UPDATE: This article was originally posted on April 7, 2021. It has been updated with new information and tips below.
Business schools and the consulting profession have enjoyed a close relationship for many, many years. Top consulting firms use MBA programs to fuel their pipeline of highly skilled associates. Conversely, many professionals seek to break into the lucrative consulting sector by earning their MBA.
So what’s the hype all about?
There’s a reason that consulting firms love MBA graduates. The MBA experience is tailor-made preparation for the consulting profession – you’ll collaborate with colleagues from diverse professional backgrounds on group projects in the classroom, just like you will on consulting engagements.
Additionally, MBAs help you hone critical consulting skills like analysis, collaboration, and communication through case studies, presentations, extracurricular activities, and class discussions.
Using an MBA to catalyze your consulting career is particularly helpful for professionals with non-business backgrounds, like engineers and tech professionals.
Through an MBA, you’ll gain a strong business foundation in topics like operations, sales, finance, and business IT systems, which will benefit you when you’re ultimately touching every area of a business during consulting engagements.
Firms not only recruit MBA students – many offer internships, scholarships, and programs specifically for MBA candidates, like McKinsey’s Early Access Program, BCG’s MBA Fellows, or Deloitte’s Case Competitions.
However, these opportunities are competitive to get into because of the high-interest level among students, and many consulting firms focus on recruiting from top MBA programs. It makes sense: U.S. News & World reports a higher average base salary and faster promotions for MBA grads from top programs.
Thus, it’s very important to select the right MBA program if you have your sights set on a consulting career. Let’s look at some of the business schools that stand out for their consulting expertise.
INSEAD
Source: @inseadalumni on Instagram
In the consulting world, INSEAD is widely regarded as a top school for current and future consultants, and they have the numbers to back it up. An astonishing 45.9% of their current graduating class secured full-time jobs in management consulting, continuing their consulting reign that has gained momentum over the past decade.
Digging into the data more, many of INSEAD’s consulting graduates go to the top firms mentioned above (affectionately known as MBB within the industry). Furthermore, INSEAD is a great choice for career changers, as the majority of their consulting grads transitioned into consulting from another sector.
While the employment data speaks for itself, it’s easy to understand why INSEAD produces so many consultants. MBAs are more highly recruited for consulting jobs at the global level, and with two campuses in Europe and Asia, INSEAD is a hub for globalization. Their curriculum focuses on technology change and innovation strategy, two core tenants of consulting engagements. It also boasts offerings like Digital@INSEAD, a center focused on digital transformations.
Northwestern Kellogg
Source: @kelloggschool on Instagram
For the past 5 years, at least 30% of Kellogg’s graduates have gone into consulting. For the current graduating class, that number sits at a whopping 36.4%!
Interestingly, Kellogg also reports higher average salaries for consultants than our two world leaders, with a median salary of $165,000 for 2022 consulting grads. It certainly is a good program to target if you’d like to live and work in the U.S. since most of their graduates do end up with employment in the U.S.
It’s no surprise that Kellogg finds success placing students into consulting firms, given their curricular focus on experiential learning. Examples of their consulting-centered courses and projects include an analytical consulting lab, an education consulting lab, a marketing consulting lab, and the dean’s consulting alliance. Other initiatives include their extremely vibrant consulting club, the General Motors Research Center for Strategy in Management, and even case competitions hosted by BCG and Deloitte.
Dartmouth Tuck
Source: @tuckschool on Instagram
Another US school known for its consulting preparation is Tuck School of Business. According to the school’s most recent employment statistics, 47% of 2022’s MBA grads went into consulting with a median starting salary of $175,000.
This isn’t a surprise given the MBA program’s focus on developing managers and leaders who are ready for big, complex challenges. Additionally, with plenty of experiential learning opportunities, students are immersed in real-world problems, so their development is fast-tracked. And with a strong consulting club, the school also provides students with great opportunities to network and collaborate with others in the industry.
London Business School
Source: @londonbschool on Instagram
Another prominent player on the global consulting stage is London Business School. Sustaining their recent high numbers, 37% of 2022 graduates went into consulting. It’s also a popular starting place for consultants, with 27% of their incoming students hailing from a consulting background. Most of their consulting grads landed at the MBB firms, with 54 at McKinsey & Company (the top overall employer of LBS grads), 32 at BCG, and 29 at Bain & Company.
Through LBS’s highly customizable curriculum, you can choose courses that round out your generalist or specialized consulting profile. Nearly one-third of students spend one term abroad, helping future consulting candidates gain that global perspective. Finally, LBS boasts both a consulting club and an impact consulting with literally thousands of members.
The University of Michigan – Ross
Source: @michiganross on Instagram
Michigan Ross also has a sterling reputation when it comes to placing its MBA grads at top consulting firms. According to the school’s most recent employment statistics, 42.2% of 2022’s MBA grads went into consulting with a median starting salary of $175,000. Of those, 49 went to McKinsey (making the firm the top employer for Ross’ Class of 2022), 41 went to Bain, and 34 went to BCG.
This isn’t a surprise given the school’s wealth of resources when it comes to consulting. First, the school offers a Data and Business Analytics concentration and numerous consulting courses, like Navigating Change: Skills and Strategies for Consultants and Managers, which give Ross students a strong academic foundation that prepares them for success in consulting later on. Additionally, students interested in consulting can pursue the topic during their MAP project to gain hands-on experience that prepares them for real-world challenges. Finally, Ross offers a number of consulting clubs, including the Community Consulting Club, where students are able to participate in consulting projects that benefit Ann Arbor nonprofits.
