Rhyme's Guide to Management Consulting Recruiting

Superb +1 to rhyme.

Also here is the link to the updated Insead document that someone else put in a post:
https://www.insead.edu/mba/clubs/consult ... 11_11J.pdf

Rhyme,

This is a great post for those who are interested in getting into MC. I think the main point I got from this post was to pursue what you're really interested in, not just because your friends say X and Y are such great places to work at.

rhyme, every post you make is awesome. I wish you the best in everything and I hope to have the chance to use this some day.

Rhyme,

I don't come from a consulting background, but I want to pursue an internship and hopefully FT MC position post-grad.

I'm a bit worried about the case interview because I've obviously never done these before. I've asked several MBAs how to best prepare for these (i.e. what to read, how to practice, etc.), and their response is usually to wait until classes start because my school will provide me with the best resources available...such as MC clubs, peers with experience in the industry, and the career resource center.

However, if school begins in August/September, is there really enough time to master the case method in just the couple months that lead up to internship recruiting? I mean, consulting recruiting begins in late fall/early winter, right?

Should I be prepping for the case method prior to school starting? And if so, do you have any recommendations? I've read quite a bit online, as well as "Case In Point," but I feel so incredibly far from knowing what to do.

Thanks--MDF

Case in Point is a good start, although everyone uses it, so its not such a secret. Send me your email and I will inundate you with hundreds of sample cases. Unfortunately, its difficult to practice on your own (how do you know when to look at the next page?)... In general, I agree with your friends, you absolutely can prepare with just the time you have at school. 90% of people do.... I wouldnt ruin my summer over this. If your options are 12 weeks of drug-crazy parties on some beach in Thailand or sitting in a basement reading about pricing strategies, go to Thailand. Also, keep in mind that there's a huge element of dumb luck that you just cant control. There are people I know who prepared HUNDREDS of cases and got no offers - and others who didn't prepare at ALL and ended up with multiple ones. It is a bit of luck here - some cases you just "get", others you don't. I seem to remember a case in the case in point book that revolved around marmalade, and the answer to the case was something really random and esoteric like the marmalade was stored in a truck that wasn't cooled or something and that caused the quality of the marmalade to go down during shipments. I dont remember if thats exactly it, but it was something like that. Cases like that one require you to get a little lucky and stumble in the right direction, and sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't. The frameworks help you get there, but unless you start asking questions about the delivery process you aren't likely to ever uncover this tidbit. Point is, no amount of prep is going to change that.

If you still feel compelled to do a little something:

1) Read case and point, and memorize your frameworks. You can do this before grad school and it will help..For instance, if I said "I own a tire manufacturing company. We've been losing money. Why?" what framework would you use? How detailed is your framework - did you forget pieces? Are you considering the right factors and can think of the next questions to ask? Try to make the frameworks your own rather than just memorizing exactly what case in point has (its easier to remember them then)

2) If you can, find a friend in your city who you can prepare with. Give each other cases.

3) If you really want to go bold, reach out to the firms now and see if you can get yourself a pre-MBA internship. Its possible. At worst, you get an interview but don't make it, which is good practice, and unless you are completely awful, they'll be happy to interview you again for the proper internship because you are already on their radar.

Now does this imply that getting into the big 3 is really tough for someone who is at, say, Anderson or Yale or Johnson??

Take a look at those schools' employment reports or the following two articles:

2011 Full time consulting hires: https://poetsandquants.com/2011/11/16/mc ... ke-haas/2/
2011 Internship consulting hires: https://poetsandquants.com/2011/11/28/fi ... a-interns/

Any idea whether 700 GMAT is really a cut line for consulting?

I got in to Darden R1 and have a 680. Throughout the application process I indicated that MC was where I wanted to go. Does the GMAT matter that much? I have--similiar to everyone else--a story about a friend that got a McK job with a 690. He's currently a second year at Johnson. So does GMAT matter less at schools that have slightly lower GMAT scores?

You may have seen this already but a first hand account at a recruiting event:
gmat-score-use-in-employment-21669.html#p842201

Average GMAT scores at some schools have risen 10, 20+, points in the past few years and recruiting may get tougher. Intern decisions for summer 2012 are probably out soon? Hopefully a current student can answer.

awesome post, rhyme---thanks for sharing

well done man !!!

I've heard that MBB compensation is pretty much the same at all schools. Does the same apply to non-MBB? Will a Deloitte offer to a student at Wharton be the same as someone at Duke and someone at a Tepper or Georgetown McDonough? Or is there a salary decline as the school rank drops?
Do the projects/focus areas/roles change a for graduates of certain schools (ie will the Wharton grad have higher visibility projects over the Tepper/McDonough guy?)?

Whoa!!! Referring this as a post is criminal. It's a Bible for MC.
Can't thank you more for this. Rise n Shine

how important is b-school GPA in recruiting? I know MBB uses it to weed out a lot of applicants, but what about: DT/EY/PwC/Accenture? Is there a cutoff?

How do you get latest news from the industry (Management Consulting).

Your best bet is to set up Google news alerts. At least the big 3, and probably the others too, regularly release new reports on work they are doing - in part to show "new knowledge", and in part to attract clients. Beware though - news alerts will also give you a lot of false hits - showing some ex MBB getting promo'd into an exec or board position

There are also websites out there that pair up people looking to practice Cases - so you can google for these and practice there if you like.