Top 5 MBA programs for Consulting
Consulting is a consistently popular industry for MBA grads, and as a result competition can be fierce as many highly qualified individuals aim for the same positions. This dynamic is also seen across top MBA programs for consulting. We combed through our 250,000+ data points to discover the best MBA programs, and the competition was close. Choosing the right program is a highly personal and intricate process, but below you’ll find our top 5 MBA programs for consulting.
Dartmouth University – Tuck
Composite Score: 100
U.S. News Rank: #8
Cost, 2 Years: $128,400
Total Compensation: $200,527
Average Starting Salary: $144,045
Average Hours/Week: 74
Equivalent Hourly Salary: $38
Average Travel Percent: 63%
Average Satisfaction: 8.1/10
Percent of Grads Entering Consulting: 34%
Top Employers: A.T. Kearney, L.E.K Consulting, Strategy&
All of the programs on our list send more students into consulting than average, and Dartmouth features the second highest percentage on the list. In addition to this special connection to the consulting industry, Dartmouth grads report satisfaction scores that are well above average for the industry. Tuck students can also get a head start in their career by participating in Tuck’s OnSite Global Consulting, which gives teams of students the opportunity to consult firms from around the world.
Columbia University
Composite Score: 100
U.S. News Rank: #10
Cost, 2 Years: $131,976
Total Compensation: $190,296
Average Starting Salary: $142,935
Average Hours/Week: 70
Equivalent Hourly Salary: $40
Average Travel Percent: 56%
Average Satisfaction: 7.2/10
Percent of Grads Entering Consulting: 35%
Top Employers: McKinsey & Company, Strategy&, Boston Consulting Group
At 35%, Columbia ties for sending the highest percentage of grads into consulting on our list. Average compensation packages for new Columbia grads are slightly below average, and their work weeks are longer too. However that doesn’t seem to phase them much, because satisfaction scores are still above average. MBA students at Columbia interested in consulting also have no shortage of additional opportunities, projects, and electives to pursue.
University of Michigan – Ross
Composite Score: 99
U.S. News Rank: #12
Cost, 2 Years: $123,380
Total Compensation: $186,280
Average Starting Salary: $135,575
Average Hours/Week: 50
Equivalent Hourly Salary: $52
Average Travel Percent: 40%
Average Satisfaction: 7.7/10
Percent of Grads Entering Consulting: 32%
Top Employers: Deloitte, McKinsey & Company, Strategy&
Consulting is a popular career choice for MBA grads out of Michigan, capturing 32% of Ross’ graduating class. Once in their careers these grads report compensation packages that are slightly below average, but have a better work-life balance than most other consultants. Additionally, satisfaction scores are above average. In addition to joining the Consulting Club, Ross students can participate in the MAP program and spend seven weeks fully immersed in a consulting project with a real company.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Sloan
Composite Score: 99
U.S. News Rank: #5
Cost, 2 Years: $130,892
Total Compensation: $214,050
Average Starting Salary: $145,636
Average Hours/Week: 58
Equivalent Hourly Salary: $48
Average Travel Percent: 36%
Average Satisfaction: 7.3/10
Percent of Grads Entering Consulting: 32%
Top Employers: McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Accenture, L.E.K. Consulting
MIT sends more students into consulting than most programs, and Sloan grads report travel percentages that are well below average. MBA grads out of this program also report starting compensation packages that are above the industry average. Sloan MBAs can also get a leg up on the competition by joining the Management Consulting Club and participating in interview prep, peer coaching, and access to an exclusive Sloan Casebook.
Northwestern University – Kellogg
Composite Score: 98
U.S. News Rank: #5
Cost, 2 Years: $128,118
Total Compensation: $193,281
Average Starting Salary: $141,800
Average Hours/Week: 59
Equivalent Hourly Salary: $46
Average Travel Percent: 64%
Average Satisfaction: 5.4/10
Percent of Grads Entering Consulting: 35%
Top Employers: Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, Bain & Company
Kellogg grads starting out in consulting report compensation packages that are only a bit above average, and work-life balance that are slightly below what other consultants might expect. However, Northwestern ties Columbia for the most grads landing jobs in consulting. So although postgrad satisfaction is a little below average, MBAs enrolled at Kellogg are sure to enjoy well established connections to the consulting industry. To really get in touch with the consulting community and opportunities at Kellogg, students can join the Consulting Club.
Other top scoring programs for consulting:
Duke University – Fuqua (97)
New York University – Stern (96)
Carnegie Mellon – Tepper (95)
Yale University (94)
University of Southern California – Marshall (94)
Notes on this analysis:
Industry is defined at the company level, so conglomerates operating in multiple industries will be categorized by their primary driver of revenue.
All data points are reported by MBA students and alumni for their first full-time job post-MBA.
Certain programs were excluded based on low sample size or incomplete data, including:
INSEAD, University of Maryland (Smith), Michigan State (Broad), Washington University Olin, Emory Goizueta
Programs included in the analysis:
Boston University (Questrom), Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper), Columbia Business School, Cornell University (Johnson), Dartmouth University (Tuck), Duke University (Fuqua), Georgetown University (McDonough), Harvard Business School, Indiana University (Kelley), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan), New York University (Stern), Northwestern University (Kellogg), Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of California – Berkeley (Haas), University of Chicago (Booth), University of Michigan (Ross), University of Minnesota (Carlson), University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler), University of Notre Dame (Mendoza), University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), University of Southern California (Marshall), University of Texas (McCombs), University of Virginia (Darden), Vanderbilt University (Owen), Yale School of Management
A note on methodology:
These companies have been ranked on data from MBAs in areas such as compensation, average hours per week, and satisfaction. All data points are from MBA-related data, i.e. internships or full-time jobs obtained during or as a result of pursuing an MBA. We indexed the following metrics versus our all-company averages, with even weight distribution:
- Total compensation potential: includes salary, performance bonus potential, signing bonus, stock compensation, and miscellaneous compensation.
- Hourly wage equivalent: blended metric to capture base salary divided by hours worked per week on average for each company.
- Overall satisfaction: a user-reported metric based “overall happiness” with a particular job. The average across all data points hovers around 6.5/10.
- Percent of graduates entering the consulting industry: the number of students entering jobs with consulting firms for each program was compared to an all-program average.
Once indexed and compiled into a composite index, we scored on a 100-point scale. Programs with few data points were excluded from this analysis.
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