Good morning!
September is here- easily our busiest time. Round 1 applications are in full swing and if you are applying- good luck!
Let’s address a BIG MBA career question - Is consulting an amazing and fulfilling career or the greatest bullshit job of all time?
A LOT of MBA candidates tend to lean towards consulting as their post-MBA plan- either as their primary goal or backup. I can see why-
Consulting offers a chance to work on a wide variety of projects
It pays very well
Tremendous brand value associated with MBB orgs- Mckinsey, Bain and BCG
MBA programs seem to like this goal if your profile is good enough
So what’s the problem?
Some say most consulting is bullshit because consultants don’t have any skin in the game. Maybe. I think a lot of people say consulting as a post-MBA goal because they don’t specifically have a good idea of what to do and consulting is prestigious enough and broad enough that one can put it in their essays and then figure it out later. I also think most people have no idea how terrible mainstream consulting is when it comes to work-life balance.
The most famous hater of consulting was Steve Jobs.
Consultants, he said, miss out on a key piece of professional growth at a company: learning from mistakes. Since they typically swoop in to offer advice and recommendations on a project, but don’t stick around to see the success or failure of their ideas, they’re only seeing a part of the process.
“I think that without owning something over an extended period of time, like a few years, where someone has a chance to take responsibility for one’s recommendations, where one has to see one’s recommendations through all action stages and accumulate some scar tissue for the mistakes and pick one’s self up off the ground and dust one’s self off, one learns a fraction of what one can,” Jobs said. “You do get a broad cut at companies, but it’s very thin.”
Read the full article- Steve Jobs talks consultants, hiring, and leaving Apple in unearthed 1992 talk | MIT Sloan
This month we are talking about consulting companies and what’s so special about them + advice for Round 2 applicants (Sorry you’ve pretty much missed R1).
Let’s dive in 🤿
Notable upcoming deadlines
R2 application tips
We’re in September, and if you are an R1 hopeful and are reading this looking for tips – well, your ship has probably sailed.
We work with plenty of people who are insistent on applying in R1, and that’s fair. There is a small statistical advantage in terms of acceptance, and a larger one when it comes to scholarship chances. Another key benefit is that if you apply in R1, you can always apply again in later rounds.
However, rushing to meet an R1 deadline with a subpar application is NOT a good idea. You will not be bettering your chances and the psychological repercussions of getting a truckload of rejections early in the cycle might weigh you down.
Here are 3 factors that you might consider when weighing this up:
1. You’re unsure about the quality of your app: Do you think your app would benefit from a month’s work? Can your essays be made more thoughtful; your LoRs more glowing? Adcoms evaluate every facet of your materials, so make sure every element strongly supports your MBA ambitions.
Ensure that your essays succinctly answer the provided questions. Often, applicants are so intent on positioning themselves a certain way or highlighting a particular achievement that they forget to respond to the specific questions being asked.
Pay close attention to editing errors, and make sure you have utter confidence in your test scores and letters of recommendation. It’s always better to wait than submit with only 90% confidence in your application.
2. You’re considering taking one last shot at the GMAT: We see this with a lot of candidates, where their test scores let them down at the Nth hour. Having identified certain (ambitious) target schools and crafted a profile to fit that, a lower than average GMAT can put a rude end to their ambitions. Instead of doubling down and being bullish about applying with a subpar score, we advise them to be very strategic about their retest. If the score is borderline below average, one might be better served focusing on other components.
Another case for delaying your application is if you’ve decided to take a college-level calculus or statistics class/course and you want the grade to prove you can handle the quant in the program. Perhaps, you’re expecting a promotion to come through any moment and you want to use that in your application.
These are all valid reasons that will only strengthen your case, not weaken it.
3. You’re wavering on your choice of school/you want to talk to more people: Perhaps you’re not sure about your school choice, or in the course of the application you’ve come upon other schools that might be a better fit.
Alternatively, it might be that you feel like you need a better sense of the school and its students before pressing the button. Perhaps you’d like to attend more alumni events, reach out to alumni or current students, and maybe even take out the time to have a tour of the campus on your next trip to the continent in question.
