Background: BA (Hons, magna cum laude) from top-15 U.S. Univeristy. 2-year (non-MBA) postgraduate degree from the University of Oxford. Significant public sector and research experience, including substantial quantitative data analysis.Rejected By: McK, BCG, MercerThe Offer: Deloitte (Strategy)Base Salary: "No Less Than" £31,040 ($60,437) + £1,500 ($3,000) sign-onMust Sign By: 8 DecemberPending Applications: Bain, Marakon (Phoned Bain yesterday; they said they were very interested, but wouldn't be able to get me in for an interview until January, long after the closing date for accepting the Deloitte offer.)Deal or No Deal?

Deal.

Deal hands down. See a post below called 'The real truth.'Good luck

No deal unless you can get a better offer. The remuneration looks a bit low.

Deal

The renumeration is low if you are in the UK. For the USA its a good offer. Is it for the strategy division or the M&A strategy team.

In what way is the remuneration low? That is the standard graduate salary. Presumably that is the entry point "strategist" is aiming for. There is no indication over what period or in what environment the "significant experience" was gained that would enable potential to enter at Consultant rather than Analyst to be assessed.Hence, without intending the slightest disrespect, the firm cannot really be expected to recognise or reward the longer-than-is-strictly-necessary duration of studies (6+ years?)Sign it... and sack it later if needs be. You can always invent some spurious reason if you feel you need to.

Thanks for all the responses. The position is with the strategy division (recently divorced from operations). I also have some concerns about the remuneration being a little low, but my offer letter says that 2007 salaries have not yet been set and that the £31,040 quoted in the letter is the lowest possible base salary. Not sure how likely it is to increase (or if that increase will be significant).

I have the same letter!! I'm also a bit confused about how they haven't set the salary yet. However I guess signing that thing has little legal strength given they are asking us to say we will work for them without having told us the actual contract details. So if (like me) you fancy going to an interview with someone else, I wouldn't let a signature hold you back! Otherwise might be seeing you in September...

Even if you accept you're not bound to the contract until you actually step through the door on day 1. Equally they can phone you the day before you start and tell you not to bother.The question of going ahead with the other processes is up to your own ethics, but you want to be a strat consultant.......

>Even if you accept you're not bound to the >contract until you actually step through the >door on day 1. Equally they can phone you the >day before you start and tell you not to bother. Uh, not quite. Contractually, they can require you to work your notice period (although in practice they'll probably not bother). And if you've signed a contract and they then choose to withdraw the offer, they have to pay you for the equivalent of the notice period in the contract.

No Dealaccording to youyou have top degrees in undergrad and gradand you have specific work experience.A person of your background would be in a position for APD at Mck...and come in AT WORST as a SBA - which pays 80KUS - or, more likely, as an associate - which pays 120K US. This seems like an undergrad offer. For your reference, big 4 acctg firms pay 55K out for fresh undergrads.

If the "significant experience" experience is simply academic study, then it should only be a grad position he or she is going for. If it's work experience under 2 years, I'd still argue it's a grad position he should be being considered for.

While it is true that I have top degrees, my applications were promptly rejected by several "top-tier" consultancies without invitation to interview. The exceptions (so far) are Bain and Marakon, but that is only because they have not yet sent out notifications for their decisions on intitial application screening.As for work experience, I worked one year for the U.S. Congress and have held a number of research positions (part-time while at uni) that invovled quantitative data analysis, which I understand is quite similar to the kinds of things that I would be doing as a business analyst.Nevertheless, my experiences are not directly related to business, and most of the positions that I have held have been of a part-time, temporary nature. Thus, I felt that making an application for a graduate position was the most appropriate thing to do (and the fact that I was rejected without interview seems to support that decision).Still, I am somewhat disappointed by the fact that so many of the firms to which I applied didn't so much as feign an interest.

Look, if i were you - I would be very very happy. The top strategy houses have a different business model to the classic pyramid. There are very very few business analysts involved; when I was at the london office, my Firm only had about 10 out of 200 consultants in total. You can immagine how tough the selection is.Deloitte strategy is a brilliant opportunity. It is probably the best of the 'big' or full service consulting companies - and thier recent split from the ops side proves just how agressively they will want to establish a greater footprint. Finally, I wouldn't be so quick to compare them to Marakon. MBBB are top houses. Marakon is a niche strat company, very very little known outside the consulting industry - bear that in mind. Their client base and resources available will not be en par with either the top strat houses or Deloitte. If I were you I would take the offer, which is very good by the way, and try to prove yourself as a business analyst. Being top quartile is not an easy preposition, mind you. Perhaps after an MBA in 4/5 years you can see if you still fancy chasing the McKs - or, as the thread below "the real truth" illustrates - you realise that not everything that shines is gold.

VII'll take your experience on that, although the topic did come up at a seminar for NEDs I worked on a few weeks ago and the HR man there came out with the pronouncement.There is probably some subtlety around ''custom and practice'' but I'll leave that to the specialists in that area, I'm a Change and Programme Management man.

Upon reading your update about your work experience, this is a solid offer. Even though you have a grad degree, you are coming in as a person with no full-time work experience. If thats the case, then its a competitive offer. Its just like the guys that graduate from my school and do a 1-2 yr Masters attached to it. They usually are interviewed for McK BA slots..so i imagine thats a good measure of where everyone else will measure them as. With McK and Bain packages at 60K + 5K ..yours is exactly in line.Take it.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their contribution - your comments have been most helpful.FYI, I decided to sign. Dropped the acceptance in the post yesterday.

See you in Athene next year...

strategist, how old are you and where are you from?