How useful is a MBA degree in breaking into the consulting career? I am talking about a top tier business school and for someone without any previous exposure to relevant work experience? As I at the moment have already built up some year's work experience and is in a general mid-level management position (not in consulting but some degree of business exposure) so would consider moving to consulting after MBA. Is it true that you get better standing as a MBA graduate e.g be more easily offered a consultant position rather than analyst/associate consultant?

You don't need the MBA. You will be offered Consultant position probably as you have 'real world experience'. I think you are over estimating the requirements needed to become an entry level consultant. Just install Excel and PowerPoint on your laptop and you're good to go. Only people straight out of uni come in as Analysts/Associate.

depends what consultancy you want to join.An MBA is not needed for Acn, PA and all those charlatans whose core business revolve around IT projects.If you want to join McKinsey then an MBA might be a prerequisite just to get the interview.It also depends on your work experience and past education (Oxbridge or not).

If you want to get into places like McKinsey, it is important - you, personally, won't benefit much from it. You will spend thousands and learn basically minimum that is relevant in the real world. But places like MBB, they survive by adhering to these elitist tactics - which includes MBA from top school. Otherwise, its waist of money and time.

I agree, there's a real wrist you'll graduate with you MBA and still not be able to get a job.

As you can see, you may need a MBA more than a dicktionary to get into consulting

A MBA is good. It helps find a work.

Don't be deceived. MBA is not regarded in the UK. I know dozens who have MBA from top business schools in the UK and yet they are still struggling to get a foothold on any reputable organisation. You have a better chance of getting a good job with MBA in the US, but certainly not in the UK. What counts most in the UK is the quality of your work experience.

Me + UK + 5 years non business work experience - MBA = not a single interview.........(1)Substituting MBA into equation (1), and 'ta-da', interviews with Big 4.....which I then bombed...To conclude (in my experience), MBA will help land an interview but certainly not guarantee a job...

I have found my MBA to be very useful in consulting. It helps if you want to get an interview, but it is not everything and nor do I wish that it was. After the rush to get back into the workplace it also helps because you still have this business knowledge. This is useful if you are involved in advising clients about their organisations. Again this does not mean it is the only approach available. However with clients demanding more for the fees they pay it helps to have something to offer in return, aside from a confident first impression (which can also help sometimes).

That is quite an interesting observation.. I have certainly seen some of my peers in similar situations to me choosing Ms in Finance or Investment Management but again I suppose that depends on what you want to do at the end of it...Certainly what you said has got a point, but MBA from London Business School or Said Business School have some merits on themselves?And how accepted are UK MBA degrees in the US (I know that the traditional UK version is one year but some offer the US one which is almost 2 years in length, how does each one fair in the US?)

Does this perspective change if you did a bachelors degree at one of the top UK business schools (BSc in Management)? Would MBA still give an advantage or is this just an "expensive revision" of the subject studied before?

Pharmy,I presume from your name that you are in the pharma industry. I went the other way some years ago, moving from a consulting firm (which I joined after an MBA) into a pharma company. I would say that there are one or two salient points in all of the above, mixed in with a lot of sweeping generalizations that are worth ignoring.My two cents:From your posts, you are clearly only at the very beginning of any research into this. Spend some proper time looking into what you want to do, and the potential paths to get there, then ask pointed questions in the (possibly vain) hope of avoiding the generalist answers. This is not the place to ask a broad question on the benefits of MBAsIgnore most of the advice above, as it will largely not be applicable to you. Instead, seek out people that have made similar career transitions and talk to them. If you can't find any, then you are probably not cut out for consultingMy view is that the answer to your question is "It depends what you want to do". As someone else also pointed out, if you want to join a top-tier strategy consulting firm, then it is not essential but will help hugely. Not because of the knowledge that you will acquire, but because it will put you on the recruiting radar and make you an easier (read cheaper) hire. But only do it at a top-tier school - in the UK this means LBS only. Otherwise INSEAD, or US schoolsFor "less prestigious" or niche firms, again it may be useful in terms of putting you into a certain bracket, but may be less necessary if you can find a firm that is looking for your skills and background and is prepared to invest in you.Not sure if that helps too much - do some research and ask some more specific questions and I may be able to help more

Happy,Looking at last year's LBS stats, there are 29 people (inc. say 1 for Bain) who got into MBB out of 70 who took jobs in consulting. I guess there might be around 10 people re-joining an MBB firm (guess), so that makes 20 from 60 entering MBB afresh. So you could say that 70% of people who go to an acknowledged top-tier school end up disappointed (if you say that MBB is the target for all). So while an MBA may help, do you think it's worth spending £100k for a 70% chance of being disappointed (i.e., does an MBA help sufficiently to justify the cost? I guess you have to look on a case-by-case basis...) I suppose the average graduate consulting package of £95k must soften the blow...!Also, only 23% of those starting the MBA from industry moved into consulting. I wonder how many tried? Good (useful) stats from LBS, you have to say!

