I see on Vault that they are no. 5 in overall prestige - no. 1 in compensation and no. 3 in financial services (which is where they really should be compared). Vault ranks McK as no. 1 in financial services. My sources tell me that while McK is very strong in US - they do not have much of a FS presence in Europe. It is BCG and OW, with OW having an edge. Any comments on how clients perceive / how other consulting firms perceive (those that know) and how MBA candidates perceive OW?

Tony... what do your sourcs say?

OW are very strong (especially on pay, especially at early stages in your career). As to Mck having no presence in Europe, who are your sources? FS is one of the 2-3 biggest sectors in the UK for McKinsey.

I had two friends join OW from university. They both started on amazing salaries (more than I'm on now, 5 years later).One of them got sent to NY for 6 months and hated it. The other one had to go to Singapore or somewhere I think for 6 months and had to quit before she cracked under the pressure of it all.So - I think the summary is, if you can hack it, go for it because there's big bucks to be made. Although why anyone would want to be a consultant to banks earning a consultant's salary when they could work for the bank itself and earn a banker's salary is beyond me.

Why consulting and not banking is a relevant quesiton only at grad / MBA school level. Its too late (or too ealy) fo rme to ponder over career paths. I am a consultant.I hear both of you say that money is amazing in OW. Curious to hear that. My offer, while being fair is nothing great compared to my present job, which is also in cosulting. But then, that may just be me - and my inability to negotiate. I probably just allowd myself to be bullied into accepting a below par offer.Anyway, I have decided to accept the offer - I hear they do good quality work, are rich in content (as opposed to fluff and bullshit), analytically rigorous, offer faster career tracks and provide strong work life balance. From this forum - I was trying to get a sense of their reputation in the market and exit options - specifically within the PE / VC world. Anyone?

I spoke to someone in BCG in US, and someone in a boutique firm - again in the US. May be that explains...A quick look at the Mck FS website - makes it look very US heavy. Is is mis-representation?

Probably just written by Americans. Lots of the McKinsey corporate stuff is (e.g., McK Quarterly has quite a US slant despite McK itself having less than half of its consultants in NA).