MBAs love consulting. No matter how much things change, things stay the same. While Google, Facebook and Amazon might be the technology companies most often grabbing the headlines, for MBA grads, they’re still not the top destination for work. Instead, you’ll still find more MBAs at McKinsey, Boston Consulting and Bain & Co over anywhere else.
What does that mean for MBAs looking to head to school in Washington D.C.? It means that they need to carefully consider each school before choosing the program that best fits their consulting goal. To help out, we’ve outlined the top DC consulting MBA programs:
George Washington University School of Business
George Washington University is known for graduating consulting MBAs ready for a career. In fact, in 2015, upwards of 38 percent of the school’s global MBA class accepted a job as a consulting and 27 pecent accepted a job in the consulting industry. On average, their consultants earned $99,950 and worked for such firms as Deloitte, KPMG, RLR Consultants and Summit Consulting.
To prepare their students for a career in consulting, the school offers:
- Consulting Concentration: MBAs can concentrate their curriculum within the consulting industry. The concentration includes a two-course sequence covering everything from client engagement to proposal writing, program design and more. The concentration also emphasizes critical consulting competencies and provides real-world exposure.
- Consulting Club: Graduate students at George Washington University can also participate in the Consulting Club, which promotes education, events and experiences in the consulting field. One of its primary benefits is connecting students with industry professionals and alumni.
- Mentoring & Immersion Program for Consulting (MIPC): The program is two years in length and prepares GWSB global MBA students through immersion in practical consulting tools, skills and cases. It prepares MBA students to be employer and client ready.
McDonough School of Business Georgetown University
Each year, the McDonough School places more MBA students in consulting than any other career field. In 2014, 29 percent of MBAs received a job in consulting earning on average $117,000 a year. As for where they placed, top Georgetown MBA employers included Cognizant Business Consulting, Ernst & Young, Citi, and KPMG.
As for why McDonough graduates so many consultants, it’s because of its offerings:
- Strategy Concentration: While McDonough doesn’t offer a specific concentration in consulting, the strategy concentration is a very close match. The concentration includes courses such as the entrepreneurial consulting clinic, leading management consulting firms and game theory.
- Georgetown Consulting Club: The club’s mission is to provide members with knowledge expertise and networking opportunities within the consulting industry. It focuses on three pillars including prepare, position and advocate.
- Global Business Experience: The Global Business Experience provides MBAs with the opportunity to participate in an international consulting project. Students spend one week in the client’s country and the rest of the semester working on the project. “My project with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts was truly a transformative experience. It was exciting to work on a global brand and travel to Hong Kong, and it also provided a real-world opportunity to learn about the Chinese consumer market.”—Amanda Bagwill (evening MBA ’15)
Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland
Around 22.9 percent of MBA graduates from the Robert Smith School accepted a job as a consultant, and 24.3 percent received a job in the consulting industry. On average they earned $104,000 with a median $20,000 signing bonus. However, that’s not why the school made or list—it’s because of the MBA consulting program.
The MBA consulting program is a consulting project assigned to six MBA students than can be completed in a single 14-week semester. The project can cover a broad spectrum of issues in functional areas such as finance, marketing and strategy. The goal of the program is to provide MBAs with hands-on experience as consultants with real clients and real issues. Examples of past projects include Metadata Warehouse Design, Staffing Decision Model, Inventory Simulation and Competitive Analysis.
Kogod School of Business American University
About 36 percent of Kogod School MBA graduates went into a career in the consulting industry. Those students received jobs at Deloitte Consulting, GreatBridge Consulting and others. As for why consulting was the top choice at Kogod, it has to do with the curriculum.
While the full-time MBA program doesn’t allow students to choose a concentration, that’s not a deficit when it comes to consulting. Instead, students automatically participate in:
- Global Consulting Project: This project takes place in the second year of the MBA program and allows students to complete a global consulting project with an international client. It includes international travel and hands-on experience.
- Consulting Focus: The full-time MBA program has a consulting focus from the start. Its goal is to prepare MBA students for a career in consulting, and it was designed with the help of leading federal and commercial consulting firms.
- Consulting Day: MBAs also have the opportunity to participate in the Career Center’s Consulting Day. The day brings in top employers such as CEB, Booz Allen Hamilton and Gartner Consulting for a career and networking fair.