Education Consulting
I have been reading online where Bain has done some consulting gigs for universities. The examples I have found have been UC - Berkley, UNC - CH, and Cornell. Does anyone know what these consulting assignments usually entail? Also, does anyone of any other schools that have utilizied Bain or another consulting firm? This is just something that has piqued my curiousity and was hoping that you could provide some more information...
Thanks.
One of my best buddies who works for Huron consults for universities. His direct clients are the CFOs of the universities (yes, apparently they have those...) that deals with the general business issues of running an organization such as costs, logistics, etc. I'm not sure about other analysts or other companies, but he's never worked with the "academic" side of the schools. He's worked with Harvard, Northwestern, and U of Minnesota I believe.
Bain may have academic institutions as clients, but other firms will too. I would not make this a reason why you go for Bain -- you will certainly be staffed on other industry more often than not.
Higher Education Consultants (Originally Posted: 08/26/2010)
I have been scouring the internet in search of this and have not come to a conclusion: if one knows they want to specialize in higher education is it best to start off as a generalist or just try to work for a firm that specializes in higher ed.
I have found Parthenon (way too big of a reach), Huron, and then the Advisory Board Company.
Does anyone else have any suggestions? Also, what is the reputation of the Advisory Board Company...I have read/heard mixed things. Thanks!
It's better to start off as a generalist and then move into specialization. A lot of consultants in higher education have had management consulting backgrounds at MBB, Monitor, LEK, Parthenon etc. These people generally move out and start their own consultancy in education or move up the education practice at their respective firms. Also a lot of people do the whole MBA/M.Ed thing too. The Advisory Board Company isn't great to be honest. Parthenon is pretty good and they have firms like Apollo and Education Management Company as clients. Huron is pretty good too.Huron does some good work but they are no where as prestigious as Parthenon.
Education consulting (Originally Posted: 06/27/2009)
Does anyone know anything about education consulting? What are some of the prominent firms in the industry? Also, what exactly do education consultants work on?
What type of education consulting? Charter Schools? Private schools? Technical institutes? Colleges/Universities? There aren't any particular major firms in Education Consulting. There are smaller shops that do a variety of things. Depending on which area these shops focus on, the consulting work can include everything from originating a plan to establish a charter school to executing the plan. If it's a private school, the consulting work can usually include providing management expertise and help in increasing certain key figures (i.e ivy league matriculation figures, SAT scores, student recruitment and HR stuff). Consulting for technical institutes is mostly research work based on how a curriculum could be designed, what courses would be most attractive and student/teacher recruitment. Some education consultants provide advice on capital raising, endowment management (top private schools) and budget management. The field itself is becoming more popular since there is so much stimulus money for education. To give you some sort of a rough estimate, people 10-15 years in can make close to 200K - 250K (not banking) or even management consulting but still good. Hours are great from what I hear.
check out parthenon associates
Thanks for the responses. I guess at this point, I don't really know what I'd specifically be interested in (I just know that I have an interest in both education and consulting). I've actually heard a lot about Parthenon, and our school is definitely one of their targets. I'm going to be a sophomore next year, so what would you suggest that I do? My goal for next summer would be to have an internship at a comparable firm.
Parthenon is a great company to work for and they handle a diverse set of clients. They are pretty selective though. It would be difficult to land an internship with a firm like Parthenon without some sort of relevant experience. You should apply to Parthenon in addition to applying to some other firms that will provide relevant experience.. PM me for info. on other firms that do comparable stuff. Some of them may not have official programs but you can easily get in touch with them.
I have a friend who does education consulting for the Huron Consulting Group. He says he's traveled to many of the nation's top universities and seems to be enjoying the various projects.
You could also check out a company called Public Consulting Group from Boston. I know education consulting is a part of what they do.
Does anyone have additional thoughts on this?
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