - F.A. Hayek
 

My own consulting list, for what it's worth is below. My rankings come from personal experience, close contacts, industry perception, and current wins:

Tier 1: Bain BCG McKinsey Reasoning: Prestige is stupid, misplaced, and completely....well, relevant.

Tier 2: Berger Booz Deloitte Reasoning: Deloitte has done an outstanding job building a strategy group. They're the first to break from the Big 4 mold/stereotype. The only other Big 4 that's done anything to mirror that success is in the next tier...

Tier 3: LEK Monitor OC&C PwC Wyman Reasoning: PwC is on an acquisition spree. PTRM and Diamond are two major buys. Their book of business is pretty legit. Wyman has a lot of prestige points, but is still relatively a boutique at the end of the day.

Tier 4: Accenture Capgemini EY Reasoning: If we were going strictly by business segment, Accenture's implementation work is top notch. However, its strategy group is small, and its Management Consulting unit many times stays within the implementation sphere. EY just keeps chugging along.

Honorable Mention: KPMG Reasoning: KPMG is losing talent constantly, and pay/wins/prestige is last in the Big 4. I haven't heard a good story, and my friends have been applying elsewhere at a good pace.

My two cents, for what it's worth.

I'm incriminating myself.
 
consultantbhai:
B4A23 and the rest of you - what would you say regarding Deloitte's prestige and exit opportunities?
Deloitte is quality man. If you get in S&O, you've got a great shot a few years down the line for a top MBA.

The brand is respected across the consulting industry and F500s. I can't really speak to PE/HF, so I'd rather not just regurgitate what I heard someone else say.

I'm incriminating myself.
 
consultantbhai:
But isn't it like 50% implementation? Do you know anyone that works at Deloitte that can confirm / deny this?

If you build your network and prove yourself to be a rockstar, you'll be guaranteed to be on strategy projects all the way through.... don't build your network properly and you'll be stuck doing PMOs until you quit.

 
consultantbhai:
But isn't it like 50% implementation? Do you know anyone that works at Deloitte that can confirm / deny this?

Also, don't underestimate the amount of implementation work at what we are calling "top tier" firms. One of the reasons strategy consulting as a whole is growing so quickly is because the definition is fluid. I know that McK has a lot of operational work and BCG is moving in that direction. Bain and BCG have done some of the biggest PMIs in recent years. McK has always run the gamut more than BCG and Bain (it existed before strategy consulting as currently defined was created, advocating scientific management based on rigorous accounting practices or something), but both are moving in that direction as they grow.

At the end of the day, not many clients are paying for pure strategy nowadays. Even projects that have a pure strategy phase tend to require significant proof-of-concept or long-term implementation support. Last year, both Bain and BCG went into several proposals advertising their ability to lead "transformational" projects, defined as a short strategy phase followed by ~1 year implementation.

A good friend of mine worked at Deloitte and he spent a full year in the pricing practice because several of the partners became staunch supporters of his. Pricing is a great example of a type of work where MBB would refer to it as "pricing strategy" and get away with it, but the same work would be considered much more tactical if Deloitte were doing it. At the end of the day, both firms will have teams running elasticities, benchmarking competitors, and doing various price/sales pace analyses...

 
signposts:
consultantbhai:
But isn't it like 50% implementation? Do you know anyone that works at Deloitte that can confirm / deny this?

Also, don't underestimate the amount of implementation work at what we are calling "top tier" firms. One of the reasons strategy consulting as a whole is growing so quickly is because the definition is fluid. I know that McK has a lot of operational work and BCG is moving in that direction. Bain and BCG have done some of the biggest PMIs in recent years. McK has always run the gamut more than BCG and Bain (it existed before strategy consulting as currently defined was created, advocating scientific management based on rigorous accounting practices or something), but both are moving in that direction as they grow.

At the end of the day, not many clients are paying for pure strategy nowadays. Even projects that have a pure strategy phase tend to require significant proof-of-concept or long-term implementation support. Last year, both Bain and BCG went into several proposals advertising their ability to lead "transformational" projects, defined as a short strategy phase followed by ~1 year implementation.

A good friend of mine worked at Deloitte and he spent a full year in the pricing practice because several of the partners became staunch supporters of his. Pricing is a great example of a type of work where MBB would refer to it as "pricing strategy" and get away with it, but the same work would be considered much more tactical if Deloitte were doing it. At the end of the day, both firms will have teams running elasticities, benchmarking competitors, and doing various price/sales pace analyses...

MiRaj:
We would be a lot better off if everyone on this forum read this ^. Having had experience at Deloitte and now an MBB, this is 100% true.

I agree with the above. Can't speak to BCG, but I know Mck has been beginning to move into some more implementation-type projects recently and Bain has lost a couple bids based on the implementation component. Deloitte S&O (stay away from tech and stay away from S&O federal) has a wide variety of things they do, which does includes a lot of implementation. But along with that variety of experiences comes some flexibility to move among them.

Cold hard truth:

Strategy is lean and sexy, but implementation is where the firm makes the big money.

"Buy gas. It's a sure-fire commodity with no risk except for the sure risk of fire." - Stephen Colbert
 
consultantbhai:
Why is implementation a profit generator? Is it simply because of quantity of hours on projects or the revenue per hour on the project?

Definitely just by sheer quantity of hours. Pure strategy projects I think have higher margins.

But think of it from the partners perspective. You can sell a 4-6 week strategy engagement with a small team of 7 people, or you can sell a 10 month implementation project with a team of 20-30 people. As a partner, you typically only need to sell one of those big implementation projects to "make your numbers" for the year. Whereas with pure strategy work, partners need to be on the road 24/7 selling to make sure they continue to have engagements lined up after the current one wraps up in a few weeks.

"Buy gas. It's a sure-fire commodity with no risk except for the sure risk of fire." - Stephen Colbert
 
Bidibodi Bidibu:
consultantbhai:
Why is implementation a profit generator? Is it simply because of quantity of hours on projects or the revenue per hour on the project?

Definitely just by sheer quantity of hours. Pure strategy projects I think have higher margins.

