Target Schools For Consulting Megathread
Top Targets: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Wharton
Mid Targets: Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, Duke, Upenn (Non-Wharton), MIT
Low Targets: Cornell, Georgetown, Umich Ross, UVA, Northwestern
Top Semi-targets: Berkeley Haas, WashU Olin, Uchicago
Mid Semi-targets: USC Marshall, Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt, Emory, Indiana Kelley, Boston College, UT Mccombs, UNC, Rice, Caltech, Georgia tech
Low Semi-targets: Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Wake Forest, Tufts, SMU, UIUC
Top LACs excluded
Looks about right, although John Hopkins has enough prestige for its students to land good MBB/T2 jobs, just like any target.
This is true. It's just that not many JHU student try to go into consulting
Even after living in Washington, DC for many years -- I rarely ran into JHU graduates (I'm excluding the masters/grad programs--just undergrad). You'd think that arguably the best undergrad in the area would send more folks to DC. I don't know if it was just my work/social groups but I've often wondered where the JHU grads all end up.
Seems correct. I'm aware that McKinsey runs specialized Freshman diversity programs for students from Harvard, Yale and Stanford.
I think the that there is a misconception regarding UVA placement for consulting. MBB doesn't really care if you're in McIntire or not. Strong applicants with Econ/Stats degree always will get a good look. In fact, the Systems Engineering major has a better per capita placement in MBB than McIntire.
Changed UVA Mcintire to just UVA
^this is correct. also a couple of niche clubs have great placement (University Guide Service w/ Bain)
This is the case for finance as well
For consulting, W gives a slight advantage, but MBB still heavily recruits from the other schools and I'd say still top target. In fact, consulting is the biggest industry people go into from CAS and third for the engineering school. The difference is much bigger for finance.
In terms of consulting, I have heard of students at UCLA placing well. Yet there is also not a huge interest in consulting/finance at UCLA as it is more of a research/pre-med oriented school. From friends and associates I would say UCLA fits in as a mid-semi target similar to vandy, emory, unc, and a tad below USC Marshall
How could I forget UCLA? i'll add it in
For UCLA's junior class summer this year, they only managed to send 2 kids in total for MBB in the US, and it was 2 kids to Bain. McKinsey and BCG didn't take anyone. EY-Parthenon took 3, LEK took 2, Deloitte S&O took 1. I would say UCLA does really poorly in consulting recruiting going by those stats.
Then for the lower tier offers, KPMG took 2, ZS took 1 or 2, and Keystone took 2.
UCLA is not and semi-target, there’s a lot of competition and a lot of interest for consulting at the school, yet barely anyone gets it, and those who do do so through the diversity program
All the MBB take Ohio state kids every year.
Ohio State is definitely up and coming. I see it as a low semi-target in the next few years
with 50k kids, you’d hope a few kids could make it lol
On campus recruiting dude, not a few kids that networked their way in.
High school buddy just placed out of OSU -- this is not true, in a good year they have 2 McK (OCR) and 1 BCG. They just had their first placements at Bain, OW, LEK, Parthenon. Up and coming but not a "target" (although if UIUC is on the list OSU could be on there)
yeah, it’s through OCR like i said. everything you said here is accurate except OSU had 3 BCG, not 1.
There’s no specific top or low target like IB in consulting. you either go to their target or you don’t. Also IU is no where near USC and others in that league since USC places well at Bain. I’d add Top LAC’s like Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin to the list as well
This is actually not true. IU places nearly 10 people into MBB every year. The economic consulting major has a near 70% placement rate into consulting firms and the median salary is $73,000 for that major.
USC is about equal for consulting.
And yes, I completely forgot top LACs
What does it mean that X school is better than Y school for placing people into consulting? Let's say they are of equal prestige generally.
Does that mean firms just tend to take more people from school X or do they have a larger presence, offer more opportunity to meet consultants, and other benefits at school X compared to Y, despite both being good schools?
I hope that makes sense! Also the fact that IU places 10 people into MBB, and other similarly low numbers, makes me very nervous about the coming fall.
IU Kelley is better than USC for consulting. USC Marshall is a better school though
USC has twice as many consultants than IU (including Kelley) at MBB. Not saying it’s not a target but wouldn’t be in the same tier.
Indiana Kelley places better for big4 consulting/t2 consulting. USC places better with MBB.
Both very good schools for consulting, but I'd give a slight edge to USC.
nice, way to put the consulting megathread in the investment banking forum
I didnt realize consulting was considered Investment Banking at first. Then I saw it was a ranking thread and knew it belonged in this forum.
