University Choice for Consulting

Hi WSO!

I am a senior in high school and want to become a Management Consultant or an Investment Banker in the future. I applied for universities in the UK, Canada, and HK. As an international student, US universities were too expensive compared to my other choices.

I have conditional offers from LSE, Warwick, and Edinburgh, but had to decline Warwick because LSE and Warwick gave me the same conditions. My firm is LSE and insurance is Edinburgh. I got an acceptance from UBC and a rejection from Ivey Business school (AEO). I'm waiting to hear from Waterloo and Western. I haven't heard anything from HKU and HKUST yet.

LSE would be the best school for me but the problem is that I might not be able to meet their condition. Also, as an international student, UK is not an ideal place to get a job/Visa. Plus, I am not sure if Edinburgh is a target school for MBB and other consulting firms.

My acceptance to UBC is not Sauder business school. I was in such a hurry when I applied to UBC so I didn't know about Sauder at all. I wonder if I could get an internship with a bachelor of science (math and econ). However, if I end up going to UBC, I will probably try to transfer to Sauder.

If I got into LSE, that would be amazing, but assuming that I have to decide from UBC (no Sauder/Math & Econ), Waterloo (Risk Management), Western (no Ivey/MOS), Edinburgh (Math & Business), HKU (no IBGM/Finance) and HKUST (no GBUS/Info Systems), which university should I go to break into Consulting or IB?

Thank you!

Edit: I just found out that MBB usually ask for SAT/ACT scores. I used my IB Diploma for all of my college application. Should I plan on taking SAT during my undergrad? I took SAT only once just to see my scores. I didn't really prepare for it so the scores aren't that great, which is the reason why I've never used.

2 Comments
 

LSE is definitely best bet as you mentioned. I only know about canadian schools. Western and UBC with no business is going to be really difficult to break into Consulting or IB - try for engineering (sometimes good for consulting/IB if you do extremely well and network hard af) or try to transfer to Ivey. Waterloo risk management is generally a strong program but it is extremely quantitative and isn't really geared towards IB or consulting. That's my input. If you want to know more, spend some time looking online (linkedin, career reports, etc.) about grads from each school respectively.

 

Voluptate illo sunt neque unde. Quam omnis voluptatum eos voluptatem aspernatur ut voluptatem. Est dolorem cupiditate vel unde mollitia. Ad repellat nostrum repellat corrupti.

Aut officia quia cumque voluptatibus quia aspernatur fugiat. Ullam laboriosam rerum aut laborum minima ut dolorem. Ipsam porro doloremque sed eum voluptates.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Consulting

  • Boston Consulting Group 99.5%
  • Bain & Company 99.0%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.4%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.9%
  • LEK Consulting 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Consulting

  • Cornerstone Research 99.5%
  • Bain & Company 99.0%
  • Boston Consulting Group 98.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 97.9%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.5%
  • Boston Consulting Group 99.0%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.4%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.9%
  • LEK Consulting 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Consulting

  • Partner (4) $361
  • Principal (30) $294
  • Director/MD (58) $274
  • Vice President (53) $247
  • Engagement Manager (113) $232
  • Manager (171) $173
  • 2nd Year Associate (185) $142
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (116) $135
  • Senior Consultant (354) $132
  • Consultant (642) $122
  • 1st Year Associate (577) $121
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (164) $121
  • NA (16) $114
  • Engineer (6) $114
  • 2nd Year Analyst (391) $104
  • Associate Consultant (176) $101
  • 1st Year Analyst (1163) $90
  • Intern/Summer Associate (208) $83
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (634) $68
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”