Bain Houston vs. Monitor NYC

Got FT offers from Monitor Group NY and Bain Houston. Factors to consider:
*I'm from NY and would rather be in NY to be with friends and, uh, be in NY.
*I want to do organizational leadership, and heard Monitor does this more than Bain.
*More interested in industries covered by Monitor NY than Bain Houston (oil).
*I speak Arabic, and heard Monitor is sending a lot of people to Middle East from NY. Didn't get a good answer from Bain about working in the MIddle East.
*Know more people at Bain than Monitor, but both seem like good fit.

So, in the end, there are a few reasons why I like Monitor, but I also have to consider brand. How important is that? I'd like to move to industry after a 3-5 yrs in consulting.

 

Monitor is a great firm. It sounds like you'd be happier in NY, and when people are happier, then tend to perform better, which will help you in promotions, etc. I say stick to NY with Monitor. Nobody wants to live in in Texas except self-righteous Texans, who are only tolerable by other Texans.

انت من اصول عربية او درست اللغة العربية بالجامعة؟ انا ساكن بالشرق الاوسط الان. شو رايك: سنتكلم العربية كثير بالشغل او لا؟ اعتقد ان اللغة الاقتصاد هي الانغليزي بس زبائن من اصول عربية سيكونوا سعداء لو المستاشرون يحكوا العربية. انا اتمنى ان لانني اتكلم العربية ساكون طالب وظيفة ممتاز. على أي حال فرصة سعيدة.

 
rinairy:
Monitor is a great firm. It sounds like you'd be happier in NY, and when people are happier, then tend to perform better, which will help you in promotions, etc. I say stick to NY with Monitor. Nobody wants to live in in Texas except self-righteous Texans, who are only tolerable by other Texans.

انت من اصول عربية او درست اللغة العربية بالجامعة؟ انا ساكن بالشرق الاوسط الان. شو رايك: سنتكلم العربية كثير بالشغل او لا؟ اعتقد ان اللغة الاقتصاد هي الانغليزي بس زبائن من اصول عربية سيكونوا سعداء لو المستاشرون يحكوا العربية. انا اتمنى ان لانني اتكلم العربية ساكون طالب وظيفة ممتاز. على أي حال فرصة سعيدة.

we feel the same way about people from the north

 
monty09:
rinairy:
Monitor is a great firm. It sounds like you'd be happier in NY, and when people are happier, then tend to perform better, which will help you in promotions, etc. I say stick to NY with Monitor. Nobody wants to live in in Texas except self-righteous Texans, who are only tolerable by other Texans.

انت من اصول عربية او درست اللغة العربية بالجامعة؟ انا ساكن بالشرق الاوسط الان. شو رايك: سنتكلم العربية كثير بالشغل او لا؟ اعتقد ان اللغة الاقتصاد هي الانغليزي بس زبائن من اصول عربية سيكونوا سعداء لو المستاشرون يحكوا العربية. انا اتمنى ان لانني اتكلم العربية ساكون طالب وظيفة ممتاز. على أي حال فرصة سعيدة.

we feel the same way about people from the north

absolutely

 
monty09:
we feel the same way about people from the north

Don't get me wrong! I love Texans. I dated one for three years. They are great people. In isolation. When they get together and stomp around in their boots and sing their country songs and complain about how BBQ is never the same outside of Texas, I slip back into my midwestern accent in retaliation, but I'm vanquished. Always. Don't fuck with Texas.

So, to the original poster: Figure out what's most important to you. Personally, location is very important to me.

 
Best Response
rinairy:
Monitor is a great firm. It sounds like you'd be happier in NY, and when people are happier, then tend to perform better, which will help you in promotions, etc. I say stick to NY with Monitor. Nobody wants to live in in Texas except self-righteous Texans, who are only tolerable by other Texans.

