can i get a consulting job with an mba?
Career with an MBA
Posted by shavam on 12/23/12 5:10pm
Sir, I want to go for a career in consulting. I have 1 year of experience in it business and some internships in family business. My grades are top tier in my home country and my gmat is 710. Will an mba help me get into consulting firms in europe? Please help.
Posted by Thomas Graf on 12/23/12 5:22pm
Hi there,
thank you for your message. In general, consulting and investment banking are the two most favorite business fields for MBA graduates. If you look on the statistics of MBA programs, however, there are differences between schools - at some schools most graduates may end up in consulting or investment banking while in other schools most graduates will do something else.
If you look at the career statistics of INSEAD, for instance, you can see that 39 percent go into consulting after graduation - the largest group.
In contrast, if you look at the yearly Career Report from Rotterdam School of Management you see that the majority of 24 percent went into Finance/Accounting.
If your goal is consulting, hence, I would apply for programs where many graduates actually find a job in that area afterwards. This means, basically, the the school has good connections to consulting firms and that the school has a good reputation in that area.
If you want to get a job in top consulting firms such as McKinsey or BCG, you should keep in mind that these firms only recruit at some schools. Make sure that you pick the right school for this - by askign the school whether your favorite firm recruits on campus or by asking the firm's HR department if they recruit from the respective school.
By the way: If you only have one year of work experience so far you could also go for a Master in Management (MIM). Please have a look at our article "differences between MBA and Master in Management (MIM)".
Best wishes
ThomasBy Thomas Graf
Owner MBA Compass
Author of the MBA&MIM eBook