Hi Alex,The problem with your 'statistic' is that it is not referenced or compared to anything, so you actually have no idea if it is 'good' as well as useful. Perhaps you could supply similar numbers for a selection of non top-tier schools, ideally an average across all of them in the UK. Or you could obtain the % of non-MBA applicants applying for MBA-level positions that are successful. That would at least put some context around your 30%. You might find that, for many applicants, the jump in their chance of being accepted from their previous % to 30% is well worth the investment.If your glass is half-full, like mine, you might also flip your 70% rejection chance on its head, to say something like (using your numbers):"You have a 30% chance of being accepted to one of MBB if you are genuinely serious about consulting. Failing that, your chances of getting accepted to another prestigious consulting firm are broadly the same (maybe a bit higher given that there are more than 3 of them, but offset somewhat by the fact that rejection by 3 firms will increase the likelihood of rejection by more), so you have maybe a >50% chance. And failing that you will still get another job, in industry or wherever, that will probably be equally as interesting, with similar pay and a far better work-life balance"Therefore, in response to your slightly sarcastic final sentence, I would say that the statistics from LBS might be very very good for some people, and poor for others. They are only really of use if you compare them to a relevant comparator, which you have not.

PS:"Also, only 23% of those starting the MBA from industry moved into consulting. I wonder how many tried?"While you're wondering about this, you should also wonder about the % that had consulting offers they didn't acceptI went to school in the US. Consulting wasn't a particular popular choice, and was actually a fall-back for many, so that works both ways

My plan was to move into industry after MBA - isn't it everyone's? That is why I did my MBA - better job, better salary, fewer working hours, less traveling, focusing on other things in life. It wasn't to be. Stayed in consulting which really was fall back option - unfortunately.

Sorry Alex, have to agree with the responses to your last post.Frankly your analysis is poor to the point of not being worth the effort writing it.

Patricia its as easy to get into industry without an MBA as it is to get into consultancy with an MBA. :)

Hi Happy,Thanks for the response. Out of interest, there was no sarcasm intended in the last sentence of my earlier post - just thought it was useful that LBS publish such detailed stats (as indeed do all the top schools). My (unstated) starting point was that someone would have, for the sake of argument, 0% change of landing an MBB job without an MBA. If they go to a top-tier school (use LBS as an example given that they're clearly regarded as very much top-tier over here), that chance goes up to 30%. So the comparison (admittedly, again, not stated) was between those two points, which is obviously fairly crude. All other points would be within that range. The question is, would you say that the 30% chance is worth it for the money. You pretty much answered 'yes' by saying that if you ended up in the other 70% you'd still be fine (but doing something else), in which case, (with a small jump) a top-tier MBA is definitely worth it (in 80/90% of cases to allow for outliers)Which was very interesting, so thanks!Do feel free to correct me if I've been too liberal with the interpretation...

Hi Alex,I don't disagree withyour clarifications. My observations are:1) Clearly a top-tier MBA increases your chances. Maybe that is from c.0% to c.30%, I don't know, and obviously there are countless variables at work and a big range around that 30. Some other guy might jump from 0% to 30%, while I may go from 10% to 20%.2) Whether that jump is worthwhile depends on the individual and their ambitions/goals. Many people really really want to work at an MBB firm and so will happily give it a shot. Others really want, or perhaps would quite like, to work at an MBB firm but aren't prepared to take the financial/personal risk of the MBA - that's up to them.. 3) What amuses me (a bit) is when people in this second 'risk-averse' group (and calling them that is a massive generalization, I know) harp on and on that they are just as good as the people from the top-tier schools, and that despite never going to business school, or attending a lesser school, they continually outperform the Harvard MBA. In many cases I am sure they are right - there were plenty of idiots at my school, and I am sure plenty of my peers think I am an idiot. But this misses the point of top tier schools, which is that they give you a shot, even if you are an idiot4) Your chances are increased, not so much because of what the top-tier MBA teaches you, but because it puts you in the sights of MBB, or Goldman Sachs or Google, or whoever, and it makes hiring you easy, cheap and relatively low risk for them - they know what they are getting in 95ish% of cases, and the other 5ish% are expensive, but not for long.

Was drawn to this thread as I'm doing a bit of research into MBA hiring at present. Thought I'd highlight the last point made by Happy as it's spot on in my view - and similarly could be reworded to pretty much explain the high weighting given to Oxbridge graduates in Milkround hiring too:"Your chances are increased, not so much because of what the top-tier MBA teaches you, but because it puts you in the sights of MBB, or Goldman Sachs or Google, or whoever, and it makes hiring you easy, cheap and relatively low risk for them - they know what they are getting in 95ish% of cases, and the other 5ish% are expensive, but not for long."The importance of an MBA in consulting has diminished over the last decade I would say - but it still undoubtedly opens the door to an MBB consulting career which might previously not have been open to you. The absolute key is getting into a top top school though. Not because of what you'll learn, but because it'll get you on firms' radars come recruitment season...Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com

Thanks Tony,I try to write relevant stuff when here...I was one that very nearly fell into the trap of thinking all MBA programs were created equal. Fortunately, I found out that wasn't the case before it was too late, and now try to shout it from the rooftops whenever it's appropriate. So often I see people lumping MBAs into a single bucket, asking something like:"How useful is an MBA for getting into consulting?"and you just can't do that if you want a meaningful response - this thread has to be a classic case in pointBest