Is Economics a good major for consulting?

A lot of the people at my school who do consulting seem to be engineering majors. I am double majoring in Economics and International Relations, with a couple of minors.

Are these majors good for consulting?

5 Comments
 

You should take other prospect’s (i.e Me) opinions on such matters as recruiting with a grain of salt.

Here’s how it is from my anecdotal experience: Firms really don’t care about your major, and if they have more engineering majors is just due to the fact that they are more predisposed by their major to think logically, while a business major may not be that savvy.

If something is gonna keep you out, it’s not your major. If you are smart and put in the needed time to prepare extensively for case and FIT interviews, then it’s all up to you (Oh, and networking). I won’t bullshit you and say that hard work will 100% get you the job, luck is obviously involved, but hard work will sway the odds in your favor.

Firms are very clear at their OCR events that major is pretty much irrelevant. A local MBB had just hired a surgeon when I went to last semester’s OCR. My strongest networking contact at one of the firms is an economics major.

I don’t know how far are you in your research or preparation, but really put in the work and don’t assume your resume, wit or smarts will get you. All I took is a humbling rejection early in the process in my dream firm to get serious and put in the work needed.

 
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In case you need more views on this, the major doesn't really matter for consulting coming out of school.

However, if you are seeing a lot of engineering majors at your school go into consulting, it may be because your school is known for strong engineering programs. This wouldn't typically be the case at a target school or most schools with OCR, but if you are at a non-target or maybe some semi-targets, what the school is known for may matter for securing interviews.

 
  1. Majors do not matter that much to get an interview
  2. Economics & STEM are more quantitative and can have a slight edge if tested on that, e.g. during case interviews. Generally speaking, people like candidates with strong quantitative backgrounds, and you can get that through econ (just take research methods, econometrics, etc. courses)
 

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