Offer comparison: ZS vs. Oliver Wyman vs. EY

Just curious about what people thought of these firms. Money isn't that important to me right now. Biggest factor is exit opts by far. I liked the culture of ZS best, but I'm also not sure and maybe even doubtful I want to be in healthcare/pharma long term and don't want to get pigeonholed at ZS. I'll probably take advantage of tuition reimbursement so I will likely be with the firm for a while.

Which has the best exit opts? How comparable are they? Will ZS pigeonhole me into healthcare if I stay two years after MBA?

 
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The firms are not very comparable. OW > ZS > EY (assuming that it’s EY, not Parthenon).

OW is the obvious choice here for breadth of exits. ZS is very narrow in focus (not just healthcare, but mostly healthcare sales force optimization). EY management consulting is broad, but much weaker than OW. Parthenon, on the other hand, could make sense vs. OW if you want to focus on PE due diligence.

tldr: pick OW, unless “EY” means Parthenon, in which case it’s a toss-up that leans OW.

 

According to close friends who started at ZS within the last 2 years, there is a small segment of the firm that is growing outside of their traditional pharma / sales force space. With a lot of networking, it's possible to get on those sorts of projects. You should do some due diligence and see how true that is in your ZS office. I've heard nothing but good things culture-wise regarding ZS.

OW is considered the better/more prestigious place to be across the board (I believe comp is very similar between the two). From another contact there, although the firm is a generalist, I have heard that a decent % of the work can be in the regulations/risk space (since FSI consulting is their strongest area). Again, you'd want to do due diligence on your intended office on this matter.

The easy answer is OW by a wide margin, but there are conditions where ZS may look more attractive (ex. you value culture/work environment highly, you have no interest in FSI's, etc.)

 

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