High Tech Consulting for Mckinsey

If I want to do high tech consulting for mckinsey, what kind of an undergrad background do I need for a BA position (preferably summer intern)? Do they like people with engineering majors, or do they like people from ivies with any random major, but high GPAs?

6 Comments
 

To be honest, I'm pretty ignorant about the whole consulting thing, so I don't know what TMT and BTO are. Everyone on this board touts Mckinsey as the best consulting firm, so I was wondering what it took to get in, and if I would need a technical degree to consult high tech companies, as opposed to pharmaceutical companies (for insance).

 
Best Response

If I knew everything, I'd still be reading this stuff and try and learn about everything I can.

TMT: Techonology, Media, & Telecommunications. In banking, particularly on the west coast, the firm will cater to these clients. So your clients will be for example, Pixar, Apple, or YouTube.

BTO: Business Technology Office. How can I integrate two systems together, after I've merged two firms (think Blackstone + Merrill). You'd be on the consulting side of what an Information Technology analyst at an investment bank would do.

Describe what you're looking to do... and we can take the conversation in that direction.

I have a friend (synchronized swimmer) who will join BTO in McKinsey. I doubt if there's any pre-reqs, you'd have to check their website. Perhaps it will help if you have a MD when you are in the pharma group, but I think what matters most is your passion. (correct me if I'm wrong anyone, I'm on the banking track)

http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/bto/home.asp

That said, when you join McKinsey, your work depends on the region. Again, West Coast would primarily focus on what's there: movies, start-ups, etc...

When you start off, you're a generalist...

 

I was thinking something along the lines of this: http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/summerba/

And then eventually moving on to do TMT (it seems like BTO is more for support people, rather than actually advising CEO's on strategy)

After reading the website, however, I am now confused . Will they ONLY take summer business analysts from the schools listed in their little menu? At the moment, I'm choosing between attending UC Berkeley or Columbia, and I thought that Columbia would surely have an advantage, but it seems like it doesn't matter.

 

McK doesn't take many summer BAs, period. Very very small class, probably only 5-10, maybe? So honestly, doesn't really matter what school you go to, unless you are at the target school, with rockstar stats, most people have no shot and summer BAs. (Seriously, summer BAs have ridiculous profiles.)

Besides, at the BA level, you will have literally no industry expertise and will not be staffed by industry. Rather, you are going to be, as a previous poster mentioned, a generalist and be staffed on whatever engagement needs a BA.

 

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