How competitive is management consulting recruitment in England?

I am applying to masters programs in management/politics at the following universities:

  • LSE
  • Cambridge
  • Imperial
  • LBS

Given a degree from any of these institutions, how competitive is MBB and tier 2 management consulting recruitment? Also, how much of a premium would an LBS degree provide relative to LSE/Imperial?

LBS is a good brand, though on the other hand they require the GMAT. The main pull though is that after a CV check, I was told I had a "great" chance at gaining acceptance if I applied. 


 

At London MBB and top Tier 2

Oxbridge 

.

Anything else

At MBB especially the proportion is quite frankly outrageous from what I hear. At my tier 2 is also approx 50% oxbridge and the rest lbs, imperial, Warwick and lse + a few others combined. Engineering is the most popular subject in most classes. 

Despite the heavy preference, at my alma mater, Cambridge, only 5% of applicants got an offer in consultancy. This is around 5 times the overall average. So very competitive. 

 

I intend to apply for the LSE MSc International Political Economy with the end goal being consulting. Do you think that's not a realistic career target post-graduation? Because I'm not sure if non-consulting firms would appreciate a political MSc from a top university.

 
Most Helpful

Speaking as an LSE Alum, LSE will place well. I'd say 80% of continental classmates (with no visa difficulties) aimed for MBB, and about 25% got it. The rest is working at boutiques or T2 shops, or finance/tech.

Just be aware that the baserate for MBB is still super competitive, and that the baserate of getting - even from a top uni - is pretty low. There's a fuckload of kids at LSE that want to get MBB, and there's just not that many spots.

 
undefined:

At London MBB and top Tier 2

Oxbridge 

.

Anything else

At MBB especially the proportion is quite frankly outrageous from what I hear. At my tier 2 is also approx 50% oxbridge and the rest lbs, imperial, Warwick and lse + a few others combined. Engineering is the most popular subject in most classes. 

Despite the heavy preference, at my alma mater, Cambridge, only 5% of applicants got an offer in consultancy. This is around 5 times the overall average. So very competitive. 

Curious to know what you call Top Tier 2. I would have said OW.

From what little I have seen LEK is a bit more open than just Oxbridge. But yeah, MBB is just a joke in terms of Oxbridge.

Interesting stat on Cambridge. Would have thought it would be higher. Also, not sure if you’d agree, most UK students (Brits) at Cambridge were Consulting or bust/something else. Whereas normally there is a healthy overlap between Consulting and IB applicants which for some reason does not look like the case at Oxbridge. Maybe I am wrong though :)

 

I felt this too - consulting career fairs / events were always oversubscribed vs. banking ones, which were oversubscribed only for selective dinners from the top 3 BBs.

Also consulting appealed to a wider cohort of people from all degree disciplines (and across gender / ethnicity) whilst banking seemed to attract from a few finance/econ related subjects and heavily skewed towards guys and Asians.

 

Which T2 do you mean as ‘Top T2’. I would suspect it is OW.

LEK tends to have people from all over tbh.

 

I would just make sure you have a plan B and start networking hard. Where is your bachelors from? I know a few people that were hired from lse, but it's the minority 

It is a numbers game given the amount of cv these firm receive. Oxbridge will undoubtedly give you much higher chanches than anything else, so if that's your end goal, I'd aim for those two unis. It suck, but England in general is very baised towards them 

 

I'm an undergrad in the Netherlands right now. My university is pretty good (ranked top 70 according to Times Higher Education), but obviously it's no Oxbridge.

So the thing with LSE is I am aiming for a non-business masters program (MSc International Political Economy). I know that consulting firms value diversity in educational background, though I do not know about other firms. Considering this, do you think I should stick only to management programs?

 

Unsure to what extent it's selection bias, but I saw way more MiM / MFin esque kids recruit successfully for MBB than from the other programs. I'm assuming you went to RSM? I think you'll realize (as I did) that there's a lot of other career opportunities beyond MBB that open up when you go to LSE.

I did two BB IBD internships prior to LSE, and pivoted to tech instead of pursuing MBB/IBD like my classmates. Couldn't be happier with the call, even though I would've never thought I'd ended up where I am five years ago.

 

I currently work at MBB in the UK and have helped with screening before, but can only speak for undergrad system. Oxbridge are generally viewed more favourably than other top tier universities during screening, but only marginally.

Having said this, all of the unis you’ve listed are considered top tier, and I’ve met people who have gotten in from all of them. If you have a strong CV you will be able to get an interview from any of those universities. So it’s a win win situation no matter what you pick!

 

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