But think of it from the partners perspective. You can sell a 4-6 week strategy engagement with a small team of 7 people, or you can sell a 10 month implementation project with a team of 20-30 people. As a partner, you typically only need to sell one of those big implementation projects to "make your numbers" for the year. Whereas with pure strategy work, partners need to be on the road 24/7 selling to make sure they continue to have engagements lined up after the current one wraps up in a few weeks.

This.

Proboscis
 

and don't forget whenever we do leave for industry... chances are we'll will be in a position where we are implementing and seeing a plan through from concept to completion... might as well start loving it while we're young

Get it!
 
imagine_123:
I know most consider MBB to be the top tier consulting firms but I was wondering what you guys think of OW, Booz & Co, Monitor, etc in terms of their rank/tier. Also, I know Booz Allen and Booz & Co split up a few years ago and just recently their non-compete clause expired, so do you guys think Booz & Co or Booz Allen will ever be considered tier 1 consulting firms as it was before the split?

Anyone want to answer his question?

 

I knew that it was too much to ask to have an entire thread with reasonable discussion about the reality of the consulting market.

The "OMG MBB IS ELITE, EVERYONE ELSE SUXXORZ" crowd was coming; it was only a matter of time.

Why must we continue to propagate this fallacy that consulting work is completely binary: pure strategy and everything else. It just doesn't work like that. Is McKinsey ever going to be setting up 18-month PMOs where their consultants are functionally employees of the client? No. You better believe that they are trying to sell long-term work that includes strategy rollouts and operational implementations, though. I see it happen all the time. Similarly, Bain and BCG do tons of PMI work. Sounds sexy, until you're arguing about whether the limes on Delta's flights should be cut six times (the delta way) or eight times (the northwest way).

MBB get the highest proportion of interesting, strategically relevant work; it sure isn't 100% of their revenue, though. Other firms, including Deloitte and Accenture also do this work. I've been on proposals for work that we lost to other firms that regularly get trashed on this forum. It happens. I know that probably shatters your superiority complex.

 

Can you elaborate what you didn't agree with? I didn't mean to state an opinion about whether MBB going implementation is good/bad (I agree with you, for what it's worth); I was just listing observations.

The main of which is that there's more money to be made (in general, not necessarily MBB) on large implementation projects due to large teams and long timelines.

It may suck for the underlings, but for the partners who only need to land a few big whales every year, it's a sweet gig.

As for the original question (sorry for the hijack OP!), MBB is seen as the top tier. After that it varies a little bit depending on who you ask. Also, several companies have divisions that outrank their organization as a whole (Oliver Wyman's FS, parts of Deloitte S&O, etc). If you can get Mck, take it. Anything less than that and you should really take the time to decide which company would be a best fit for you. Find out which does the type of work you want experience in. For instance, if you LOVE tech implementation, Accenture is your place. Finance? OW FS. General experience OR supply chain and operations? S&O. Wanna get worked like a mule but learn a lot in a smaller setting? LEK. Etc, etc, etc

As for overall MC recognition, I think B4A23's list is a good general guideline. Stay away from EY, KPMG, CapGemini, Accenture (unless you love ERPs), and Deloitte Tech (

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

[quote=Bidibodi Bidibu]Stay away from EY, KPMG, CapGemini, Accenture (unless you love ERPs), and Deloitte Tech ( http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-02-24/local/29442295_1_chairman-ja… Basic implementation work. Accenture started it off (see last paragraph). Now McKinsey won the bid to continue on the work. Did they win for reputation only? No. Accenture already saved lot more in Phase 1 and showed they can do it. McKinsey won by undercutting ... .... hold it ... ... Accenture ... .. .hold it again ... ... on price. OMG This is the end of the world.

I must be lying. But wait, there is more: "McKinsey’s rate is actually a percentage point lower than what Accenture charged" http://secondavenuesagas.com/2011/02/23/evening-musings-board-oks-milli…

And if you bother to read the pdf referred (page 41), Accenture saved twice more than initially projected. Not some bad performance case either. And seems like initially the offers were 10% by Accenture and 9.9% by McK, and McK went back to negotiation tables to lower it to 9% to beat Accenture by price, who didn't lower the margin. There you have it.

And no MBA hire is going to leave his $135K job at MBB (or Deloitte or Accenture) because he is doing implementation work instead of defining the future of P&G or some shit.

 

At the end of the day, if you are at one of the tier 2s (think one of OW, LEK, Booz, ATK) for 2-3 years, and intend to go to B-school after that:

  1. Would B-school (Harvard, Wharton, Stanford) actually care whether you did strategy or implementation or operations or IT work during your time at tier 2?

  2. If post B-school, you want to lateral to MBB, would MBB care what kind of consulting work you did in tier 2 pre B school?

 
ilovews:
At the end of the day, if you are at one of the tier 2s (think one of OW, LEK, Booz, ATK) for 2-3 years, and intend to go to B-school after that:
  1. Would B-school (Harvard, Wharton, Stanford) actually care whether you did strategy or implementation or operations or IT work during your time at tier 2?

  2. If post B-school, you want to lateral to MBB, would MBB care what kind of consulting work you did in tier 2 pre B school?

If you are working at one of those firms you mentioned, I'm not sure your first question will be a relevant issue for you.

At least talking to my friends at these firms (read: take with a grain of salt), even though the firms you mentioned are t2, your chances of working on implementation or operations don't seem to be any greater than it is at MBB. The exception is ATK, which seems much more operationally focused. But in general, people at OW, Booz, and LEK mostly do high level projects. In fact, people at LEK for instance probably don't have the relative manpower, know-how or desire to do an 18 month implementation. They just don't do it.

I don't have any post b-school experience so I'm not going to attempt to answer question 2 (and I barely answered question 1!)

Proboscis
 

As stated it depends on the region, I know PwC (my firm) has been in quite a few larger bids against McK in the last couple years. Just happens that up here they are wanting transformational change in the companies. You come in, do you strategy work then move into implementing it.

The only painful part of not being McK is that at PwC it is pretty much purely directors/partners with a few managers who do the strategy work, and then oversee implementation (lots of associates, who might have been wallflowers at the strategy table) where MBB it seems (maybe someone can clarify for me) that the associates have far more interaction from the start of the engagement. Just my view on it.

