Any Shot at Consulting?

I'm going to be at a junior when school (go to a top public Cal/UMich/UCLA) starts, and I was possibly interested in applying for consulting stuff. I have a 3.9+ GPA and 790+ SAT scores, but I'm majoring in History and haven't taken any business/econ classes at my school. I've worked two summers as a research assistant to a prof at my school as well at a startup doing business-side work.

I don't think I have a shot at MBB, but I was wondering if I could get into something like Accenture, Deloitte, etc. with the proper spin on my resume.

 

You might have a shot at McK - they recruit at those schools, although in fewer numbers than top targets, and tend to value slightly more diverse backgrounds than the other two. If you can come up with a good narrative as to why studying History makes you want to be a consultant, your school and GPA might at least get you an interview. It's a stretch, but worth a shot.

 
Best Response

If you really want to do consulting then switch majors. You've probably completed most of the core curriculum, less of the history major, so switching wouldn't be too painful in terms of credits lost. I switched from pre-med (bio major/chem minor) to finance in the fall of my junior year. I have never regretted that decision for second. If I could have majored in anything in college it would have been history also, but spending $50k on a history degree did not appeal to my financial senses.

People change. It's hard to know exactly what you want to do at 18 when some shoddy college adviser is breathing down your neck suggesting you major in whatever pops out of your mouth first.

I think you have a shot at MBB now given your stats, but changing majors would definitely give you another leg up.

 

I also go to a top public school, and McK recruits at our school. I'm in both the business school and a small honors program in our liberal arts school. Interestingly enough, last semester when McK came to my school for a networking event they sent invitations to all of the honors programs EXCEPT for business (even though that is by far the highest ranked program at my school). My friends in the business honors program never got an invitation to attend and I never heard anything through my business school. When I went to the networking event, they told us that they are STRICTLY looking for liberal arts students because business students are too vocational and tend to not do as well in consulting. They also emphasized that business skills necessary for consulting are ALL taught during their training sessions. The only benefit that a business degree has at McK, from what I gathered, is that it puts you ahead during initial training.

With this said, I would add a business degree if you're interested in finance/acc/anything of the kind. If you are strictly perusing consulting though, I think your history degree will be to your advantage. Or at least, that's what I gathered from the McK recruiters. I'd recommend going to some mock case interviews through the business school though, because I know that's pretty important for a consulting offer.

 
arguewithatree:
they told us that they are STRICTLY looking for liberal arts students because business students are too vocational and tend to not do as well in consulting.

As of June 2011 - academic background of McKinsey employees:

50% Business 40% Engineering 10% Others

Source: Spiegel, Europe's largest weekly news magazine. http://www.spiegel.de/karriere/berufsleben/0,1518,775254,00.html

 
persimmon:
International relations, history, etc., are just as common as engineering or business.

okay, we both know that's not true. I don't even get why would you post something like that.

the numbers quoted above clearly show that your statement is completely wrong. Just as many history majors in consulting as engineering/business? are you crazy?!

If you hold a humanities degree yourself it seems pretty self explanatory why your POV is skewed. Guess what, I come from a business college and know a ton of people at Tier1 & Tier2 - virtually ALL of them hold a business degree. weird how that goes!?!

 

Of course you do... The resume is to get invited, pimp that up, and once you are in, start preparing for those (case) interviews. It would furthermore ghardly cost you 4h to extra apply for MBB (i.e. change cover letter). Also there is much strategy consulting at tier 2 next to those you list, i.e. at kearney, roland berger and booz, and ADL, dont forget.

I go my invations, preparing for case interviews at this point. It is quite a learning curve!

Good luck!

 

you definitely have a shot. with some research and start up experience, you can definitely come up with a really good story. on top of that your gpa/sat are off the charts. i'd say push yourself to break into MBB you have a good chance especially if you go to Cal. i had a very similar story and i got offers from deloitte, accenture etc. mbb didn't interview me but that's b/c i went to a non-target. i do know mckinsey loves researchers with good communication/interpersonal skills.

 

First, european numbers can be different from the US. I also don't fucking speak German, so I'm not even sure what that article is about.

Second, of MBB hires straight from undergrad, I can assure you that the proportion who studied business or engineering is much, much lower than 90%. In my training class at MBB, there were a few business kids and an ass load of econ majors. Persimmon is 100% correct about this.

That said, different business degrees are valued differently. MBB hires a bunch of Wharton kids, but I haven't come across all that many (well, actually any, but that's just me) from state school business programs. 24837, if you went to a business school and know only business majors at top firms, that's called a selection bias - all your friends are business students, so all of your consultant friends are business majors, too. That doesn't mean that the majority of MBB consultants are business majors. In the US, at least, they're not.

One of those lights, slightly brighter than the rest, will be my wingtip passing over.
 
2x2Matrix:
First, european numbers can be different from the US. I also don't fucking speak German, so I'm not even sure what that article is about.

The article is talking about non-business graduates in top tier consulting firms. Numbers could very well be only for consulting firms in Germany.

2x2Matrix:
Second, of MBB hires straight from undergrad, I can assure you that the proportion who studied business or engineering is much, much lower than 90%. In my training class at MBB, there were a few business kids and an ass load of econ majors.

Could very well be that econ is lumped together with business in the numbers above here - in Germany both are grouped together as (roughly translated) "business sciences".

2x2Matrix:
Persimmon is 100% correct about this.

do you honestly believe there are as many history majors as business/engineering in consulting? don't mean to offend anyone, but honestly that seems completely insane to me.

2x2Matrix:
4837, if you went to a business school and know only business majors at top firms, that's called a selection bias - all your friends are business students, so all of your consultant friends are business majors, too.

thanks for explaining it to me................... that's exactly the point I made earlier. OP said he knows a shitton of humanities students going to MBB, I told him no surprise there assuming the majority of his friends are humanities students:

24837:
If you hold a humanities degree yourself it seems pretty self explanatory why your POV is skewed. Guess what, I come from a business college and know a ton of people at Tier1 & Tier2 - virtually ALL of them hold a business degree... weird how that goes
 

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