Have I made a big mistake? MBA question

PGstudent

Last year I was thinking of doing an MBA but was unsure of whether or not it was the right course for me. My undergrad is business and I want to get into Management Consultancy. I always felt that after I graduated from my undergrad that I wasnt really qualified in any specialised area just overall business studies. I got the impression that the MBA was similarly a broad qualification and covered alot of what I did in undergrad and was suited more to people with non business undergrads.
Anyway after much deliberation I came across a course called MBS in Management Consultancy (in Smurfit UCD) and it seemed like the perfect solution so I signed up for it. Recently I have been speaking to Consulting firms and they all seem very interested in an MBA and not really interested or even aware of the MBS that Im doing. Im starting to think I should have done the MBA and am even considering applying for next years but then I would have an MBS and an MBA is there any point in doing that?

Any advice/comments?

Gruzer

I work for one of the big consultancies in the management consulting side.

The answer is it depends... what work experience do you have? You wont be considered for any reputable MBA course without several years of relevant work experience to back it up.

There are two main entry points for consulting, grad entry (analyst) and post MBA entry (ie at a more senior assosciate type level).

It also depends on what type of consulting and consultancy you want to get into. If you want strategy consulting ie MBB then don't expect to get an interview at grad level unless you have straight A's from primary school up and happened to be captain of the rowing club at Oxford. The other entry point is after a MBA from a top (check the rankings) school. They do hire occasionaly from the MBA class Smurfit and TCD but this would be rare enough.

If you want to work for Big 4/ACN/BE then the MBS with decent undergrad and a good attempt at their case interviews (buy Case in Point and the Vault Guide to Case Interviews if you are serious about it) should get you in at grad level. Beware of falling into the trap of working for the likes of ACN's SI&T group if you aren't interested in working as a technology consultant - a lot of business grads find themselves in there as IT analysts doing coding or pushing buttons on SAP and wondering how they got themselves into it. Beyond that you really need consulting experience or an MBA.

It's a tough industry to break into, competition for jobs is fierce, more so I'd say this year since the financials aren't hiring (in fact financial services consulting has totally dried up recently too there is currently little or no work there) - every year only 25% or so of the Smurfit MBS MC class actually get jobs in consultancy.

PGstudent

Gruzer wrote: »

I work for one of the big consultancies in the management consulting side.

The answer is it depends... what work experience do you have? You wont be considered for any reputable MBA course without several years of relevant work experience to back it up.

There are two main entry points for consulting, grad entry (analyst) and post MBA entry (ie at a more senior assosciate type level).

It also depends on what type of consulting and consultancy you want to get into. If you want strategy consulting ie MBB then don't expect to get an interview at grad level unless you have straight A's from primary school up and happened to be captain of the rowing club at Oxford. The other entry point is after a MBA from a top (check the rankings) school. They do hire occasionaly from the MBA class Smurfit and TCD but this would be rare enough.

If you want to work for Big 4/ACN/BE then the MBS with decent undergrad and a good attempt at their case interviews (buy Case in Point and the Vault Guide to Case Interviews if you are serious about it) should get you in at grad level. Beware of falling into the trap of working for the likes of ACN's SI&T group if you aren't interested in working as a technology consultant - a lot of business grads find themselves in there as IT analysts doing coding or pushing buttons on SAP and wondering how they got themselves into it. Beyond that you really need consulting experience or an MBA.

It's a tough industry to break into, competition for jobs is fierce, more so I'd say this year since the financials aren't hiring (in fact financial services consulting has totally dried up recently too there is currently little or no work there) - every year only 25% or so of the Smurfit MBS MC class actually get jobs in consultancy.

Excellent reply Gruzer, I should have said that I was an IT systems engineer for about 4 years, my undergrad is Business studies and I got 1.1 result. Its been a long tim esince I did the leaving cert (Im 30) not sure how I faired- though I dont think i did well in it.

Maybe an MBS and the MBA would give me an edge?

Gruzer

OP your in a sort of a no man's land as far as I can see, your a bit long in the tooth for grad programs and the type of hiring that recruiters will be looking at with your MBS class. Your best bet is trying to get onto the MBA course allthough you may be short on appropriate manegerial experience to get in. Please also clarify what type of consulting you want to get into? If you want to do management consulting be aware that you will be seen as an "IT guy" and pushed towards this area, you will really need to emphasise the fact that you want MC and not IT (if this is the case)

I fear the MBS is not going to give you any discernible advantage when it comes to getting work at anything other than grad analyst level and if you go down this route expect crap pay initially (mid 30s at highest but increasing rapidly as you move up the ranks) and you will be a bit older than most of the other analysts. I know for a fact that most of the big consultancys wont give you a grad interview if you got less than 400 points in the leaving, in fact the strat houses require +500 - if this is the case edit it out of your CV and hope for the best. It sucks havign the leaving come back to haunt you but these firms get thousands of applications and can afford to be very picky.

You might be able to blag your way into a technology consulting type role as an experienced hire but you can forget about management consultancy as an experienced hire unless you do an MBA as you lack consulting experience.

The main thing to remember is be prepared for the case interviews, bring a pen and a notebook (you'll thank me for this tip) keep your cool and always show the interviewer the reasoning behind you assumptions - there isn't one right answer in a case interview, it's how you got there that counts.

PGstudent

You make some good points there Gruzer. I think my mistake was confusing Management consulting for Technology Consulting. I was getting sick of the technical end of IT and was hoping to move toward a consultancy type role- a client facing/advisory role. Im not too averse to technology consultancy as I wouldnt like to completely turn my back on my experience. The main difference for me would be that I was out of the server room punching keys and into consultancy advising clients on technology issues (management/strategy/projects etc).

I was hoping that the MBS in Mgmt consultancy would help me bridge the gap from techie to consultant- maybe there is a more appropriate technology consultancy course? I'll look into the SI&T thing though as you say the 400 point LC might be an issue.