Then again, as another mentioned: The quality of your work and network are probably the largest factors in getting on the exciting work of any kind. Just talk to the supply chain guy who knocked $3BB / year off an $8BB / year year spend by an oil company (Accenture btw). You can guarantee they have executive credibility at that company and a citation most of us can dream of. Maybe it isn't strategy, but I love some of the lean work and the ability to help a company like that.

TT

 
timothy0:
OW is very strong and prestigious in the financial consulting space no? Also, very well paying I've been led to believe

You are correct. OW pay for whatever reason tends to be a tad higher than MBB at the start level (think years 0-3), and certainly in FS Consulting it has a McKinsey-esque reputation. However, the world is a lot lot bigger than FS and it is therefore not in the MBB league overall.

 

In consulting 'prestige' doesn't matter much... what matters is what division you work in. For example, even if Deloitte or Accenture are 'prestigious', much of their work is IT consulting and the exit opps out of these shops will be entirely different, compared to those from MBB or OW who had strategy work and who covered strong industries and built strong contacts, etc.

At the end of the day tho, there is a reason MBB is so fucking awesome. It is because exit opps are the best out of these shops. I am not sure what the exact exit opps will be out of shops like Accenture after doing IT consulting type of work. My guess is that you will keep working in IT-related field, not executive or strategy-type of work.

 
Sexy_Like_Enrique:
In consulting 'prestige' doesn't matter much... what matters is what division you work in. For example, even if Deloitte or Accenture are 'prestigious', much of their work is IT consulting and the exit opps out of these shops will be entirely different, compared to those from MBB or OW who had strategy work and who covered strong industries and built strong contacts, etc.

At the end of the day tho, there is a reason MBB is so fucking awesome. It is because exit opps are the best out of these shops. I am not sure what the exact exit opps will be out of shops like Accenture after doing IT consulting type of work. My guess is that you will keep working in IT-related field, not executive or strategy-type of work.

Spoken like a true undergrad.

 

To echo a lot of the things that have been said here.... here are a few anecdotes from my company and my friends.

  1. MBB is bidding aggressively for (and winning some) merger integration work, even on projects they didn't DD for.
  2. Boutique shops (think LEK/Parthenon/OC&C) that historically sold themselves as pure strategy players are now moving into implementation, at different rates.
  3. As yet unconfirmed rumor, but from reliable source, that Deloitte sold more strategy projects by revenue last year than BCG or McK in the US.
 
F. Ro Jo:
3. As yet unconfirmed rumor, but from reliable source, that Deloitte sold more strategy projects by revenue last year than BCG or McK in the US.

Deloitte also has a lot more non-strategy projects than BCG and McK as well.

Proboscis
 
F. Ro Jo:
To echo a lot of the things that have been said here.... here are a few anecdotes from my company and my friends.
  1. MBB is bidding aggressively for (and winning some) merger integration work, even on projects they didn't DD for.
  2. Boutique shops (think LEK/Parthenon/OC&C) that historically sold themselves as pure strategy players are now moving into implementation, at different rates.
  3. As yet unconfirmed rumor, but from reliable source, that Deloitte sold more strategy projects by revenue last year than BCG or McK in the US.

To your third point, I have heard the same thing, but I believe it comes down to defining "strategy work". MBB is as guilty (or more) as anyone of overstating the strategic implications of many of their projects (e.g. pricing strategy, supply chain strategy, procurement strategy, etc.) If these are included, I suspect Deloitte is outselling MBB. Coming from a semi-target, many of my friends are at Deloitte S&OP (including the one who did a year in the pricing practice), and my sense is that they are rarely tasked with things as open-ended as MBB sometimes get (e.g. "top 10 opportunities for top line growth" projects or "megatrends and implications for business development" or "culture and organization" projects).

I am not trying to claim that these are more strategic across the board (though I think my first two examples actually are, while the third is sometimes pure bs), but they are categories of strategic work that is fairly common for MBBs and, I think, very rare for Deloitte S&OP.

Within Bain and BCG, I know the consulting staff in several US offices differentiate projects primarily based on duration and revenue focus/cost focus/other. Short projects with a revenue or other focus tend to be the ones that are considered "strategic", whatever is meant by that...

 

As a Bain Alum and 20 year consulting veteran, I vote for McKinsey, Bain, and BCG as the most prestigious. But pretigious is not always better. There are tons of great firms that are not even remotely prestigious. For example, my firm - Argopoint - is not a firm you have never heard of. However, we have Fortune 500 clients who prefer us to the McKinsey's of the world. Keep an open mind!

 

Hey gents - I am just graduated from B school (not one of the top ones mentioned here - UCLA) and was offered a job by Genpact - how do they rate?

 

Is this for ugrad or MBA?

For Ugrad its MBB.

After that is the second tier of Deloitte, Booz, Accenture, Monitor. Booz Hamilton is ugrad and pays 50-55k and is really unprestigious compared to Hamilton.

If you don't get MBB I would say don't bother with consulting.

 
2be:
EDIT: Also, I'm in Europe. If there's a difference between those companies in USA and Europe please let me know. thanks

I just came here to tell any European to take everything in this thread with a grain of salt. WSO is an outstanding resource for IB, solid resource for consulting in the US, very mediocre resource for consulting anywhere else in the world. Considering the OP asked about consulting in Europe - please feel free to ignore the ranking posted and a lot of the comments. Everything said about Tier 2 in this thread is about 50:50 hit-or-miss. Some of the companies mentioned are non-existent in Europe, on the other hand huge EU Tier 1 not mentioned even once.

Also, the Euro markets are by no means homogeneous, the differences between e.g. UK/ Germany/ CEE are immense in terms of firms/ pay /work.

 

So, in your view, the others are a "waste" of time and effort? But why is that? Low salary? I would like to know more.

Thank you for the answers.

 

I have a few friends at Accenture and Hamilton who absolutely HATE IT. Its very boring work (popping in CD's) and almost no originality. Lots of paper pushing and remedial work/transactional work.

Also you can very easily switch into consulting later on coming out of banking so why not do that first? Especially since consulting to banking is very hard so don't pidgeonhole yourself early on.

The only firms worth pidgeonholing yourself and working long hours for low bonuses would be MBB.

