Rhodes Scholars in MBB

Don't know why people find Rhodes scholars impressive, just shows me you spent your time in college not knowing what to do and screwing around hitting the books on English or some irrelevant major. Would rather much take a strong candidate from a non target who interned at a boutique bank with a 3.4 GPA, that shows someone who is motivated but also has a life outside of college. At least join a consulting club or something useful instead of some stupid sport or research on anthropology or some bullshit lol

Rhodes scholars should go on saving the world, consultants and bankers are here to make $$$$$$$$$. If it don't make dollars it don't make sense lmao

Dominic Barton, the managing director of McKinsey was a Rhodes scholar. So was Chelsea Clinton. I'd say its well respected but due to the amount of scholarship there are it'll be quite rare

Yeah, fuck Rhodes Scholars, they're all nerds that do nothing but study. Clown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_Rolle

People who pursue postgrad scholarships/fellowships and people who pursue banking/consulting have very different mindsets. GENERALLY speaking, Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Gates, etc scholarships are very academia focused and appeal to individuals who want to pursue higher education, and probably end up in research and professorship. Banking and consulting appeal to students who want to join the workforce and make $$$, seeing little value in pursuing academia.

There's obviously exceptions like people who want to tack on the Rhodes prestige before getting on with the rest of their life, or realize that academia is not for them after completing their fellowship. I'm sure a Rhodes Scholar would be a very competitive applicant to MBB, but don't really see that as a common route. Likewise, there exists bankers/consulting who decide to exit to academia afterwards, but I wouldn't say that's a common path.

Actually, Rhodes Scholars usually don't go into academia. Most become doctors, lawyers, journalists (Rachel Madow, the current editor of the New Republic), politicians (Bill Gates), activists, etc. Academics are a necessary condition for consideration. To actually win it you usually have to have some major achievement that has a social impact - starting a non-profit is a common one.

Well I would still consider going off to med school or law school as academia (higher education). But anyway I think my post digressed from the main point I wanted to make. Scholarships like Rhodes and banking/consulting would appeal to different mindsets. To go do your Rhodes and then end up at GS or McKinsey would seems to suggest some deviance from the underlying values/spirit of the Rhodes.

I disagree, Acheron, but there's probably a higher number of Rhodes Scholars in consulting vs banking, as consulting gets a fair amount of generalist intellectuals, sociopolitically aware liberal arts types. Probably because consulting recruiting is more GPA-focused than banking, more interested in non-econ/finance majors, and more interested in non-finance experience on the resume. You also see a lot of consulting types go into the non-profit arena afterwards, which is exactly the Rhodes 'type.' Bain even has an associated non-profit organization that only does consulting for non-profits (the Bridgespan Group). It's an interesting and somewhat unnoticed phenomenon (at least on this board).

What about this statement "Among Rhodes Scholars, there is some occasional embarrassment on this topic. This has especially been true regarding McKinsey and Company." --> go to Google Book and type in "rhodes scholar mckinsey" into the search, and you will find this book.

This book directly states that McKinsey is famous of having the highest number or Rhodes Scholars working there, compared to any other company.

That's an interesting find xmasboy.

Page 300: "They started out with the idealism with a tremendous desire to change the world, were dazzled by the salaries offered by firms like McKinsey, intended to quit business as soon as they saved a sizable nestegg, and then in their thirties or forties realized they could not give up their comfortable lifestyles."

And it probably makes sense that of any single company, McK has the highest number of Rhodes. McK is HUGE. For a law firm, having 1,000-2,000 attorneys would be huge. McK is well over 10,000 people. McK has also been around a bit longer (definitely longer than any other strategy consultancy, and older than a lot of the biglaw firms). There's also way more universities and universities don't have several thousand profs, so where Rhodes end up in the university world be more fragmented. But that doesn't mean the profession that McK is in attracts the most Rhodes.

P278-279 still shows that higher education is the most common route for Rhodes. 40% education and 20% law for 1904-1950, and 32% education, and 20% law for 1951-1997. The intersection with business is much smaller (13% and 15%).

The soon-to-step-down CEO of BCG, Hans-Paul Bürkner, was a former Rhodes Scholar too!

I've been with MBB for a year and a half and haven't met anyone that I've known to be a Rhodes scholar. Of course, that's not something that typically comes up in casual conversation. However, I've also been involved in recruiting since I joined and haven't come across a Rhodes scholarship applicant.

Friend of mine at BCG is a Rhodes.

It's not like everyone you'll meet is a Rhodes/Marshall etc, but it's also not uncommon.

Multiple Rhodes Scholars in my office (3 off the top of my head)