Also, this dude's post history is wack
10x worse than Richard
This looks correct, but you forgot top LACs (Williams, Amherst)
For consulting, W gives a slight advantage, but MBB still heavily recruits from the other schools and I'd say still top target. In fact, consulting is the biggest industry people go into from CAS and third for the engineering school. The difference is much bigger for finance.
ye
added is Upenn (non-wharton) to mid target
Just out of curiosity, how many of those in Engineering/CAS do you think are doing a dual degree with W? I know that a good amount at Wharton end up getting a second degree as well, so I feel like some of that information may not show up in placement data for Engineering/CAS. Could be completely wrong though.
No you’re right, that definitely skews the data, as around 30% of W gets a dual degree, but its difficult to separate the data. FWIW, in my experience I know many single degree non W students who land MBB. Cant put a number on it, but its not hard to get an interview at MBB from any school at penn
Do you have any actual number to back this data up? What's the number of MBB placements for each school.
I'll start for UVA ~10 for Bain ~4 BCG ~4 McK on a 16,000 undergrad population
Wharton undergrad is 22 to BCG, 18 to Bain, and 17 to McKinsey out of 682 grads
https://cdn.uconnectlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/74/2020/07/2019_W…
Out of 582 who responded
Where do Amherst & Williams rank
Low Target or Top Semi
For what its worth one of the dumbest girls in my high school Calc BC class got a summer MBB internship from Amherst/Williams.
Do you have numbers for this?
I'd also put UIUC and Georgia Tech in there somewhere, each place ~12-15 per year into MBB
Yeah Georgia Tech should definitely be higher than Low Semi-target, this year placed 18 into MBB, according to the career center. All 3 have strong on-campus presence as well. Can't personally speak to UIUC though.
Go to brown- we place lights out for consulting. Not saying we are on the same level as HYP, but definitely close- all MBB recruit on campus and I know people that have landed offers from all. Bain especially takes a ton every year, probably followed by McKinsey next and the least to BCG.
I'm considering attending Brown over Dartmouth in the fall. Wondering if you could give some insight as to why Brown places well in consulting. Are there any programs, clubs, or orgs on campus that help prepare students?
I know Georgetown sends about 25 to MBB each year, though a majority are in the Foreign Service school, not the business school.
UCLA is super ass for consulting recruiting. For UCLA's junior class summer this year, they only managed to send 2 kids in total for MBB in the US, and it was 2 kids to Bain. McKinsey and BCG didn't take anyone. EY-Parthenon took 3, LEK took 2, Deloitte S&O took 1. Accenture Strategy took 2? I would say UCLA does really poorly in consulting recruiting going by those stats. Strategy&, Oliver Wyman, AT Kearney do not recruit at our school.
Then for the lower tier offers, KPMG took 2, ZS took 1 or 2, and Keystone took 2.
UCLA's really not good for anything in business lol - even for IB/S&T/Buy-side combined, they only send at most 30 a year, and almost half that number is through diversity programs.
Why did you put this in the IB forum if you're listing schools for consulting??
Also- why as a "2nd year associate in IB" do you just sit around ranking schools/banks all day?
Because OP is an 18 year old and putting down associate on WSO is the closest he is getting to working in IB
suck a whole d..... i work at bb
i moved it
Per USNWR MBA RANKINGS (2021): 1. Wharton / Stanford 2. Northwestern 3. Booth 4. MIT Sloan 5. Harvard 6. Berkeley Haas 7. Columbia 8. Yale 9. NYU Stern 10. UVA 11. Dartmouth Tuck
I smell East coast opinions.
bro thats MBA
Undergrad rankings are even better for Berkeley. They’re #3 in Undergrad Business.
Per USNWR Undergrad business rankings (2021):
Be careful. The Correlation between undergrad to MBA is not one to one. For Example, Yale Undergrad >>>>> Yale MBA.
agreed
Can confirm that Berkeley sends 20+ to MBB each year. Definitely comparable numbers to Mich, Georgetown, etc. The difference is that a ton end up in SF offices so take that as you will.