Accenture analysts work like dogs and the exit opps + bonuses suck.

My $0.02

 

I think Deloitte and Accenture are more like 3rd Tier. Sure the vault guide ranks them pretty highly but they definitely are viewed as less prestigious than booz or mon.

Also you make it seem like MBB are terrible places to "pigeonhole" yourself into when that is totally not the case. The place amazingly well in top b-schools and have very solid exit opps. coming out... I'd say they are much harder to break into than banking by far.

 

people need to stop posting what they think and instead, focus on what they know. consulting at a top firm (MBB) and banking at a top bank (BB) are roughly comparable in selectivity. if anything, MBB is more focused on "pedigree" than banks, but frankly, everyone knows that that crap doesn't matter. exit opportunities are completely different (not sure how that thrown in this discussion) and it all boils down to what you are interested in.

 

1styearbanker... being at a top 10-15 consulting firm in no way pidgeonholes you. These guys move on to private equity, associate consulting positions, and/or solid business schools. Ibanking is even possible after an MBA so I don't think that solid consulting experience can be said to pidgeonhole anyone.

 

Consulting in no way pidgeonholes you. Quite honestly, consulting gives you a much wider skillset and allows you to work in enough different capacities that you can go pretty much anywhere after two years (at least at MBB). In many ways, banking limits your exit opps more than MBB consulting does. PE is available through both (esp. from Bain/McK), B-school is available through both, as is HF (though advantage to IB here), but VC/start-up/industry work way better through consulting.

And no, getting into consulting is not easier than IB. Look at the number of BB hires vs number of MBB hires nationwide. And then take a look at how hard the interviews for both are.

However, nothing that I've said here really applies to non-MBB. I don't know enough about those other firms.

 
sparticus:
...

And no, getting into consulting is not easier than IB. Look at the number of BB hires vs number of MBB hires nationwide. And then take a look at how hard the interviews for both are.

However, nothing that I've said here really applies to non-MBB. I don't know enough about those other firms.

When you say BB hires, which banks are you referring to?

 

^ "However, nothing that I've said here really applies to non-MBB. I don't know enough about those other firms."

-Exactly. Pretty much summarizes it.

Also lol @ Accenture going to top pe and hedge funds. Cheese you really crack me up. "Top 10-15 consulting" loool I can't even name 10 consulting firms. That's like saying "Top 1000 Investment bank".

For me it's MBB or nothing and if you want to get the kiss of death then go ahead.

 

Consulting is good preparation for general corp management, and obviously for getting to b-school (for UG's). And true, you can in theory do anything coming out of consulting. It gives a broader set of exit opportunities. But I would argue that it's MUCH more difficult to break into PE, HF's, and VC's without the modeling/transactional skills that bankers develop. Look at any major PE shop / VC fund - there are far more ex-bankers than ex-consultants.

 

As for the question you asked, there's no real way to rank them. I put a bit of a description below.

McK - Great place to be from, but not the greatest place to work. They're huge and have a huge network of people that can help you down the road. At the same time, their culture is very forward focused and this leads to a less community-based atmosphere. I actually ended up turning them down because of this - they were 'up or out' to the extreme and focused way less on their people than other firms.

Bain - Great place to be. Their culture is really youth-centric (average age is 28 or so), and they really spend time focusing on their ACs/Consultants. They're clearly the most entrepreneurial of the bunch, and this is reflected in a fun, fast paced culture and helps them achieve really quick growth worldwide. Take this all with a grain of salt, as I'm a bit biased here.

BCG - There's nothing bad that can be said about BCG in comparison to the two above. They're really focused on getting smart people and using them to identify the core drivers behind what they do. To that end, they tend to have a very academic feel and hire a lot of dorks (in the absolute best sense of the word - I'm a huge one). They also have done really well in the recession and are looking to hire a lot of people this fall/spring.

Booz & Co. - A big step down from MBB is Booz. The culture seems a good bit more restrictive and their name is definitely seen as highly as the above.

LEK - Small company that is great if you're interested in PE (and don't get MBB). They do a lot of short cases and have some great people, but they are a clear step down as well. They also do focus on work/life balance and give you a pretty decent amount of time off. Also a very young firm.

Accenture - Now we're moving out of the generalist practices and more into industry-specific. Accenure is huge and is great at IT/Engineering but doesn't give you a very wide skillset. They have a strategy practice, but it's not that competitive with MBB. I really don't have all the info here, so any additions would be good.

Deloitte - Same boat as Accenture. Deloitte is a huge company (seriously gargantuan) and has tons of different focal areas. They do some generalist stuff and a lot of specific stuff, but their culture is really impossible to characterize with over 150k employees.

BAH - Does a lot of government work, but I really don't know what else.

That's it. I'm out of info. I'd love to hear about the others if anyone knows them. Also, if I'm wrong on anything here please let me know.

 

I was wondering if anyone has any info or thoughts on Deloitte for strategy and operations right out of undergrad (generalist)--I have an offer from them, and am trying to decide whether to take it or not.

 
Paper:
I was wondering if anyone has any info or thoughts on Deloitte for strategy and operations right out of undergrad (generalist)--I have an offer from them, and am trying to decide whether to take it or not.

when people ask a question such as this they should also list out other offers

if you have a McKinsey offer ofcourse you shouldn't take the Deloitte one

but if you have no job then its not a bad opportunity

i'd say Deloitte strategy/ops is below MBB but better than Accenture

 

Alright fellas, let's cut the crap on consulting v banking. Here's the bottom line:

1) Selectivity M/B/B vs GS/MS/JPM - you're gonna find the exact same level of selectivity at each of these places at the analyst level. Probably a bit more at M/B/B out of undergrad given that consulting is typically more focused on the advanced degrees for partner track (e.g. MBAs, JDs, MAs, etc).

After that, good banking spots are probably easier to find, given that there are a lot more banks out there. You could get into a "consulting" firm such as Accenture, Deloitte, etc, but let's face it, those aren't true "management consulting" firms and are definitely more implementation / operations focused.

2) Work This is should be straight forward. Bankers work in finance, very transactional, modeling/excel intensive. Skillsets and job description doesn't change very much from bank to bank, only the type/size of client base. At analyst levels, you will master modeling and to some extent financial accounting and analysis.