انت من اصول عربية او درست اللغة العربية بالجامعة؟ انا ساكن بالشرق الاوسط الان. شو رايك: سنتكلم العربية كثير بالشغل او لا؟ اعتقد ان اللغة الاقتصاد هي الانغليزي بس زبائن من اصول عربية سيكونوا سعداء لو المستاشرون يحكوا العربية. انا اتمنى ان لانني اتكلم العربية ساكون طالب وظيفة ممتاز. على أي حال فرصة سعيدة.

or you can at least compute lower taxes + lower cost of living + better weather - some quality of life = houston over nyc

 

what was the process like for bain houston? i heard they just opened this office up and am curious to hear about it. I'm interviewing for another location soon.

 

personally, i'm going to have to echo what shorttheworld said about the cost of living. adjusted for cost-of-living, the relative value of $70,000 (adjust if yours is higher or lower) in houston is $78,650 and in manhattan is $33,381. that's a massive difference. houston also has no state income tax.

i'm from Shreveport, LA, which has a similar cost of living to houston. if you're single and without children, $70,000 will buy you a fairly nice lifestyle (for instance, the fairly large 2 bedroom apartment we used to have was about $750 a month; in manhattan, i imagine that same apartment would have been more like $3000). in manhattan, the median income is about $100,000, so you'll be lower-middle class at $70,000.

so whether you'd like to spend your money buying a better lifestyle or if you'd rather save your money for business school or invest it, that income differential makes a big difference.

also, houston is a huge city. pretty much anything you would want to do in nyc you can do in houston (except for the tourist stuff that most nyc natives don't really go to anyway). the main differences are that houston is very much a driving city, which changes the dynamic in a way that some people like, some people don't like--it's a lot more horizontal than nyc, which is very vertical; and houston is hotter. the girls are also much hotter in houston than in nyc--people talk a lot about the models in nyc, but they're a very small cross-section.

 

that being said, if you're looking for us to tell you it's okay to choose monitor nyc even though it's a lesser brand name, i would go with nyc. like rinairy said, if you're happy and enjoy where you live and enjoy your work, you'll do better anyway.

so if it's a strictly logical decision, i'd say houston wins. and i think you'd like houston a lot more than you think. but if you have emotional ties to nyc and you genuinely like nyc better, i'd go with that.

 
monty09:
as i have said before about houston v nyc

ibintx wrote: Yeah, it's definitely cheaper living. Unfortunately it's still Houston, with its infamous heat, humidity and traffic.

monty09 wrote: thats easy to fix... I wipe the sweat off my forehead with $100 bills while waiting in traffic in my new BMW.

classic!

 

as far as the heat goes, i'm actually a lot hotter in the fall and spring in new jersey (princeton) than i am in the summer in louisiana.

the reason is that in louisiana (and in houston too), everywhere you go is air-conditioned: your house, your car, your work, the grocery store, etc. whereas in the northeast, even though the temperature and humidity are lower, people walk outside a lot more and a lot of places don't have air-conditioning (and have bad ventilation to boot). so even though the heat isn't as bad in the north, people are exposed to it a lot more, so it feels a lot more miserable.

 

I'd go with Bain. The name is decidedly better. I can imagine you'd be working with energy companies mostly down there, and your experience will be directly applicable to whatever it is that you want to do in the Middle East later on. Also, if you don't like Texas, you can try to transfer to Bain's office in NY in a year. It's a win-win.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I'm not as concerned with the location cost of living (I already know a relatively cheap place I could live in NY).

More on the reputation, is it worth to go to Bain for brand and more people to network with (just b/c it's bigger), even if I like some parts of the work at Monitor better?

 

If you like cul-de-sacs and 20 lane freeways (for absolutely no reason, because after all, where the hell do you have to get to exactly?) and gigantic on and off ramps and endless sprawl with no sense of place and zero cultural outlets whatsoever, and also you enjoy dining at Applebee's, then Texas is the place for you.

^slight exaggeration, although not by much.

 
jhoratio:
If you like cul-de-sacs and 20 lane freeways (for absolutely no reason, because after all, where the hell do you have to get to exactly?) and gigantic on and off ramps and endless sprawl with no sense of place and zero cultural outlets whatsoever, and also you enjoy dining at Applebee's, then Texas is the place for you.

^slight exaggeration, although not by much.

