Getting that golden ticket into a top management consulting firm is a dream of many MBA applicants. After all, it's another great brand on your resume, you get to bounce from project to impact-driving project, and you accelerate your career even more. Who wouldn't want an opportunity to tackle some of the toughest business problems, influence the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 company, and get handsomely paid in the process? Yeah, that's part of the problem! Because management consulting is such a popular choice for a career goal, developing your own story to stand out to the admissions committee can be quite challenging.
First things first - just because a story can be challenging to communicate DOES NOT mean you should not use it. Don't think, "well, everyone is going to say consulting so I'm going to say NGO in Africa..." That'll get you dinged just as quickly if it doesn't make any sense. And don't, for a moment, think consulting is too easy of a goal. It isn't. After you battle 7 - 20% acceptance rates and get into a program, you're competing with equally, if not more so, intelligent people for a predefined number of seats. It isn't easy. So if the goal makes sense for you, your career, and your story, then absolutely talk about it! These tips are simply about how to do it effectively!
The biggest issue we see with our clients interested in becoming management consultants is that they don't come from a consulting background and have no idea how the world of consulting works. That's ok, but without the ability to talk the talk, we get a lot of generic goals which lead to generic applications. Essays superficially talk about pursing management consulting as a way to solve business problems and gain a variety of experience and skills in the process. Isn't that just business in general? Unfortunately, the essays stop there and that just isn't going to cut it for top MBA programs. So here are two tips to help get your application on the right track.
[Want to talk about your goals more specifically, well, you're in luck - sign up for a free consultation and let's hash this out together!]
Tip 1: Be very specific in an area of interest. The worst thing you can say in your application is that you are using consulting as an opportunity to explore a number of different industries and functions to figure out where you want to ultimately end up. Not only is that vague, but it COMPLETELY misses the mark on how consulting firms work - both operationally and politically. Chances of winding up in the ding pile with that line? Prettttty high.
The best MBA applications target a very specific industry or function and have a focus on the types of problems that exist within that space. For example, if you have an interest in consulting for health care you shouldn't speak broadly about improving the health care system as a whole (unless you have an idea on how to do that. Then...yes, please do!). Instead you should hone in on a few specific areas in healthcare such as claims processing where millions of dollars of efficiency savings exist and are waiting to be unlocked by a variety of new technologies. And it doesn't have to be just one function. If you pick an industry, you can explore different functions. Or vice versa! And remember - if you have something specific in your past that you can leverage to help your clients, that will really help here. This is the time to connect the dots!
Tip 2: How does management consulting fit into your long term goals? Not many applicants are expected to make the long road to partner at a management consulting firm. Attrition rates hover between 80 - 90%. Admissions committees understand this and are okay with applicants using consulting to jumpstart a career somewhere else. The key is to explain why consulting is necessary to help you get to your long term goal and laying out the specific projects and experiences that you need to get there. Failing to make this connection can severely undermine your efforts on selling your career story to the admissions committee.
One thing we hear a lot > you're going to go from consulting to starting your own business. No. Just...no. Nothing about being a consultant prepares you for being an entrepreneur in any logical sense. Yes, some consultants do go on to start companies or join startups. But that is by no means the standard exit trajectory for ex-consultants. Make sure what comes after consulting makes sense!
There are a lot of things to consider when crafting your story and your goals. These are just two of many things to keep in mind when you go down the "consulting" path. But hopefully they help get you thinking at a deeper level - superficial goals never work. Management consulting is a great career choice. Start your journey to McKinsey, Bain, or BCG by signing up for a free consultation with us!