Consultants (at M/B/B) are problem-solvers. By definition the things you could be doing are very broad, anywhere from growth strategy to cost cutting to lean operations. In other words, analyst level consultants do a little bit of everything, depending on what the project calls for. So yes, yes, there is the opportunity to develop a wider skillset (if you call using your brain to solve a problem, making ppt slides, and maximizing travel rewards skillsets)

However, keep in mind though, it is very easy to be pigeonholed in consulting, as the nature of the work may put you in a string of similar projects, and you could just as easily be seen as a "operations strategy" consultant or a "marketing and sales" consultant.

3) Dropoff after top firms Very easy distinction. At banks, working for a smaller firm doesn't have a huge impact on type of work, minimal impact on exit ops. Work is basically the same, clients still need the same investment banking services regardless of size.

Huge dropoff in consulting. There can only be so many people running around and giving "strategic advice". Consulting is a discretionary expenditure, and that pie is only so big. After M/B/B, no reason for the big companies to pay any other firms for strategic advice. Smaller companies simply can't afford consultants.

4) Exit ops Bankers - easy story/path to PE/HF. Bankers have the right profile. Not sure about other corp roles, pretty sure corp dev or corp finance roles are a bit more common, but haven't seen much in the general corp space.

Consultants - PE/HF is do-able, have seen it happen, but not the norm and you have to have the right profile to get noticed (e.g. modeling experience, due dil projects, etc.) Transition to broader range of roles is definitely more the norm (e.g. corp strategy, bus development, other)

Hope that should sum things up.

 

Assuming you don't want to stay in any of the above long-term (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to ask yourself where you see yourself in the next 5-10 years. These jobs will set you up quite differently. Deloitte is a good path to b-school, general corp management, or perhaps to another consulting firm (I'm assuming that your offer is for the strategy/operations consulting role). RBC is banking, so it prepares well for more finance-related fields (HF's, PE, and VC's, as well as corp finance). Don't know too much about NERA. I think Deloitte gives the broadest range of possibilities, but if you really want to do something finance-y, I would take RBC.

 

Can't comment too much on banking or Deloitte.. but NERA will open doors to top b-schools after 2-4 years. Before then, you may be pidgeonholed into economic consulting... or something else really quant focused.

You can hit the reset button in bschool and enter a number of fields post-MBA.

Do you like crunching numbers in SAS or Stata? Do you like the idea of litigation, antitrust, monopolization, damages, liability, and working for law firms?

If the answer is no to either of those questions, I say go with banking or mgmt consulting. All 3 paths will get you to bschool (assuming you want to go)... it comes down to what you want to do for the 2-4 years prior to matriculating.

 

I AM biased (see link below) but I strongly recommend considering smaller consulting firms and their relative advantages, especially if you are making a transition from IB to Consulting.

At small firms the career path is more entrepreneurial, and a little riskier than working for a larger brand, but the potential is there for extremely fast-tracked career growth. Also, smaller firms tend to be more specialized, and some of these specialties (such as financial analytics) allow you to built on existing strength and experience you gained as an investment banker.

Respectfully, Jaime Fitzgerald President Fitzgerald Analytics: Ranked by Consulting Magazine in 2010 as one of the Best Small Consulting Firms to Work For.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post Jaime. However, most smaller firms in consulting (from what I've seen on web sites and heard) look for people with former consulting experience. Agree/disagree?

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
Denver Monkeyannabe:
Thanks for taking the time to post Jaime. However, most smaller firms in consulting (from what I've seen on web sites and heard) look for people with former consulting experience. Agree/disagree?

Thanks and good questions for sure. Agree that many smaller firms do ascribe more value to prior consulting experience, mostly because they don't have as much time and resources to train staff. However there are plenty of exceptions, people who have made the transition with success, including several who work for me today.

So yes, I think that's part of the "bar" people need to clear to make the switch, and it's probably a bit higher for smaller firms, although it's also a consideration with even the larger firms.

Hope that is helpful.

 

Dude, just do what you want to do. If you want to do consulting, then do consulting. If not, don't. If you have a Deloitte vs. Goldman Sachs offer but you hate IB, then you're better of at Deloitte no matter what some douchebag thinks about 'prestige rankings'. The ten on the link you provided all will provide you with fine exit-opps (some better than others). Rather than asking a bunch of people who don't know shit about any of these firms, actually go find and talk to people who currently work there.

 

Is the drop-off as mentioned repeatedly on this discussion seriously that great after M/B/B? I have interviewed with Bain, McKinsey, OW, LEK, and frankly while I know reputation wise Mck and Bain are higher than the other 2, the quality of their work, offices, everything seemed so comparable. And as for compensation, OW pays more than any of them.

So would like to hear an explanation for why people think the 'drop off' is so high. I think 1styearbanker has spoken like a banker, saying that "don't bother if you don't get MBB"...that's like saying "don't bother if you don't get Goldman Sachs"...

 
bbjhva:
Is the drop-off as mentioned repeatedly on this discussion seriously that great after M/B/B? I have interviewed with Bain, McKinsey, OW, LEK, and frankly while I know reputation wise Mck and Bain are higher than the other 2, the quality of their work, offices, everything seemed so comparable. And as for compensation, OW pays more than any of them.

So would like to hear an explanation for why people think the 'drop off' is so high. I think 1styearbanker has spoken like a banker, saying that "don't bother if you don't get MBB"...that's like saying "don't bother if you don't get Goldman Sachs"...

The drop-off is tiny, and only relevant for 1st/2nd year consultants.

The key advantage of MBB is brand, which is useful for jumping ship pre-MBA. As a result, MBB have a better acceptance rate on undergraduate offers.

However, at a manager level you don't choose between MBB and OW, LEK, Monitor etc. based on brand. You choose based on opportunities, comp, niche areas of expertise. As a result, in certain sectors/geographies MBB are worse than many "2nd tier" firms.

And my opinion is that ultimately managers/partners drive the quality of a firm's work, not the 1st/2nd year consultants. Hence the marginal difference.

