In Consulting, Which B-School Is No. 1?
Which business school is number one in sending MBAs into the consulting industry? Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, according to a new survey of more than 4,500 consultants by Vault.com. Harvard Business School, whose case study teaching method was made for consulting, is second. Chicago, Wharton, and Michigan round out the top five, says Vault.
But is Kellogg really number one? Probably not. It’s far more likely that Harvard would have gotten the nod if prestigious McKinsey & Co. had participated in the survey. McKinsey has been one of Harvard’s top three employers for decades and also recruits more MBAs from top business schools than any other firm. Yet, Vault concedes that only 20 McKinsey consultants answered their survey through LinkedIn.
Among the Class of 2009, for example, McKinsey hired 50 MBAs from Wharton, 46 from Columbia, 26 from Kellogg, 23 from Chicago, 21 from London, 15 from Berkeley, and 10 from Michigan. Though Harvard does not report these statistics, it is estimated that McKinsey hired as many as 100 Harvard MBAs alone in 2009. So the consulting giant’s absence from the Vault survey raises significant credibility issues with the results. Concedes Carolyn Wise, Vault’s senior education editor: “McKinsey is a feeder of students for Harvard and a very strong employer of Harvard MBAs.”
In contrast, Boston Consulting Group hired 31 MBAs from Wharton’s Class of 2009, 23 from Kellogg, 21 from Columbia, 10 from London, nine from Chicago, five from Michigan, and four from Berkeley. Bain, another prestige strategic consulting firm, carted away 20 Columbia MBAs, 19 from Kellogg, 18 from Wharton, 16 from Chicago, 10 from Michigan, and six from London.
Vault also crunched its numbers by major cities and regions of the U.S. In Silicon Valley, for example, Stanford was number one, followed by Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, MIT’s Sloan School and then, surprisingly, by Michigan’s Ross School of Business. In the southwest, Emory’s Goizueta School of Business tied with Harvard for having the most MBAs employed in consulting. “Emory is extremely strong in Atlanta and Charlotte,” says Wise. “It really dominates which is something you may know, but it is astounding that they are not a more prominent, national school. That is true for both the business and the law schools.”
The most significant conclusion? Wise says it’s the fact that the top 10 schools produce the lion’s share of consultants. “It was a ski slope-style curve,” she adds. “After the top 10 to 14 schools, it really dropped off. The biggest takeaway for me is the rush toward the most elite business schools. Degrees from lower-tiered MBA programs do not have the value they used to. If you want a job at a top consulting firm, you need to focus on the most elite school you can get into.”
One thing to keep in mind while looking at these lists: Vault did not adjust for the size of the MBA program, even though its ranking is merely derived from the total number of MBAs in consulting from each school. So Dartmouth, MIT, and Stanford, whose annual output of elite MBAs is on the lower side, does not do as well as the larger schools, such as Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, and Columbia.
.
| Vault’s Top Ten Schools for Consulting |
| 1. Northwestern (Kellogg) |
| 2. Harvard Business School |
| 3. Chicago (Booth) |
| 4. Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
| 5. Michigan (Ross) |
| 6. Columbia |
| 7. Duke (Fuqua) |
| 8. MIT (Sloan) |
| 9. Stanford |
| 10. New York University (Stern) |
.
| Vault’s Top B-Schools for Consulting in New York |
| 1. Harvard Business School |
| 2. Columbia |
| 3. New York University (Stern) |
| 4. Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
| 5. Northwestern University (Kellogg) |
.
| Vault’s Top B-Schools for Consulting in Boston |
| 1. Harvard Business School |
| 2. MIT (Sloan) |
| 3. Dartmouth College (Tuck) |
| 4. Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
| 5. Chicago (Booth) |
.
| Vault’s Top B-Schools for Consulting in Atlanta |
| 1. Emory (Goizueta) |
| 2. Harvard Business School |
| 3. Duke University (Fuqua) |
| 4. Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
| 5. UNC (Kenan-Flagler), Virginia (Darden) |
.
| Vault’s Top B-Schools for Consulting in Washington, D.C. |
| 1. Virginia (Darden) |
| 2. Pennsylvania (Wharton) |
| 3. Northwestern (Kellogg) |
| 4. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) |
| 4. Georgetown (McDonough) |
| 4. Harvard Business School |
.
.
12
Leave a Reply
Thank you..really informative!!
This is quite interesting.. and insightful. Also thanks for mentioning the fact regd McKinsey low particiaption.
This is an awful study. If you want to get into consulting you go to Stanford. It is the only school where EVERYONE can interview with McKinsey, Bain and BCG. There’s also much less competition for the jobs because so many people in the small class simply don’t want to do consulting.
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
John, Does this include Kellogg’s EMBA program? I have been told that I may be able to apply to both the full-time or EMBA side. The EMBA would be a lot easier for me financially, but my primary goal is to transition from the military. Kellog’s Miami program would be an incredible opportunity given the location ( I would be working there and would like to base my civilian career in the area work post-military). But I also understand schools do not want you to use the EMBA program as a career transition tool.
I’d be very interested to get your thoughts on this. Thank you.
If you want to use the MBA to move out of a position and transition into consulting I wouldn’t recommend the EMBA. The reason: the major consulting firms aren’t recruiting from those programs. So you would either have to already be in consulting, or have some sort of inside track, to use the EMBA for that purpose. I know it’s tempting to go the EMBA route, because it’s easier on your life. But there is no replacement for the incredible experience that a two-year, full-time program brings, despite the huge costs. Good luck.
John, thanks for the quick response. I appreciate the advice.
John, what are the good non-US schools for getting into Consulting?
To add to Sujay’s query. Do consulting firms in the US hire from an Insead or an IE?
Yes, they certainly do. But you need to check the employment reports of the schools you’re interested in to make sure. For example, at IE Business School, 23% of the Class of 2008 (the last year IE posted an employment report on its website) went into consulting. There’s an impressive list of consultancies which recruit at IE, including Accenture, Booz & Co., Ernst & Young, etc. But the very top-tier consulting outfits, such as McKinsey & Co., Bain, and Boston Consulting Group, are not listed in IE’s employment report.
I agree with Sujay and would like to suggest that there should be a list of top European schools in consulting. Or, is it just because those top consulting firms do not mainly hire European school graduates?
Kellogg? No way!