One of the most common questions I discuss with aspiring consultants is whether they should go back to school to earn an MBA if they want to become successful in consulting. The blueprint that many people have in their minds as they think about consulting seem to fall into one of three paths for 2 specific career destinations.
Career destination 1: Make partner at a consulting firm
Path 1A: Complete undergraduate degree -> obtain 2-3 years industry experience -> get an MBA -> go into consulting
Path 1B: Intern at a consulting firm- >complete undergraduate degree -> spend 2-3 years at a consulting firm -> go back to school to obtain an MBA -> come back to said consulting firm
Career destination 2: Become a Fortune 500 c-suite executive
Complete undergraduate degree -> gain 2-3 years of consulting experience -> earn an MBA -> go work in industry
And while I have seen many people take this path, I have also seen many people have a successful consulting career without an MBA degree. There are also individuals in very high ranking roles in consulting without a master’s degree.
My position on obtaining an MBA? It is all depends. Ask yourself what it is that you want to do with an MBA that you cannot get today? If one of the following scenarios applies to you, I would really reconsider whether it is worth the time and investment to obtain an MBA:
- You already have a business undergraduate degrees such as finance, management, marketing
- You have more than 5 years of strategy experience
- You have more than 10 years of implementation consulting experience and plan on staying in this space
- You already have a master’s degree
- You just want to say that you have an MBA for resume (or ego) building purposes
If you fall into one of these categories and are contemplating getting an MBA just to get into consulting – I recommend focusing on identifying firms you are interested in and nailing their interview processes. Landing a consulting role and Spending time gaining as much real world experience as possible is most likely a better ROI of your time, energy, and money.
Unless you have financial means and time to complete an MBA program, you may be a little disappointed if your newly minted MBA program doesn’t yield breakthrough returns as you may have expected.
When is it worth obtaining an MBA?
- You need to build your brand, business skills, and your professional network in order to make a career switch
- You have a technical, engineering or liberal arts undergraduate degree and would like to take on management roles in the future
- You have only been exposed to operations or implementation roles and would like to transition towards more strategy work
If you fall into one of these categories, it probably does make sense for you to invest the time, money, and energy into a reputable MBA program because the skills and your network will help leap frog your career to the next level.
Ultimately, the choice is yours.
You can see my ongoing Q&A here: Q&A: I grew up in Consulting and reinvented my brand 3 times
Career destination 3: Intern at a consulting firm- >complete undergraduate degree -> spend 2-3 years at a consulting firm -> get disillusioned with consulting and the low bonus -> go back to school to obtain an MBA -> join bulge bracket investment bank ->try to jump into PE/HF -> Become the next Steve Schwarzman and achieve greatness
Now to get serious:
Part I: People in Wall Street jobs in general, and not just consultants, should consider MBAs for a variety of reasons, most of which are pretty much the same:
Network - You attended a non-target, did some really cool shit, but you feel that your current career does not provide you with solid connections in the industry you are working in/ wish to work in.
Relocation - You attended school in UT Austin/Tsinghua, but want to work in New York. You worked in a BB Energy group in Houston/Hong Kong so you leverage that experience to get an east-coast MBA to move.
Changing industry - Read above. Disillusioned with consulting/IB/PE/tech/industry/quantitative finance so you want to try out something else. I've met with many successful top-level executives across the above industries who were disillusioned and changed industries.
Street Cred - You worked in consult/IB/pre-MBA PE, but decided that you hate working for your Partner/MD/CEO, so you decided to start up. You feel that an MBA would give you necessary credibility among VCs and investors (which isn't always the case).
Consulting - Couldn't get into consulting before in undergrad and now you're somewhat old (read mid-late twenties), so decided to join an MBA program that is the equivalent of a consulting factory (I'm looking at you INSEAD). You feel that a few years in consulting will open up multiple doors for you elsewhere (which is true)
Advancement - You have hit the ceiling and your employer either explicitly or implicitly told you that they're only going to promote you if you get an advanced degree such as an MBA/JD or a PhD (or gasp MD). Master's degrees in finance, economics, engineering don't count.
Ego - I'll admit it, I'm one of those guys who gets a kick out of knowing that I graduated from a top school. While I try not to show it outwardly, it satisfies me - kind of like a bucket list.
Part II : Now, for reasons to not get an MBA:
You are a BA in consulting who's targeting Partner and already got your DTA. From what I've seen, getting the DTA means the firm considers you already on the partner track and does not expect you to get one (although if you did, that would be much better for your chances). Ofc, the route to Partner is more complex since there are a lot of other factors at play. That being said, it IS possible to make Partner at MBB before 30 without an MBA - it's just hard though. Consulting as such is an industry that is biased towards people who have MBAs.