 

In the end, they are all phenomonal places to start ones career. Despite what anyone may say on this forum, MBB + OW/Booz/LEK/Deloitte Strat are equally hard to break in. It all comes down to several intangibles. For example, I interviewed at several at MBB and "Second tier" places and only recieved offers from MBB but not the others.

Regardless where you go work, everyone at these firms are equally smart. Don't read to much into the "rankings" and prestige thing ;-).

 
consultingwiz07:
In the end, they are all phenomonal places to start ones career. Despite what anyone may say on this forum, MBB + OW/Booz/LEK/Deloitte Strat are equally hard to break in. It all comes down to several intangibles. For example, I interviewed at several at MBB and "Second tier" places and only recieved offers from MBB but not the others.

Regardless where you go work, everyone at these firms are equally smart. Don't read to much into the "rankings" and prestige thing ;-).

Totally agree, I find the caliber of people in any of the top consulting firms very comparable.

 
randombetch:
I'm going to give ordering a shot.

This is in terms of prestige (but take this with a grain of salt): 1. McK 2/3. Bain/BCG 4. Booz 5. Monitor 6. AT Kearney 7. BAH 8. LEK 9. Deloitte 10. Accenture

Overall best places to work, though, it goes Bain, BCG, and then McKinsey.

Shouldn't Oliver Wyman be up there? If you check various rankings (ie Vault) you can see that it's gaining prestige every year at a considerable rate. I even dare to say that not long from now it could be really close to MBB in terms of prestige...

 
randombetch:
I'm going to give ordering a shot.

This is in terms of prestige (but take this with a grain of salt): 1. McK 2/3. Bain/BCG 4. Booz 5. Monitor 6. AT Kearney 7. BAH 8. LEK 9. Deloitte 10. Accenture

Overall best places to work, though, it goes Bain, BCG, and then McKinsey.

you sure about kearney? i know they used to be a top firm, but haven't they been on the decline for some time? does someone care to make a top 25 list based off opinion...not vault.

 

There are a lot of outdated views in this discussion. A major one is, that Monitor is now the strategy practice of Deloitte - called Monitor Deloitte. This happened about 3 years ago (!) I would argue that Monitor is the one player in the industry with focuses most on strategy work - operations work is done by Deloitte Consulting. This is a major difference to MB (and to some extent Bain) where you will be working on all kinds of projects. Also, do not forget that MB (and again only to some extent Bain) are expanding their offerings into non-strategy work. Less that 1/3 of McK projects are now strategy according to themselves. MBB is still the top in a global perspective but Monitor Deloitte with the backing of Deloitte Consulting for ops and tech are rapidly catching up!

 

1/2/3 M/B/B - Honestly just pick em 4) Booz 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 Monitor, LEK, Parthenon, OW 9) Deloite (only if were counting S&O) 10) ATK 11) Accenture

Obviously with a grain of salt. And vault is terrible, don't believe that crap

 

In terms of best places to work, BCG made #2 of all US companies on the most recent Fortune list. Maybe Bain is a better place to work if you're 23, but if you're past that initial level or your career, BCG may be a better environment?

Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
 
bbjhva:
Is Booz really above the other Tier 2 companies like LEK/OW/Monitor? Somehow, that's not the impression I've had. If anything, I thought OW might be a slight cut above other Tier 2s, though I do know Monitor/Parthenon also have incredibly bright people.

I completely agree. Since OW's big merger in 2007 it has been seriously positioning itself closer to MBB...

 

OW are not really close to MBB though, their FS practice is great but they do a lot less pure strategy work and much more risk than they care to admit.

 
Muuuk:
That is something people at OW keep on saying, I'm yet to see supporting evidence. For the pure strategy work McKinsey seems to be the go-to guy.

McK has greater FS revenues, but ironically that's because they do more non-strategy work. OW charges more and services more of the top 100 firms globally (~85). These aren't things you're ever going to see evidence for unless you're an FS consultant.

But ultimately things are pretty tight between McK and OW, and they're leagues ahead of everyone else. And as you rightly pointed out, they have different specialties within that. McK stronger reputation for cost work, OW for risk.

 

I don't want to hijack this thread but ProcineAviation, which do you think would be a better SA position: OW FS in NYC or McK in Stamford, CT (30 min north of NYC)? Right now I'm leaning toward OW FS due to location, focus on FS, and opportunity for advancement within the firm potentially as a FT but it is tough to turn down a name like McKinsey. Will I get "management and strategy" experience at a firm as focused as OW FS?

Thanks in advance.

 

It seems like LEK & Parthenon, for example, have no internship programs. Please let me know if there are other firms I should be applying to in my scenario....Also please do correct me if my previous assumption is incorrect and I should in fact be applying to big 4 mercer Accenture ibm etc.

 

Booz recruited on campus for summer internships at my school - I was surprised, but definitely not complaining, haha. I had a first round with them this morning. Oliver Wyman also came but they didnt even give me a first round interview although I have gotten to final rounds with McKinsey. Go figure...

Any other names? Or insight upon how MBB views ibanking summer internships?

 

Edit: Ok, so I totally misread you post the first time. You're right to think that MBB does look more favorably on BBs than lower consulting firms. This is mainly because they look down on most other consulting firms. Deloitte Consulting is definitely a place to avoid if you want to come to MBB. It is an absolute joke of a firm. The people who end up there are talentless folk who will never be able to achieve anything more than mediocrity in their lives. If you read this forum, Piper Jaffray gets a lot of crap from the banking people. Well Deloitte gets the same kind of crap from the consulting folks, except that this actually happens in the real world from the mouths of real consultants and not just a bunch of college juniors.

 

If you want to do MBB, only apply MBB. It's really difficult to go from lower-tier consulting to MBB (unless this internship is your sophomore year). Realistically, you don't need any experience to get MBB offers (I got all 2 out of 3 with no internship to speak of), but it is key that you don't have bad/negative experience such as lower-tier consulting. IB/PE/VC internships are preferable to OW/Monitor/Booz/Big4/nothing.

