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How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting?

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BonesMBA
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How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting? [#permalink] New post   11 May 2021, 14:50
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I’m attending a T15 this year with the goal of getting an offer at a MBB/T2 consulting firm. I’m not entirely location agnostic but I’m not dead set on NY/SF either.

I’ve heard that pre-MBA WE doesn’t matter that much for consulting, but I can’t find any profiles with anything remotely like mine and it’s a bit concerning.

I will have 5 years of WE at matriculation. The first two years were in an internal consulting/project management role at a BB (GS/MS/JPM) as an analyst. After that I was able to get an offer as a front office private wealth management analyst within the same BB.

This resulted me in remaining an analyst but getting a large pay increase and moving into a front office role. If I wasn’t leaving for school I would get my associate promotion this July.

I’m concerned that when a firm sees 5 years and no title progression (but multiple roles) it might be an immediate red flag. I also don’t know how PWM is viewed for post-MBA recruiting. Could anyone provide any insight on this?

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Re: How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting? [#permalink] New post   11 May 2021, 16:51
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Bummer about the promotion coming through in July.
Interesting question about consulting. What do you think ENGRTOMBA2018? jumsumtak?

One other side depends on you being able to build a relationship with MBB recruiters and whether MBB is on campus at your T15 program. Obviously 2020 sucked for that since nobody was on campus but many top 20 schools have MBB offices where you can schedule coffee chats and they have a chance to observe class performance. That's one way potentially to smooth out a title/role challenge.

P.S. A lot of consulting hiring depends on the interview. I feel they are pretty generous with interviews and a lot depends with you being able to be deemed client-ready or client-worthy.

P.P.S. If you have written consulting in your essays and got recruited to the BSchool, that's a positive because schools do evaluate folks from an employability standpoint.
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Re: How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting? [#permalink] New post   11 May 2021, 17:42
bb wrote:
Bummer about the promotion coming through in July.
Interesting question about consulting. What do you think ENGRTOMBA2018? jumsumtak?

One other side depends on you being able to build a relationship with MBB recruiters and whether MBB is on campus at your T15 program. Obviously 2020 sucked for that since nobody was on campus but many top 20 schools have MBB offices where you can schedule coffee chats and they have a chance to observe class performance. That's one way potentially to smooth out a title/role challenge.

P.S. A lot of consulting hiring depends on the interview. I feel they are pretty generous with interviews and a lot depends with you being able to be deemed client-ready or client-worthy.

P.P.S. If you have written consulting in your essays and got recruited to the BSchool, that's a positive because schools do evaluate folks from an employability standpoint.


Good to hear they focus more on the interviews as if given the chance I can easily explain why the move was more akin to a promotion and how I was able to learn a lot from it (moved to a high growth market, was given direct client work that a normal analyst wouldn't receive due to my prior work experience and strong performance, etc.)

Unfortunately my essays were written for IB, as I was undecided last year and felt that was an easier case to make in them.
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Re: How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting? [#permalink] New post   11 May 2021, 19:10
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BonesMBA wrote:

Good to hear they focus more on the interviews as if given the chance I can easily explain why the move was more akin to a promotion and how I was able to learn a lot from it (moved to a high growth market, was given direct client work that a normal analyst wouldn't receive due to my prior work experience and strong performance, etc.)

Unfortunately my essays were written for IB, as I was undecided last year and felt that was an easier case to make in them.


So, a few things -

1.) Yes, pre-MBA experience does not matter a lot for consulting recruitment. I would say you have a more evolved skillset for consulting than some of the other eccentric profiles I've seen in MBBs (e.g. non profits, sports, govt. etc.). Skill wise - I did internal consulting before, and fit well within the MBBs.

2.) You are not able to find similar profiles because the majority of them would prefer to stay in the IB/fin. services rather than switch to consulting. It is not impossible though - I had a few friends who even interned at IBs, and then eventually joined consulting full time

3.) Networking will be important (as BB said) - try to form relationships with target companies, tell your story, show your skills, display your passion for the job

On your resume bit - I won't be too worried about it. You are in a top 15 program and thus, stand on a firm platform. Evaluate through conversations with your school career team, with said firms etc. to decide whether you want to write a cover letter/over-index on this, or let it pass. Bringing undue attention to it may be more harmful.

Good luck with your program!
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Re: How much does pre-MBA WE matter for Consulting? [#permalink]
11 May 2021, 19:10

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