You work in an EMEA finance job. Europe doesn't value MBAs as much as the US, almost equating them to MSFs from top universities. You can easily make Partner/MD in a PE firm/ investment bank with just a bachelors, even if you changed firms twice or thrice.
You were one of the lucky ones who got into BX/KKR, etc or BB/EB IBD straight out of undergrad, and have decided that you're going to stick with the firm for life. You have been given hints that you're a top performer through rapid advancement. You don't really need an MBA in most offices of these MF PEs, although some offices/divisions require/prefer candidates and internal applicants who have one. Case in point, David Blitzer and Jas Khaira at BX.
If you're working in industry, and if your firm isn't the kind of company which values names and degrees over years of experience, then hey, stick with the firm. But if you're not sure and want to have options at hand, or if you are thinking of changing companies, then yeah, an MBA might be considered.
If you want to start up and receive funding from the kickass early-stage VC funds. From what I've seen (from personal experience), top early-stage VCs value design capabilties and overall team composition (how many techies vs how many biz folks, etc). Honestly, the good VC firms tend to prefer someone with proven product management and sales capability over someone who has an MBA from Stanford. Though maybe if you want to snag those PM roles at a top tech company, an MBA would help (but not necessary).
You're experienced as f*** in your industry of choice. A guy with 10+ years of experience wouldn't have any need for an MBA. Unless he feels like making bitchpooks and presentations again.
Note: - While going for an MBA after a finance/econ/business major in undergrad is not generally looked down upon by employers, there certainly isn't going to much value-add either. The coursework content is almost the same, and you'll shell out a lot more for an expensive degree. But note that MBA programs tend to not prefer guys with business administration majors, so your chances getting into a top program are marginally reduced. That being said, if any of the reasons in Part I apply to you, I would suggest you go for the MBA.
So that's it. The decision for getting an MBA is not dependent on your background or your past experience per se, but rather on where you want to be in future.
Why would having an undergraduate business degree make you be hesitant to get an MBA? Do you believe that the purpose of the degree is to acquire knowledge? If so, lol.
Also, making partner seems unrealistic for most people so is getting an MBA to go to industry, when I worked in strategy consulting I had multiple headhunters reach out for industry roles with titles like senior corporate development analyst, strategy manager and even a junior executive development program. So track 1 and 2 both seem nuts to me, more common is consulting->sponsored MBA-> 2-3 years work (or until you complete the terms of your contract) -> exit to industry at a more senior level (director or senior manager) or just consulting->industry (pre-MBA).
guyfromct Great question, one that I had myself for many years. From my experience, it all comes down to your expectation of what you believe an MBA can net you as a consultant. On paper, if you compare the curriculum of a business undergrad degree vs. MBA, essentially the same concepts are covered. The only difference is, consultants going to school for an MBA usually have some sort of work experience that they can bring back to the classroom and take the networking element more seriously. So if you already have a business undergrad degree, you are essentially obtaining an opportunity to hear other people's stories in an academic construct going through a refresher of the course materials you may have went through in undergrad. For some, depending on where you are in your career, that may be all you need....for those in consulting roles, you actually get that type of experiential, apprenticeship exposure on an almost daily basis.
As mentioned in my original post, if you are an existing consultant that wants to exponentially build a brand or your network across a breadth/depth of peers outside of consulting, getting an MBA is a faster path to doing so. For example, I've also seen consultants get an MBA to build relationships purposefully to begin cultivating a book of business and client contacts when they go back to consulting.
People's career paths take a lot of different twists and turns....what may seem crazy to one may be exactly what another person needs. At the end of the day, it is an individual's decision and sometimes the plans change. Having a company sponsor an MBA program is quickly becoming obsolete and anyone that is able to secure that should consider themselves among the select few. Many firms have cut into that benefit and are instead offering in-house leadership development programs in partnership with colleges to provide "mini-MBA" experience instead (i.e., Deloitte University).
We are going to continue to see a host of "alternate MBA" programs crop up over the next 10-20 years both in firms and externally in the market as the traditional MBA model and its value continues to be questioned given the increasingly high costs, advancing technologies that disrupt the current model, and ROI particularly for those in consulting that are fortunate to gain a breadth of experiences.
In other words, guyfromct the tried and true models of business/management - like everything else these days - are being questioned, tested, and challenged. Paradigms are shifting. While it maybe scary for some who have spent their lives making decisions based on a traditional career model, it is a welcomed change and can be considered opportunistic for those who understand this trend and can seize it appropriately.