Life Sciences / Health Care Strategy Consulting
Hey everyone, I was wondering if I could get some insight from you who are in the consulting industry or have knowledge about it. I have a MPH in health policy and management (top program) and a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology (tier2 school). I was wondering how competitive it was to get into a boutique or large firm to practice health care or life sciences strategy consulting. I understand competition is insane, but was curious what some of you would do to get yourself noticed in recruiting. Does the fact that I dont come from an IVY league background hurt my chances? I am 23 yrs old and would like to also pursue an MBA a few years from now. Firms that I would like to work for include Accenture, IBM, Navigant, Huron, Towers Watson, Oliver Wyman, Booz Allen Hamilton, PwC, Deloitte. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated!
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Check out Leerink Swann, they have a Strategic Advisory/Management Consulting division.
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I received my MPH from University of Illinois, however they seem to have limited connections with consulting. They have placed students into consulting firms, but the administration is very poor in their efforts to help students. As far as their business contacts/alumni, majority of them go into healthcare systems or insurance companies. However, we are allowed to participate in the School of Business's career fair, I unfortunately was out of town during this years fair.
Thanks pennypacker, Ive never heard of Leerink Swann, however a firm like that is somewhere I would like to work for. As for neversurrenders post, I agree...they seem pretty elite. I question my chances of even getting noticed in a place like that.
I work in HC banking, so I can't confidently comment on how difficult it would be to break into their consulting arm. However, I did a very quick linkedin search of current Leerink employees from the Big 10: A banking analyst from Illinois A consulting MD from Purdue undergrad/Indiana MBA (Kevin Barnett) 2 guys from Michigan (banking, and IT services) A consulting MD from Minnesota 4 guys from Northwestern 2 guys from Ohio State A consulting analyst from Penn State and 1 guy from Wisconsin
You might have a shot? Network hard, and good luck.
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Please PM me for more info. I can prolly help you out.
Did you recieve my pm arpster?
Accenture and Booz Allen aren't too tough to crack. I think the most important part of recruiting for them is to have someone on the inside put you through their employee referral programs. That puts you on a fast track in terms of hiring, and then you just have to be decent in interviews.
However, I'm not sure that either firm has a health care strategy practice. My guess would be that Accenture may have something relating to enterprise IT systems for healthcare (and any related process work, but not "strategy" per se) for commercial clients, and Booz Allen will have something similar (mostly healthcare related IT) but focused on local/state/federal government rather than commercial clients. Booz Allen will likely also have some additional focus on healthcare policy at the state/federal level.
For IBM, PwC, and Deloitte, they usually have very structured on campus recruiting, so having access to that process would be your best bet. Getting a referral from someone inside would also be good, but my impression of these firms is that they generally pull enough people in through OCR that they don't pay too much attention to other applications.
As far as I know, Navigant and Huron are economic/litigation consulting firms, which is a bit different from traditional management consulting in that it is kind of a blend between consulting and audit / due diligence. You can do a search for more details on the differences.
Have you thought about other boutiques like Monitor, Parthenon, or LEK? Because they cover relatively fewer schools with OCR, boutiques like Oliver Wyman and the ones mentioned above are easier to apply to directly through their websites. Of course, referrals are helpful here too. Also, what's your reasoning for not considering MBB?
Anyways, the best way to get noticed is to get an internal referral. Coming out of a top health policy program should give you enough prestige to be acceptable assuming you have some decent work/internship experience. Start tapping into that alumni network.
Thanks you so much for your advice! I have done much research regarding which firms do health care and /or life sciences consulting and the firms I listed for the most part do it...except that your right, some emphasize more on IT than strategy. However, Accenture recently formed a new Health & Public Service division. Most of the firms I mentioned on their website have consulting positions that specifically look for MPH or MBA..but I applied to several places during the winter and I believe my application fell victim to the black hole. I talked to an advisor and she says despite my background and work experience, I may not have as much quantitative background as consulting firms would like. I have great analytical skills, but I only took a handful of economics, accounting and mathematics courses comparing to a finance major who takes an abundance of that. I am sure I could learn those skills on the job, but just getting the interview seems somewhat difficult.
