Offer decision: Low-tier BB vs. Tier 2 Consulting
I have full-time offers from a low-tier BB for M&A in NYC (Mizuho/TD/HSBC/SocGen/etc) and from a tier 2 consulting firm (ATK/OW/LEK/Accenture/etc). I'm trying to decide between the two and would appreciate any advice. The two things I'm thinking about are pay and exit opps. I'm comfortable taking a pay cut in consulting if it means definitely better exit opps than from one of the above banks. I think my main goal is to go to b-school at this point (maybe PE if either offer can help me). I'm a senior at a top target with a good GPA and sound resume. Thanks.
Just my two cents but shouldn't you rather base your decision on whether you'd prefer working in IB or consulting instead of eyeing on any exit options.
Let's start by saying that none of the banks listed are BBs. Not trying to shit on your ranking, but you don't want to approach this decision with the wrong optic that those banks may lead to slightly worse exit opps that 'top tier BBs'; they'll make it MUCH harder to find exits compared to people from GS/JPM/MS.
If PE is the goal then those banks can certainly lead to MM funds and from the consulting firms LEK (due to the DD-focus) and OW (due to their financial focus) can also lead there (less so for ATK or AC).
Knowing that PE is possible from both types of firms, your decision should be based on whether you want IB or MC because the job nature will be very different.
In terms of competitiveness/difficultly to break into, how do the likes of Barclays & Deutsche M&A compare with say Big 4 strategy consulting arms and Oliver Wyman?
Barclays doesnt have a m&a group, they are similar to gs in the way they structure m&a
Agree with the above - those are not BBs but rather really mid market banks and PE recruitment will be limited to the MM funds. The T2 Consulting Brands you mentioned will be more well known
What about this same question but replace the bank with a mid tier BB (Citi/Barclays/CS) and no interest in PE?
This is a really dumb question. If you dont care about pe exit opps and just business school, then your decision isnt hard. Do you like consulting or ib better? No one can answer that for you.
As someone who is trying to balance consulting vs banking, I would take consulting over pretty much any of the firms listed. A low tier BB would be a UBS, not what you listed. In that case I'd probably take OW or ATK over it, because I prefer consulting, but would take the low BB if it were LEK or Accenture. But with the banks you listed, low tier MMs, I would take pretty much any of the consulting offers over them. But you need to be asking yourself whether consulting is where you want to end up or banking. Because it is significantly easier to lateral from one of those firms to a Jefferies or a low tier BB than it is to lateral from one of those consulting firms to MBB. If you choose banking, after a year you may be at a BB, whereas with consulting you'd be stuck with that firm until you get your MBA and fi you switch firms you're out of 200k.
Can you elaborate on why you would rather take UBS or DB over LEK/Accenture?
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