I really don't know much about consulting, but I'm interested in it as a possible career (only a high school senior, so just looking around).
I'm applying to the top UG business schools (Wharton, etc.) but I may end up in a lower tier university (think UT-Dallas or Minnesota-Twin Cities) which aren't bad at all, but they obviously don't have the prestige factor.
In the case of the second scenario, what are some mid-level firms I can research in addition to MBB and would I have any chance at getting a job at MBB from those schools (with good grades, etc.)? If I do have somewhat of a chance, what should I do in college to maximize it?
Thanks!
1) Credit where credit is deserved for being in high school and beginning to look at careers rather than waiting until your 3rd or 4th year of university.
2a) Don't worry about consulting firms in any hard/fast way yet...at least until you have a basic idea of what you want from both life and a career.
2b) Mid-tier...would probably look at anything that isn't MBB - Deloitte Strategy & Operations, or Human Capital - PwC - Consulting & Deals - KPMG/E&Y - Booz Allen Hammilton / Booz & Co - Oliver Wyman, Mercer, Towers Watson, Wynford, Monitor, LEK
Some of those might be considered higher level, but quite frankly I woudn't worry about it. I have a friend at BCG who graduated from a pretty unheard of place. What is more important is leadership, academic excellence, and people skills (be memmorable was his tip to me).
You're too early to start discounting firms (even MBB) on the fear you end up in a mid-level school. It may be harder, but this forum is full of people who've made it from non-traditional backgrounds in finance and consulting.
Good luck - and make sure you enjoy yourself at university.
TT
I disagree with many of the firms you've listed, from the perspective of which firms don't heavily prioritise a handful of leading universities.
Booz & Co, Oliver Wyman, Monitor are just as selective as MBB in the campuses they go to. LEK is relatively small, so targets even fewer universities than MBB.
Your point about breaking in from non-target backgrounds is fair, but equally true of MBB and all of the firms above. I would also point out even though possible, chances are undeniably diminished at a non-target so working your balls off at high school to make first choice universities is worth it.
By the time you finish university, some of those mid tier firms might be top tier or the other way around.
This thread might be the best starting point: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/tiers-for-consulting-firms
I suppose I should add - I'm Canadian and the firms here (MBB included) are far more interested in what you've done than where you went to school. Potentially because our universities have less of a delta between "top and bottom" than their American counterparts.
I'm just letting him know, if he doesn't get in it isn't as if he doesn't have a chance (even if diminished).
Thank you very much for the information!! I'll keep researching the profession, but I won't limit myself to it, and hopefully I do get accepted to a top-tier university.
I'd say Porcine is correct. Especially for places like OW and Monitor who are known for being hellishly selective (or have nasty interview processes - one of my friends walked out of an OWFS interview nearly crying. And he was your typical buff fraternity dude who laughed in the face of danger.)
I'd say "mid-tier" would be your Big 4 firms, CRA, BAH (not Booz, that's top), ZS Associates, ATK, IBM. Regardless if you end up at a top university or not, network your ass off. Good luck, kid.
College name does count for the interview process, even at the mid-tier firms. Work as hard as you can at getting into a name school, but if you don't, consider transferring after a year. It is easy to transfer & if your grades are good and you can demonstrate that the name college is a better fit for you, you'll propbably get in as a transfer. Colleges have attrition after year 1 & need to refill those spots with good students. When I was hiring we didn't even look at resumes from colleges that weren't Ivy or 7 sisters (we didn't need to).
I'd say that for you to really have a gr8 chance at MBB you have to be at one of HYPSMW or other top targets like Dartmouth, Duke, Brown or Columbia. Barring any of those schools its an uphill battle to get MBB right out of undergrad even though they always have a few people thrown in their from top state schools.
Just got admission results the other day: Rejected: Wharton, Harvard, Northwestern Waitlisted: Cornell, Dartmouth, WashU Accepted: NYU Stern, U of Minnesota, UT-Dallas, and KU
My current plan is to study finance at NYU unless I get off of the waitlist at Dartmouth econ or Cornell AEM (WUSTL is out), in which case I will go to either of those two schools over NYU.
Is this the best strategy, and would you say paying $40,000 more per year at NYU, possibly taking out loans, than Minnesota's Carlson School is worth it?
You can get into Deloitte S&O if you're going to U MN Carlson.
This coming undergraduate class at Carlson is sending 2 to McKinsey, 2 to Deloitte, 1 to LEK, several to Accenture (5 or 6, I think), and many people are going to lower firms (Protiviti, Wipfli, etc.). BCG also does OCR, but doesn't take people very often (maybe a handful interview and 1 offer every couple years). It's certainly not a target, but it can happen.
I should add that for Accenture it is 5 or 6 on the MC side. Carlson sends a larger amount (great MIS program) to the IT side.
Stern has awesome finance recruiting but not so much for consulting...if you are dead set on consulting, you need to think twice.
If I am not quite dead set on consulting, would NYU be worth it (considering careers like top asset management and not necessarily IB)?
Also, would Cornell and Dartmouth then be the best positions to launch a consulting career from out of these schools?
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