 

I'm still a freshman in college and I was hoping someone could clear this up for me. I'm hoping to end up at MBB and I've been trying to figure out whether I should focus on getting consulting internships vs. finance(IB/PE/VC/PWM) internships. I thought that getting an internship at one of the lower consulting firms(Booz/Monitor/Deloitte) would give me a leg up since I would have experience in the field. Basically I'm wondering whether Sparticus' claim that I should go for finance internships rather than lower tier consulting firms is true? It seems a bit strange to take a SA position over a consulting internship especially if I want to show MBB that I'm actually interested in consulting.

Thanks

 

yikes, why u MBB folk get so offended when compared with similar firms? don't like being mentioned in the same breath?

========================================= We are excited to formally extend to you an offer to join Bank of Ameria
 

lol...I'm not really sure what's going on. PorcineAviation are you talking about my posts or the posts regarding the consulting vs. finance internships? Also wanted to ask 7S, what did you do to get noticed by MBB considering you didn't have banking or consulting internships?

 

I'm also pretty confused by what people are saying. Wouldn't MBB want to see a decent consulting junior-year internship to explain to them you wanted to see if consulting was for you, and went to the best possible firm to find out (assuming MBB does very little SA recruiting). Or would it still better to work IB at a BB and claim you just wanted to work for the best firm in banking or consulting or just finance/business?

Thanks

 

If you had to choose between a local, not as well known boutique consulting firm and a top bulge bracket firm in a analytically rigorous role, go with the BB finance experience. Hands down, I can say that recruiters view BB IB experiences very highly. Yes, they may be curious why you are making the switch, but I would say that there tend to be a higher percentage of ex-bankers at MBB than any other profession

 
quest777:
I was referring more to a Big4/Deloitte Consulting internship as opposed to a local, not known firm. Would a BB role still be more highly regarded?

Firstly, Deloitte is Big4... (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, E&Y).

Secondly, an IBD internship would still be better regarded as consultancy at the Big 4 is poor.

However, if a top non-MBB strategy house gave you an internship (e.g. Monitor, OW, Booz) then I would encourage you to take it. They're extremely competitive (more so than IBD), will give you valuable experience to discuss/leverage at interview (particularly for fit, important at final round), and the leading consultancy firms know this. An applicant with a BB internship is one in a million. One with a top consultancy internship isn't.

 

Its interesting though because I know people making very good money at Big 4 consulting firms. Limiting yourself to MBB is stupid. Once again, no one outside this small community of obvious faggots gives a shit about where you work, and the hottest girls at the bar have no idea what McKinsey is. its about the dough.

"I work at McKinsey, I'm a consultant." "I work at Deloitte, I'm a consultant."

What everyone hears is "I'm a consultant." Have you seen most of the people who think that this shit is cool? The guys are nerds and the girls are busted. Making money is what matters, a job is a means to an end. I could give a shit whether I get profiled in some strategy mag or publish anarticle in HBR. its not like you've won a nobel prize. The prestige is all relative. Let me say it again: most people don't give a shit.

 

Let's make something very clear.

Deloitte is the only firm of the big 4 with a real consulting arm.

PwC - is not consulting. Apparently they're starting to rebuild - they sold and became IBM. EY - is not consulting. It's advisory. They sold and became Capgemini. KPMG - is not consulting. Also advisory. They sold and became Bearingpoint. Bearingpoint is dead. Don't go there. Not sure if they even recruit.

I think most people do give a crap about the firm you work for.

If you come from an Asian household (includes south asian), there are so many parents that compare everything. The city they live in, the school their kids attend, their kids piano recitals and YES - the firms their kids work for. If you plan on working in Asia where a lot of business is headed it becomes even more so. People value it. If you plan on attending MBA - adcom also cares about it.

I know this is very similar in Jewish culture where there is also a very strong emphasis on academics.

People care.

MBB and OW. I really think OW deserves more credit. I've met some of the brightest people from really strong pedigrees from OW. I know their comp isn't as strong as MBB, but its a great firm.

I don't know why people give Deloitte S&O such a bad rap. S&O is a really great program to be a part of and they really value their talent. It's the technology side that you get crapped on.

 
kennethlchen:
Let's make something very clear.

Deloitte is the only firm of the big 4 with a real consulting arm.

PwC - is not consulting. Apparently they're starting to rebuild - they sold and became IBM. EY - is not consulting. It's advisory. They sold and became Capgemini. KPMG - is not consulting. Also advisory. They sold and became Bearingpoint. Bearingpoint is dead. Don't go there. Not sure if they even recruit.

I think most people do give a crap about the firm you work for.

If you come from an Asian household (includes south asian), there are so many parents that compare everything. The city they live in, the school their kids attend, their kids piano recitals and YES - the firms their kids work for. If you plan on working in Asia where a lot of business is headed it becomes even more so. People value it. If you plan on attending MBA - adcom also cares about it.

I know this is very similar in Jewish culture where there is also a very strong emphasis on academics.

People care.

MBB and OW. I really think OW deserves more credit. I've met some of the brightest people from really strong pedigrees from OW. I know their comp isn't as strong as MBB, but its a great firm.

I don't know why people give Deloitte S&O such a bad rap. S&O is a really great program to be a part of and they really value their talent. It's the technology side that you get crapped on.

I agree with everything here....prestige matters..in terms of family and getting an MBA...

I also agree that Deloitte S&O is pretty legit. They do mostly implementation...but thats how the industry is trending. Deloitte is getting more and more recognition...you can even tell by the forums...look at some of the older posts when Deloitte isn't even mentioned...now it is always mentioned in the same breath as OW, Monitor, etc. . Albeit when Deloitte is mentioned on this forum it is in a negative light...but the fact that so many ppl are taking the time to crap on Deloitte, makes me think ppl are scared/upset? how quickly Deloitte's prestige is rising....give it another few years, Deloitte is gonna be a much much bigger force in the industry

 
kennethlchen:
Let's make something very clear.

Deloitte is the only firm of the big 4 with a real consulting arm.

PwC - is not consulting. Apparently they're starting to rebuild - they sold and became IBM. EY - is not consulting. It's advisory. They sold and became Capgemini. KPMG - is not consulting. Also advisory. They sold and became Bearingpoint. Bearingpoint is dead. Don't go there. Not sure if they even recruit.

