Does getting into consulting after MBA require solid pre-MBA work experience?

Hi everyone,

Thinking about consulting after MBA.

Does getting into consulting after MBA require solid pre-MBA work experience?
I don't have much pre-MBA work experience.

Thank you all so much!

 
Best Response

McKinsey is, I believe, the only MBB to explicitly list their MBA targets. It's generally the top 15 schools plus UNC. I don't believe UNC is a target for Bain and BCG but could be wrong.

In the 20-25 range MBB will probably be 'around' but opportunities are going to be rare and probably regional when they do happen. Salary reports might indicate that the school places there but I bet they don't publish numbers like the top schools do. You definitely want to target higher if you have MBB aspirations.

From my research, schools in the top 15 that are not MBA business schools ">M7 place about half as many of their consulting hires in MBB as the MBA business schools ">M7 do. Outside of that it's only a handful to MBB.

That being said, the advice here about experience isn't entirely accurate. At top schools, it might look like experience doesn't matter because so many people get interviews. The firms definitely read your resumes though to look for desired qualities. I had a few of my interviews come from the strength of my resume (I know this because I didn't network with some of these firms). It's just that there's a correlation - at top programs, everyones resumes are pretty good, so almost everyone is already checking the box at that front. If you're recruiting from a 20-25, you'd better believe that they filter a bunch of people out that don't have the resume profile they're looking for.

 

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