As for MBB, I wouldnt mind trying to land a job there after I get my MBA, however in all honesty, I feel somewhat intimidated from those firms (besides Bain since they did come to my public health school's career fair, I was out of town though) because from my understanding they are very elite, and very critical what schools you went to, grades, experiences, so forth. My UGPA wasnt the highest ( I graduated with a 3.4 and w/o honors) and I hear that they seek people with stellar grades. Could i just be looking at this all wrong?
bump
Huron is a good place to be for healthcare (nothing else), if you want to be on the operations side. Have to be ready to travel Monday-Thursday pretty much 100% of the time though. They won't care so much about undergrad GPA and they recruit heavily from U of I. Just be ready for the case interviews..
Would you be able to share more insight into Huron's case interviews, and /or their education consulting arm? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I am very interested in health care consulting and was accepted a top ranked program for healthcare management and where at least one major firm, Deloitte, specifically recruits healthcare management students.
What would look better to a consulting firm? Completing a summer internship at a well regarded hospital system (such as Mass General, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern Memorial, Boston Children's) to gain some industry experience or doing an internship with a healthcare consulting firm?
I want to have the best preparation to enter health care consulting and was wondering what I could do to make myself a strong(ER) applicant? What can I do to improve my resume for consulting firms in the next 2 years while in grad school?
Thanks
id go with columbia mph. pm me. ive gone through all of this already, i can give you some advice
please check your inbox, thanks
consulted, of course you have a shot. what does it hurt to apply, even to MBB. don't be intimidated and just go for it
Hey ventjock I have a similar dilemma, any advice will help. I want to get into consulting and maybe later finance from an mph.
How good of a chance does one have to land a job at BCG/Bain/McK with a top tier program Ph.D. in neurobiology?
Hey ventjock , I'm wondering the same thing. I'm in medical school (NOT a top tier program) but I want to get into consulting later on. Any advice?
bostoncode
I sent you a PM
Health Advances is an amazing firm you should check out. It is Vault Top 5 for the pharma/biotech consulting space.
IMO, you should aim for MBB, OW, LEK, and IMS as your top choices for pharma/healthcare/biotech and all that.
OW is an interesting inclusion
ZS is an exclusion that I would have included
I agree. I think that ZS has carved out a niche within the Pharma/HC space.
Can anyone elaborate on more specific type of work they do, how/where they recruit from, placement into b school, and prestige?
ZS made their name in sales force realignment, compensation strategy, etc. They started branching out into more brand strategy/etc a couple of years ago but they are known for their sales force expertise.
If you are not interested in pharma, I would really not go to ZS.
Thanks for your input. Would you say these are strategy projects? Furthermore, can you comment on exit opps, b school placement, and how they are perceived by other firms? Would they be a good stepping stone from someone who is a non target UG?
Thanks
I don't actually work at ZS so I can't say for sure what the breakdown of their projects are. I worked in Pharma for 3 summers (at 2 companies) in brand strategy/marketing roles and my team had hired them in the past and I know several colleagues who have done stints there earlier on in their careers.
From what I have seen, ZS is viewed as a top notch firm in the pharma sector (a step below McK and rivals with IMS, LEK would be my guess). I say that ZS would be a great entry point for someone from a non-target since they are one of the few "top" consulting firms to not exclusively recruit from target schools.
As for Bchool placement, they do relatively well and it is definitely a recognizable name to admissions (especially at kellogg, which is where the founders are from).
Life Sciences Strategy - Immersion Opportunity? (Originally Posted: 04/30/2014)
Long time Mol Bio PhD lurker posting, does anybody know what life sciences strategy consulting really means? My high-level understanding is that it's basically using your science as a basis to determine commercial value and, subsequent to that, corporate strategy. Can anybody shed some light?
Also, does anybody know of any immersion opportunities to get a feel for what it is? I've done Bridge to BCG and McKinsey Insights, but I was hoping I could find something similar on the content-intensive side. All I can find so far is Connect to ClearView, from ClearView Healthcare - I'm going to apply to that, as it closes this week, but I assumed others would have similar deadlines. Anything I'm missing? Anyone have any experience with this?
I'm not sure if you mean something highly specific but in general, 'life sciences strategy consulting' is typically just used to refer to consulting work done for pharma, biotech or med devices companies or sometimes for government departments or organisations doing related work.
As such, it can be any type of work that these companies need- from helping with the launch of a new drug, to doing a due diligence on an acquisition target to coming up with a plan for an organisational redesign.
The best way to get a feel for it is to get an internship at a consulting firm and be put on a life sciences study. Good luck!
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