Which is more prestigious: Harvard UG -> GS or Wharton UG -> McKinsey?

Why is this even a necessary conversation? “Prestige” is such bullshit. Just let it die already.

Anyway I didn’t come just to hate on your post. Here’s my answer.

Harvard>Wharton, no question. Wharton is a powerhouse in business circles though.

IMO for “prestige” McKinsey tops GS. People who prefer IB will argue otherwise, but there’s no doubt that McKinsey takes way less people than GS. MBB as a whole take just a fraction of the people that BBs hire each year. While both jobs have their fair share of bullshit “I help companies solve problems they can’t solve” sounds sexier than “I help companies buy and sell each other”

Consulting interviews are way tougher than IB. IB is literally just memorizing technicals and trying to have an overall understanding of some pretty basic accounting. The though part in IB (as in consulting as well) is getting the interview. Once you get the interview you only need to study common technicals for 1-2 weeks and don’t fuck up fit while using STAR. Case interviews are just plain harder to prepare to, and you can’t really memorize solutions. Framework robots get spotted pretty quickly.

So yeah based on this I would put the Wharton McKinsey guy on top on the “prestige” metric.

I really can’t emphasize how much I hate that prestige is so hyped by prospects. At the end of the day genuine people don’t really give a shit if you are from a top3 or top 15 school, or if your bank is ranked #3 vs #4. So yeah, that’s my rant.