Consulting is a top choice as a post MBA career goal for most MBA applicants. In this article we have selected 10 MBA programs based on their curriculum as well as placement data that do a great job of placing their students in top management consulting firms. All placement statistics and median salaries are based on 2016 Employment reports available in the school websites.
Read on to find out which 10 schools have made it to the list.
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Which MBA schools should you apply to, if you want to make a career in management consulting? Consulting is one of the most popular professions that MBA graduates pursue – and for good reasons. The profession is among the highest paid, most diverse and offers the opportunity for lots of responsibility and chance to quickly learn about the business world right out of the business school.
Traditional wisdom will tell you that Harvard is for leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies, Wharton for finance, Kellogg for marketing and INSEAD for consulting. There’s truth to some of it. However, as time changes, recruiters preferences also changes. The most intelligent move may be to pick your B-school by focusing on a specific career outcome and getting admit from the one with an excellent record of helping students achieve the same.
To help those who want to pursue a career in management consulting, we have compiled a list of 2017 Top 10 MBA programs for a career in consulting. Read on to see which business school you should go to for your best chance of getting into a career in consulting you had always wanted.
10. MIT Sloan School of Management 2016 Class Size: 410
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 100 (24%)
Median base salary: US$ 144,000
Sloan offers one 21-month program which starts each year at the end of August. The academic year is broken down into four semesters. All Sloan students must take a predetermined course load for the first semester. They are then free to take the courses they choose during the next three semesters. Sloan is well known for its “Action Learning Labs” which provides students hands-on experience by teaming up with 5-6 students who take on actual consulting assignment for a real business problem faced by a company.
As is the case for most top ranked MBA schools, companies fight to recruit on campus. The simple fact of being at Sloan will systematically open doors for interviews. Last year was no exception, with McKinsey being the biggest recruiter on campus, hiring 26 graduates. Bain was next, hiring 17, followed by BCG (14), Deloitte (6), and L.E.K Consulting (6).
9. Duke – The Fuqua School of Business 2016 class size: 445
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 115 (26%)
Median base salary: US$ 140,000
Duke’s Fuqua School of Business is generally a young business school as compared with other business schools on our list. With 445 students, the school has been able to attract successful applicants and top quality faculty. It has led them to become one of the top MBA schools in the world (ranked No. 3 behind Harvard and Stanford in Business Week
The Class of 2016 landed 24 graduates at Deloitte, 12 at Mckinsey, 13 at BCG, and 9 at Bain. Fuqua’s Class of 2017 was just as impressive, garnering 18 internships at Mckinsey, 16 at BCG, 15 at Deloitte, and 10 at Bain.
8. Michigan - Ross School of Business 2016 class size: 448
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 120 (27%)
Median base salary: US$ 144,000
This may come as a surprise to you: with nearly 450 students, Ross Class of 2016 placed 120 of its students in management consulting with a vast majority of those going to PWC (24), Mckinsey(14), BCG (14), Deloitte (14) and Bain (8). The median starting base salary for a Ross graduate entering consulting industry was $144,000
The key highlight of Ross School of Business is the Multi-Disciplinary Action Program (MAP) in which student team of 5 -6 members work with companies in the U.S and abroad to complete a significant consulting assignment. The MAP is short-term student-led consulting engagement which prepares students for a career in consulting.
7. Kellogg School of Management 2016 class size: 470
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 125 (27%)
Median base salary: US$ 145,000
Kellogg continues to be one of the major business schools for General Management. It remains also the world reference in marketing. These favorable reputations, along with an excellent academic and professional reputation, have allowed Kellogg to improve its selectivity, to recruit world-famous professors and increase its international standing.
Top hirers for the Kellogg’s Class of 2016 include the most prestigious consulting firms around, with McKinsey taking 43, BCG hiring 25, Bain& Company recruiting 24 and Deloitte taking 21 Kellogg graduates
6. London Business School 2016 class size: 410
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 140 (34%)
Median base salary: US$ 145,000
With only 410 students each year in the MBA program, LBS is relatively a small school as compared to other top ranked B-Schools. However, it helps you to know your peers better, and access to professor is much better. LBS’s MBA is spread over 15 to 21 months, which is ideal for those who want to tailor their curriculum to support their career path.
For the Class of 2016, 34% of LBS’ graduating took jobs in the consulting sector, mostly in strategy consulting. Most of these jobs were with the Mckinsey, BCG and Bain consulting firms. In fact, The Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and were the top two employers overall, hiring 34 and 33 graduates respectively. Bain also figured into the top three by hiring 15 LBS MBAs last year.
5. Chicago – Booth School of Business 2016 class size: 585
Number (%) of graduates in consulting: 145 (25%)
Median base salary: US$ 145,000
Chicago Booth sets itself apart by having total flexibility in its curriculum. With only one required course, students can design their program to meet their career goals. It places equal emphasis on case studies, lectures and experiential learning (courses lasting one or two terms where students form a team to solve a specific problem of a real company).
Booth graduated 585 full-time students in 2016, and out of that total, 145 entered the consulting industry. 35 of these graduates accepted offers from McKinsey, 23 from BCG, 15 from Bain, 13 from Accenture, and 10 from PwC Strategy&/PwC Advisory. In addition, 9 graduates went to Deloitte, and 5 landed positions at A.T. Kearney.
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