Houston has some of the best dining establishments in the country. You think we are a very obese state for nothing?

 
Brian Fantana:
What about the culture among professionals in Houston? Is the stereotype of the many racist/homophobic/ultra-conservative remotely true/prevalent in Houston? (I've never been to Texas or the southern states other than Florida for vacation)

Don't mean to hijack but I was seriously wondering this.

Are you gay or something?

But really, Houston is very diverse. If you want the hippie crowd, Montrose is your place. I wouldn't say racism is any different than any other large city.

 
Brian Fantana:
What about the culture among professionals in Houston? Is the stereotype of the many racist/homophobic/ultra-conservative remotely true/prevalent in Houston? (I've never been to Texas or the southern states other than Florida for vacation)

Don't mean to hijack but I was seriously wondering this.

You'll be working in a professional environment with college educated individuals, not shrimp boating with hicks from a Hollywood movie. My office is predominantly A&M and UT grads and with rare exception, you would not be able to tell that any of them are Texan unless they told you. They do not have accents. (for reference, I'm from the Northeast) Also, half of Houston speaks English as a second language anyway.

Also on the heat thing- unless you plan on working outside it is irrelevant. Unlike Philly, NYC, or Boston; Houston doesn't fuck around when it comes to air conditioning. (Everything has AC)

I'm moving away from Houston for job-related reasons in a few months, but I enjoyed my time here. If you can't enjoy this city then you probably shouldn't be living in any large city.

 
FunkMonkey:
Brian Fantana:
What about the culture among professionals in Houston? Is the stereotype of the many racist/homophobic/ultra-conservative remotely true/prevalent in Houston? (I've never been to Texas or the southern states other than Florida for vacation)

Don't mean to hijack but I was seriously wondering this.

Also on the heat thing- unless you plan on working outside it is irrelevant. Unlike Philly, NYC, or Boston; Houston doesn't fuck around when it comes to air conditioning. (Everything has AC)

Agree i have family that lives in Houston i felt that it was oppressively hot but you would only notice that when you walked from any building to your car everything has A/C and its always on and working.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

Bain Houston is a brand new office, just launched within the last year or two. Definitely ask questions about client portfolio and 2-3 year plan for that office before making a decision. Why did you pref Houston if you didn't want to live there btw? Did they just give you a Houston offer because they liked you but not enough to give you an NYC offer?

As for going to the Middle East from Bain, they strongly discourage hiring American citizens to go work in their foreign offices right out of undergrad, as you likely discovered. They do provide an opportunity to do a 6-month transfer to an international office, so that would be a good way to check out Bain Dubai.

You will not be able to swing a complete transfer to Dubai during the first 3 years out of ugrad without strong performance and a good personal reason (e.g. my fiance just got a job in Dubai). I want to live in Dubai doesn't count; they make offers for certain offices based on the number of case teams they expect to field over the next 2-3 years FROM THAT OFFICE. It is even less likely that you would swing a transfer from Houston, since it is small and losing one of their ACs has a bigger impact on their ability to serve teams.

 
seyogu2675:
Got FT offers from Monitor Group NY and Bain Houston. Factors to consider: *I'm from NY and would rather be in NY to be with friends and, uh, be in NY. *I want to do organizational leadership, and heard Monitor does this more than Bain. *More interested in industries covered by Monitor NY than Bain Houston (oil). *I speak Arabic, and heard Monitor is sending a lot of people to Middle East from NY. Didn't get a good answer from Bain about working in the MIddle East. *Know more people at Bain than Monitor, but both seem like good fit.

So, in the end, there are a few reasons why I like Monitor, but I also have to consider brand. How important is that? I'd like to move to industry after a 3-5 yrs in consulting.

Hi. I work in the Bain Houston office and we haven't given out any offers yet. go eat vegetables

 

Bain is 2nd tier in Houston (a fired Booz partner is starting their office) and in the Middle East (Booz is #1 there, BCG is #2, and then there's "the rest"). Go with Monitor in NY and have fun. Their rep in the Middle East is equal to Bain's so you have nothing to lose when you xfer.

 

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