IESE
Source: @iesebschool on Instagram
IESE has long been regarded as a top school for current and future consultants, and they have the numbers to back it up. 38% of their current graduating class secured full-time jobs in management consulting, with Bain and McKinsey ranking among the school’s top employers. Even more impressively, IESE grads secured these positions in 22 different countries!
Of course, IESE’s case study approach to teaching already makes it a natural fit for those seeking a career in consulting. Beyond this, however, the school packs a punch when it comes to consulting-focused resources. IESE aims to give its students a general management approach to business education that, according to the IESE website, allows you to gain “deep insight into how the different and complementary functions of a company work together.” Furthermore, students can hone their consulting skills by gaining real-world experience in a global context through IESE’s London and Dubai Career Treks, both of which focus exclusively on consulting. Finally, the school offers a world-class case competition each year and has a strong Consulting Club that allows students to network and prepare to transition into their target industry.
The University of Chicago – Booth School of Business
Photo courtesy of @chicagobooth on Instagram
Chicago Booth has recently made itself into the top consulting MBAs – in 2022, 35.5% of graduates went into consulting. That’s up from 34.4% in 2021. McKinsey hired 61 of Booth’s MBA graduates, while BCG hired 53 and Bain hired another 28.
Not only does Booth have a strong curriculum that prepares students to overcome the biggest problems and challenges in business, but there are also many extracurricular opportunities related to consulting available. For instance, Booths’ Consulting Club prepares students for post-graduate consulting through industry and networking events. Additionally, Booth Social Impact (BSI) Consulting gives students practical experience promoting positive change via consulting by connecting them to nonprofit, social impact organizations in and around Chicago.
Yale School of Management
Source: @yalesom on Instagram
Over the past several years, Yale SOM has really carved out its consulting identity.
According to their Class of 2021 employment report, 46% of graduates gained employment in the consulting industry, while the second-highest sector, investment banking, only took 9.9% of Yale grads. In addition, Yale places students with 30+ diverse consulting firms spanning from the MBB heavyweights like McKinsey to boutique consulting firms. This arguably makes it one of the best MBAs to equip students with complete consulting skills, regardless of employer or firm size.
Yale SOM develops consultants through its integrated curriculum, which gives you the toolkit you’ll leverage in management consulting. Throughout your courses, you’ll encounter multiple perspectives and innovative solutions that drive organizational change. Furthermore, Yale stays up to date on current industry trends by offering a social impact consulting club in addition to an integrated leadership case competition that provides the opportunity to compete with MBA students worldwide.
Duke Fuqua
Source: @dukefuqua on Instagram
Fuqua’s Class of 2022 set a new record when it comes both to median salary and percentage of students offered jobs within 3 months of graduation. One of the main drivers of this increase was a surge in consulting recruitment, with 36% of the class going into the industry. Graduates who listed their post-MBA function (not industry) as consulting also increased by 21% in just one year!
Driving this growth is the wealth of resources Duke Fuqua offers its MBAs who are keen on pursuing consulting as a career post-MBA. From a curriculum standpoint, though the school doesn’t offer a specific Consulting concentration, they do offer a number of more focused concentrations that are perfectly set up to prepare students for consulting careers. These include Strategy, Management, Decision Sciences, and even Energy & Environment.
Additionally, one of the most popular consulting-focused offerings at the school is the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum, which gives students the chance to practice their consulting skills by participating in real engagements with companies and community organizations.
Finally, as one of the largest student organizations on campus, the Duke MBA Consulting Club provides the perfect opportunity for students to prepare for interviews, network, and land consulting jobs at top global firms.
The University of Virginia – Darden
Source: @dardenmba on Instagram
UVA’s Darden School of Business has continuously evolved its consulting identity and offers young professionals great opportunities to break into the industry, with 32% of 2021 graduates entering the consulting industry.
One of the hallmarks of the Darden curriculum is its concentration in strategy consulting, which is designed to deepen your skill set for consulting while immersing you in the consulting process. Darden also uses a case study method throughout their two-year curriculum, challenging you to navigate business scenarios and solve problems that mirror real-world engagements.
Beyond the widely adopted case study method, Darden differentiates itself with its Global Client Projects, where you’ll provide consulting services to real international companies or organizations. Working on small teams, you’ll actually conduct an onsite visit as part of your project.
Get into a Top Consulting MBA
Consulting is an incredibly competitive industry, and the key to breaking in is attending a top-ranked MBA with a strong focus on preparing you for this challenging yet rewarding career. However, with many schools receiving 10,000 applications or more per year, securing a spot at an elite consulting-focused MBA program is a complex, difficult task.
That’s why our team of specialized MBA consultants focuses so much on helping you examine the strengths and weaknesses of your profile and ensure your application shows why you belong in a top-ranked consulting MBA.
That’s the approach we’ve used to help countless MBA applicants from around the world get into top programs and earn post-MBA offers from firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. That’s why we believe it’s no accident that 98.9% of our complete MBA consulting clients get accepted.
Apply to work with us and get accepted into your top choice consulting MBA!
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