Deloitte has a very strong consulting arm... they put a lot of candidates into top mba's, etc. its a good place to start a career, much like the other big4 firms. people on this forum give these firms a bad rep, but you guys need to understand that not everyone has access to top firms like MBB. not everyone comes from elite universities. but who cares, big4 consulting can be a very lucrative and great place to have a career. EY and PwC are both rebuilding their consulting arms now since non-competitive clause is expired and i can see them along with Deloitte growing massively and taking a lot of market share in the coming years.

 
kennethlchen:
Let's make something very clear.

Deloitte is the only firm of the big 4 with a real consulting arm.

PwC - is not consulting. Apparently they're starting to rebuild - they sold and became IBM. EY - is not consulting. It's advisory. They sold and became Capgemini. KPMG - is not consulting. Also advisory. They sold and became Bearingpoint. Bearingpoint is dead. Don't go there. Not sure if they even recruit.

I think most people do give a crap about the firm you work for.

If you come from an Asian household (includes south asian), there are so many parents that compare everything. The city they live in, the school their kids attend, their kids piano recitals and YES - the firms their kids work for. If you plan on working in Asia where a lot of business is headed it becomes even more so. People value it. If you plan on attending MBA - adcom also cares about it.

I know this is very similar in Jewish culture where there is also a very strong emphasis on academics.

People care.

MBB and OW. I really think OW deserves more credit. I've met some of the brightest people from really strong pedigrees from OW. I know their comp isn't as strong as MBB, but its a great firm.

I don't know why people give Deloitte S&O such a bad rap. S&O is a really great program to be a part of and they really value their talent. It's the technology side that you get crapped on.

I think you're mistaken about EY. when they sold their consultancy to Capgemini, they signed a noncompete which expired about five years ago. Since then they've been rebuilding their MC practice and have been competing with us ( and winning) on some pretty important engagements. From what I hear, it's a really good place to be because they are growing fast.

-MBP
 

I AM biased (see link below) but I strongly recommend considering smaller consulting firms and their relative advantages, especially if you are making a transition from IB to Consulting.

At small firms the career path is more entrepreneurial, and a little riskier than working for a larger brand, but the potential is there for extremely fast-tracked career growth. Also, smaller firms tend to be more specialized, and some of these specialties (such as financial analytics) allow you to built on existing strength and experience you gained as an investment banker.

I would encourage you to consider Fitzgerald Analytics: Selected by Consulting Magazine in 2010 as one of the Best Small Consulting Firms to Work For.

 
nycIBD:
Besides, MBB, Booz, & Monitor, are there any consulting firms I should be applying to for summer internships? I have two ibanking offers but my ultimate goal is MBB. I just feel like MBB looks more favorably on bulge bracket ibanking than b-level consulting firms (Accenture, mercer, ibm, big 4, etc.) But am i missing out on any on my list that are worth considering? Most of the elite boutiques don't offer internships it seems but correct me if I'm wrong...

Assuming you have a strong economics background, you should look the economic consulting firms (Cornerstone, Analysis Group, CRA, etc.)

 

I feel like half the people here have no idea what they are talking about.

Big 4 accounting firms = GREAT resume boosters! I know recruiters that use the firm names as filters.

As far as nycIBD posted, dude choose IBD or Consulting. They are both good, but make up your mind. Your targeting a big spread here.

Even though Big4 are not BIG TIME consulting, the experience you get is amazing from what I've heard. PwC's Advisory/ Financial Consulting is 4th. Its operations of course, but that's like real world experience right there. The team of people you'll be working for is pretty good too.

As for McK and Bain, I heard its a bunch of nerds who really need to lighten up. Its strategy, not IT or Logistics (Like IBM GBS). Basically sit around and tell people what to do, you probably will learn a lot, but not as much as Big 4 in an internship. FT is a different story with the Big Consulting firms (McK, Bain, BCG).

Frankly speaking, if you are a 2nd to 3rd year internship seeker, do a big4 internship (your probably too late because they already picked out their interns for summer of 2011). If you are a junior, try to specialize in what you want to do with your life because its critical. Interviews will ask you what happened in your experiences that made you not sign FT with the firm, assuming your caliber is fit for the firm.

Good luck man.

.
 

No need to look for a consulting internship if your IBD offers are from BB or good boutiques (ie. Lazard) - getting IBD summer experience at one of those firms is in most cases good enough to get you an interview for full-time. Once you get an interview, they really don't care much about your summer experience anymore.

Otherwise, I would say apply to Booz, OW FS, and Monitor. I disagree that working in a lower tier consulting firm during your junior summer disadvantages you for full-time - it is definitely a plus to have some consulting experience and be able to say convincingly why you want to do consulting. I have seen so many cases of people who interned at a lower tier consulting firm (ie. Monitor, ZS Associates, etc.) and ended up with an MBB FT offer.

 

LOL @ the shitting on Deloitte. Deloitte people do fine. I know 3 friends who summered at Deloitte then turned it into a FT MBB offer. This isn't just limited to Deloitte; plenty of people from other lower tier firms turn that SA experience into a FT MBB offer.

wjdgusqls is right, once you have the interview, no one gives a shit about where you summered... and as long as you network hardcore and do something to demonstrate you are interested in consulting on your resume, you'll be just fine.

 

It is funny how many people on this forum are under the impression that second tier consulting firms, be it OW or Booz, recruit "lower candidates" that are just not ready to make the jump to MBB. Everyone, these firms are interviewing the same pool of candidates with the same pedigree. My point: If you can get an internship at Booz/OW/Monitor, then there is no reason that you cannot already get an internship at MBB - as they hire, both internships and full-time, the same candidates. There is, of course, some variation.

Simply put: If you will be interviewing second tier, in hopes of getting into MBB, you might as well interview with MBB because it is not as if your chances are going to be any better.

 

at first i was a bit surprised by the high placement of RB and OC&C. but i guess it makes sense since the ranking has a more international scope than for example vault. i agree that their criteria are quite useful and transparent. but in the end they come up with the same 3 firms on the top spots as virtually any other rating out there :)

 

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Beatae culpa facere et quibusdam. Nihil ut nulla et consequatur. Rerum vero et molestiae deleniti voluptatem vel.

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

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"All things are difficult before they are easy" - Thomas Fuller
 

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