What is it?We hear lots of talk on here about "prestige" of consulting or banking, and people talk about it as a good thing, but I have no idea what it is.Is it money? Is it ego? Is it the ability to look down on others? Is it talking to people in a pub and them being impressed by what you do?

A little bit related to your comment, ray:Lot of people here shows off talking about "top-tier" universities and "top-tier" firms, but when you see the surveys performed in this forum, you realize that almost everyone here studied in Durham and works in Accenture. Is it just a matter of Oxbridge and McK envy or complex?

Ray - I think prestige comes into play by the notion that many consultants are able to do what we love to do while not having to live with all the stresses and routines that would go along with the work if we were working AS the client, every day of our life. We are able to travel, work with different people every day, and not exactly know where we'll be in a few weeks/months (which is nice, to me). Also, the money is great. :)Clay - Maybe it's just that those at Accenture have more time on their hands than the res to us. Therefore, they're able to read all the posts and reply to them all day/night long. ha/ha... okay, just kidding. Maybe... :)

Have you tried looking up prestige in a dictionary?If someone tells you X is a chef at Burger King and y works at Gordon Ramsey's that inevitabley you will form some preconception. Likewise in most sectors different firms will form different impressions on the general public- I would say it has more to do with reputation than money (although prestige and money are often highly corrleated) and ego (although sure some vanity comes with a good reputation/brand). Some people at a prestige firm will look down on others, others will want to work there because they think it will lead to a higher summit of achievement. They might even take a paycut to work at somewhere with higher prestige. weird question to ask though.

Prestige is about how the brand is viewed by others. For some people there may benefits to ego or looking down on others. However the longer term benefit is that by having the brand on your CV you acquire some of that prestige.Who do you think gets the interview - the guy who worked at Mckinsey as a spreadsheet jockey or the guy that worked at a coal mining company developing and implementing strategy?I personally have worked for a less prestigous company doing excellent work and found it very hard to get interviews at all afterwards. I have also worked for top brands doing mundane work but nevertheless ending up with loads of interviews.IMO you need a balance of good experience and good brands.