Which is more prestigious: Harvard UG to GS or Wharton UG to McKinsey

Which is more prestigious: 

A Wharton undergraduate going to McKinsey?

or A Harvard undergraduate going to Goldman Sachs? 

15 Comments
 

It's genuinely funny how you named the two firms most recently, and publicly, hit by scandal in their respective industries. Neither are bad firms but still an interesting choice. I wonder, are those two still the most 'prestigious' choices for those students that are choosing between banking & consulting? 

For the scandals, I'm referring to the recent headline about McKinsey & ICE/Opioids and Goldman with 1MDB.

 

What the fuck is this question? I'm not just saying that just because I disagree with minute prestige differences parroted by my fellow WSO prospects rather because the strengths of someone who would succeed in consulting, especially at the lower levels, is very different than in IB. I know probably like 50 or so people casually at my school who are interested in EITHER MBB or BB banking, and I can tell you only like 10% would have the skills/interest to succeed at the lower levels for both. 

I feel like you are listing the Wharton->MK path as the ever so slightly less prestigious one as per fellow WSO prospect logic, but I can guarantee you, a partner at MK would not give a shit that they are not an MD/Ptr at GS. 

 

I dunno, you may be right. As a finance guy, I guess I see GS as better?? Ultimately, it doesn't matter. I am great at finance, and did really well in my SA, but I can tell you 1000%, I would do leagues better at a local IB boutique than I would at any consulting firm. Consulting is just not for me. I am a finance guy. Yeah, I like relationship building, but at this point, I am piss-poor at consulting. 

 

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