A little biased bc I go there but I think Amherst is definitely a Mid Target — strong on campus presence from two of the MBBs and some T2’s (I.e. Parthenon, ATK) and we consistently place multiple people at each firm every year (4 or 5 going to Bain as AC right now) including those that aren’t on campus
yes but on average Amherst sends fewer people to MBB than Haas. Still a decent school regardless.
yes, Berkeley is a decent school
Vanderbilt is definitely a mid to low target, especially out of undergrad. Business school, not so much, but undergrad is up there for sure
UT as a whole sends 10+ to MBB every year, places extremely well in the texas offices. Dallas/Houston classes are full of UT
what banks are actually based out of Texas? Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, BAML, Jeffries, Evercore, Centerview... are all based out of NY. UT attracts great interest in Texas, but what banks are native to Texas? Or are you citing people that go to NY from Texas?
was talking about MBB but have insight into BB/EB as well. UT sends a bunch to NY BB/EB/others especially JPM/GS/MS/Evercore/Point72. There is a strong pipeline to houston Evercore as well. This year, Texas sends to not only the above but also to Moelis/Lazard/Barclays/UBS/PJT/WF/SIG.
A quick search on LinkedIn for "Wall Street for McCombs" will give you all sorts of results. Has a near 100% placement for BB/EB
What is the differentiating factor between rankings here? Is it by how many interns + full time folks are taken at MBB and otherwise relative to the size of the class?
Does the geography matter? I know UCLA and USC are nice schools, but the LA offices/Socal offices of MBB can be small.
Also where do people get the data? I've talked to my career center and they told me they don't have that information (or wouldn't give it to me, I wouldn't know the difference).
Also, I wonder how virtual recruiting will change things. Will firms be able to reach more people or give more interviews? Is networking directly gonna be more important since there aren't traditional info sessions where students meet consultants?
Sorry for the brain dump of stuff here.
n = 1 sample size. But someone from my high school who went CalTech / Harvey Mudd with a 3.3 got offers from two of the MBB in the LA office, while those with 3.8+ at USC/UCLA regularly get their resumes thrown out. Though to be fair this kid was 10 times smarter than me and those schools are notorious for grade inflation.
Is UCLA really notorious for gpa inflation?
Williams, Amherst get out of here lmao. What a joke.
what do you mean
School is non-target as .... Sure a few kids go here and there. BB only recruit from there because you can get some decent liberal arts kids from there. Completely different world from an Ivy.
Where is Baruh? lmfao
What is this based on? UChicago sends fewer than 4 people to MBB annually on average and NYU Stern doesn't even have MBB OCR.
NYU sends 30+ people to MBB every year per their career center. Booth should send even more people to MBB...
Booth is the business school at Chicago not undergrad. are you sure you are not talking about Post MBA numbers here?
NYU undergrad sends 5 to MBB per year, it is not a target school for MBB like it is for IB
Add Notre Dame to Mid Semi-target
Is UChicago really worse than Ross for consulting recruiting? Is this because the student body leans hard towards finance roles (IB/Trading/HF)?
There is no way Emory, Vandy, CMU, WashU, UChicago, and UCB aren't low targets. I'm looking on Linkedin and over 100 grads from each school work at Mckinsey.
No, Emory, Vandy, and don't have 100 grads at McKinsey. CMU may have about 110 at McKinsey, but at the other BBs they only have 50 combined, UChicago is seen a better for IB, while NU is for consulting in Chicago. UCB is much larger, so it's per capita placement isn't good.
I would raise Georgia Tech to a high semi target, as they dominate consulting in Atlanta. Atlanta is a pretty big office for MBB, it is only smaller than Chicago, Boston, NYC, and San Fransico in the U.S. About equal in size to the Washington D.C. office.
If Atlanta is so good for consulting won't Emory place a bunch too? I've also heard that Emory has a very good reputation for consulting especiall at MBA level
Dartmouth undergrad is a solid target tho mainly just for Bain (~15 to Bain, ~3 to McKinsey, 0 for BCG)
How many from Vandy for each firm and what majors are recruited the most?
Also definitely on the up, if not a semi to mid target now, will be in 5 yrs.
How many from Vandy for each firm and what majors are recruited the most?
Also definitely on the up, if not a semi to mid target now, will be in 5 yrs.
vandy is solid-ish for consulting. regardless if u work youll get it. great school
Where would Ivey and McGill fit on the list?
NYU is definitely known for IB of course, but there are still a lot of undergrads that go into consulting. There is a decent handful that go to MBB every year and it is a huge Big 4 feeder, and Parthenon/LEK/Kearney all recruit on campus. For MBA, it's definitely an MBB target; all three recruit on campus and there are tons of Stern alum at each of them.
where does Middlebury place on the list?
Thoughts on Rutgers anyone?
Vanderbilt definitely needs a bump to low-target or mid-target- its placement in consulting has drastically increased in the last 5 yrs, especially in the Southern offices. Last year it was 4-mckinsey, 11-bain, 9-bcg, i believe. Not a solid target for finance, but for consulting, it's pretty decent.
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