Deloitte S&O vs. Oliver Wyman
I am currently deciding between two entry level positions in the SF offices of Deloitte S&O and Oliver Wyman. I have no interest in the financial services industry and I am considering both entrepreneurship and B-school after I graduate. What would you recommend in terms of:
1) B-school placement
2) Exit Opportunities
3) Ability to have meaningful impact on interesting projects
4) Office culture
To clarify, I am considering entrepreneurship and b-school after working in consulting for 2-4 years
Here's how I might compare them:
From reading these forums you get the sense that Deloitte S&O might be moving up in the consulting rankings, but OW has always been a top-tier mid-sized firm that consistently competes against MBB. It is more selective, does significantly less implementation work (hence why OW is a clear winner for your third category, unless you're interested in implementation work I guess), and is more well-regarded.
That said, it's a great choice to have and both will set you up well for b-school or entrepreneurship, with the latter probably depending more on your network than which firm you choose. Good luck.
Hmm, that's interesting, because an alumn who works at OW told me to not come to OW unless you wanted to work on FS work, as they said the GMC practice wasn't all that great. This is probably moot, now that FS and GMC are being merged, but something to think about.
My impression is that GMC (i.e. non-FS consulting) is still pretty top-tier. OW, an almost exclusively FS firm, merged with Mercer Management Consulting 5 years ago, which was a top boutique/midsized consulting firm similar to places like Monitor/Booz/LEK, and that is what turned into OW's GMC group. Regardless, now that the FS and GMC practices are being merged for entry-levels it seems like the best of both worlds: access to OW's top brand, strategy-focused projects, and ability to work in a diverse set of industries. Granted, I've only ever spoken to non-FS consultants at OW, so maybe the FS guys tell a different story.
Put another way, it's not uncommon for someone interested in FS to take OW FS over MBB, and while that may not be true for GMC, in older threads here you see both Deloitte and OW people recommending GMC over Deloitte. With those groups merging together, I'd guess that 'prestige' now falls somewhere in between.
The problem with Deloitte S&O, and all other Big 4 consulting firms really, a lot of their projects are executions/implementations. This will entail a lot of PM work, and will not be sexy or engaging at all. I dont know what its like at OW or all other firms, but from what I hear, they do less of the project management work and more f the analysis, etc.
Also, I heard OW pays pretty well and has a nice bonus. Deloitte S&O doesn't give bonuses (beyond the signing) to their BAs. But thats just what I hear and I don't know for sure.
I would take Deloitte S&O over OW in a heartbeat, especially if you don't want to do Financial Services. Deloitte does more real strategy work (though at smaller clients). It also places pretty well into business schools, though you will still need a nosebleed GMAT and support from your managers to get into a good one. Neither is great for entrepreneurship. Culture wise is more office / team dependent than firm dependent.
Source: M7-> MBB with a roommate at OW + friends at both OW and Deloitte S&O.
OW has far better placement at H/S than Deloitte does. Enough said.
Wow, I thought S&O would be a winner on this thread. Don't they pay for FT b-school for the top of the top? That would be a pretty good exit opp too OP.
OW also sponsors for b-school
this shouldn't even be a thread. OW.
OW for the win.. Noone wants to work for Big 4/. OW, exit for business school is pretty good
For b-school placement, both are not golden enough to get you into top 10. Especially US-based Deloitte because it is not as selective as its European counterpart. It also depends on your gender (female gets an advantage) and ethnicity (under-represented minorities get an advantage). All in all, if you only base your work on those 2, it's very hard to get in top 10.
Reviving a 2 year old thread to make a nonsense comment about both firms. Deloitte S&O and OW will pretty much guarantee you a spot at M7, and give you a decent shot a HSW.
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