All these can make for good reasons to delay your application – as your comfort and confidence in your decision is paramount. If you’re investing good time and money into this decision, it should be one that you feel good about and that makes you feel good.
Remember, the statistical advantage of an R1 app over an R2 assumes that the quality of the app is consistent across cycles. If you think this won’t be the case, don’t rush it. Take your time and deliver a quality application – you deserve to put your best foot forward.
Just what exactly is so goddamn special about MBBs?
There are certain truths in life: the sun rises in the east, grass is green and MBBs always get into MBA programs! The Big Three consulting companies – McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company (MBB) – send many successful applicants to the world’s top business schools, and then turn around and hire many of the graduates. The rest of us are standing there, like “What’s so goddamn special about MBB consulting?” Going beyond jealousy or frustration, this is an important question to ask because there is a learning here; one that we can try to apply in our own pedestrian, sad little apps.
Big responsibility and exposure: An average MBA applicant from a company like Unilever, Google or BP is coming to the adcom when they might have responsibility for the profit and loss of a few products or projects, but their perspective on the company’s operations is limited to their specific area. Even among management consultants, the newest hire is looking at client operations holistically. An MBB however is exposed to the operations and strategy of a wide range of top tier companies around the world and is also given a lot of responsibility – their recommendations can affect an entire organization, and they’ve been trained to consider impacts carefully. Gaining strategic perspective is essentially what attending an elite business school is all about, and the fact that these candidates already have the same experience? Perfect.
They come house-broken: Top Bschools know that MBBs invest a ton of time and money into training their consultants. From the minute a new consultant starts work, they are guided through a series of classes, workshops, and summits covering everything from Excel modeling skills to presentation techniques, where they are also exposed to peers around the world. Having the opportunity to learn and practice cross-cultural management at such an early juncture is another big advantage that MBBs have over other workplaces.
Broad Base: It’s not uncommon for MBB consultants to spend about up to 3 very intensive months working on a given client, which means that in a year, they may cover up to 6 different companies, from completely different industries. This exposure to not only to different products and services, but also to different corporate philosophies and business models is invaluable. For MBB consultants, it's easy to be familiar with emerging trends and best practices across industries.
Our takeaways here:
Training and Upskilling: The actual skills being taught at MBBs aren’t rocket science. Try getting into your org’s training program for future leaders, even if it takes more work to get in – an application or a reference. In terms of actual knowledge, leverage your high speed internet and show some initiative! There are a multitude of courses through companies like edX, Coursera, and Udemy that will show evidence of your commitment to bettering yourself.
Strategic Thinking: Are there moments when you make decisions with the company’s bottom line in mind? Do you ever weigh costs and revenue, picking the option that maximizes overall profit? How about risks and opportunities? Highlight those experiences. MBB and MBAs are all about the big picture – show them that you have what it takes.
Diversity: Here your non-MBB background helps, because you’re automatically differentiated from the MBB candidates that all look similar educationally and professionally. How you portray your unique experiences in your resume and in your essays is critical. Frame your work anecdotes in terms of the positive impact that you had on your employer, on your colleagues, and clients.
Excellence: MBBs are automatically understood to be the top of the class and excellent performers, else they would be out of work. In your situation, highlight rare awards and superlative performance reviews that show that you are one of your organization’s best managers. Your letters of recommendation (LORs) are important here, because your recommenders have the credibility to compare you to your peers, both past and present, in a way that you don’t.
While it might seem like an uphill battle, don’t lose heart. Stay true to yourself and incorporate some of these tips to try to reverse-engineer that picture perfect profile that sends adcoms swooning!
What are we reading at Base Camp?
Yellowface by RF Kuang - With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface takes on questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation not only in the publishing industry but the persistent erasure of Asian-American voices and history by Western white society. R. F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.
What Adults Forget About Friendship - Just catching up can feel stale. Playing and wasting time together like kids do are how you make memories. (Paywalled? Use 12ft.io)
The Unbearable Slowness of Meta’s Oversight Board - A 234-day wait to get a ruling in a case about incitement to violence suggests that something important is broken at Facebook/Meta
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See you next month!