MPP/MPA programs for consulting opportunities

[abogs78]

As we are all getting close to making our decisions on where to go this fall, I am sure a lot of you are deciding based on financial aid/fellowships, geographical location, family reasons, program reputation, faculty and perhaps job opportunities post graduation. I am interested in a career in consulting perhaps in the social sector, public affairs, internationa/economic development or government programs department/divisions of a consulting firm. I noticed that top consulting firms (i.e BCG, Bain, McKinsey and Booz) have these departments in their firm. I was wondering if anyone has any idea of the best programs where these consulting firms are likely to recruit from, if any. I know some people will mention the need to get an MBA or something related to general management but I have heard that consulting firms do recruit from top public affairs school. I just need people's thoughts

If we have anyone who has had an internship at a consulting firm in their current MPA/MPP please feel free to chip in/anyone who knows MPP/MPA graduates who are working in the consulting world.

Your thoughts.........

[yeahgradschool!]

Great topic! I'd also be very interested to hear people's thoughts on this. I am currently deciding between Michigan, Carnegie Mellon (DC track) and USC and would love to know if any of the top consulting firms recruit frrom these schools.

[hughwu]

Same here!I am choosing between CMU Heinz, Brown and NYU.Hope to hear more thoughts

[blah25982]

I remember Deloitte being mentioned several times at the USC info session. They host a "case challenge" each year where students are offered a policy problem to solve, and present in two days. No doubt a recruiting mechanism. This link also shows PricewaterhouseCooperc and KPMG interviewing at USC.

And at UCLA, I attended the career fair about 2 years ago and remember seeing a lot of economics consulting firms interviewing (CRA, Analysis Group, Bain & White,etc.) though the career fair was also geared towards the Econ Phd and MBA types. There was also ICF.

Not sure about the others.

[mppgal55]

Deloitte has this same case competition at Heinz, as well as a huge hiring presence (they tend to hire 10 full time each November, and 4-8 summer each February). They also regularly have 2 DC-track students in the firm.

PwC, Mckinsey, BoozAllen, and Bain all recruit from CMU/Heinz each year, and there are many alums at each of those firms. Additionally, there are a lot of students working in "smaller" consulting firms, such as ICF International, DRT Strategies, and NERA economic consultants.

Heinz's focus on management (PPM, not just PP) attracts private sector employees. For the most part, you can substitute it as an MBA when applying for positions and get the same interviews. Our management science equates to optimization courses in MBA programs, and we take financial analysis, economics, statistics, etc. that are in MBA programs as well. This lends itself to the private sector easily. When you add on the policy knowledge, most company's government affairs folks are all over it.

I'm sure other schools have great consulting connections, but I can only speak to Heinz. I just know that if you want to be a consultant, it's easy to do so from here. There have been 5 case competitions so far this year that you could participate in, on-campus interviewing, workshops, and networking events in DC that all lend themselves to this field.

[abogs78]

Thanks for the insight mppgal55!

Deloitte has this same case competition at Heinz, as well as a huge hiring presence (they tend to hire 10 full time each November, and 4-8 summer each February). They also regularly have 2 DC-track students in the firm.

PwC, Mckinsey, BoozAllen, and Bain all recruit from CMU/Heinz each year, and there are many alums at each of those firms. Additionally, there are a lot of students working in "smaller" consulting firms, such as ICF International, DRT Strategies, and NERA economic consultants.

Heinz's focus on management (PPM, not just PP) attracts private sector employees. For the most part, you can substitute it as an MBA when applying for positions and get the same interviews. Our management science equates to optimization courses in MBA programs, and we take financial analysis, economics, statistics, etc. that are in MBA programs as well. This lends itself to the private sector easily. When you add on the policy knowledge, most company's government affairs folks are all over it.

I'm sure other schools have great consulting connections, but I can only speak to Heinz. I just know that if you want to be a consultant, it's easy to do so from here. There have been 5 case competitions so far this year that you could participate in, on-campus interviewing, workshops, and networking events in DC that all lend themselves to this field.

[RH7]

Sigh, can't believe you all want in while I want out. All I can say is have fun!

Anyway, just to add to the discussion, SIPA has has loads of graduates in consulting and seems to have a good presence in McKinsey, BCG, Booz, and Accenture in particular. We also have a consulting club that runs case competitions, last years judges came from Deloitte, McKinsey, DAI, Dalberg, Oliver Wyman and PwC. Our capstone projects also include clients from some of these as well. Pretty good representation in ID consulting globally too.

[mushroom288]

Hi guys

My tip would be go to a college which is visited by the the consulting firms you're interested in so that probably means a college with a strong business school. For example, Im working at one of the top tier consulting firms in their public sector/government practice, and can tell you that if your talking a top school it doesnt matter which faculty since we send interviewers to campus for a couple of days each year. I'm talking Kellogg, Harvard, Stanford, they're our 'target business schools', we interview students from all Faculties at these campuses (though obviously predominantly receive b-school applicants).

I would say this is more/as important as going to a good public policy school.

Sigh, can't believe you all want in while I want out. All I can say is have fun!

Anyway, just to add to the discussion, SIPA has has loads of graduates in consulting and seems to have a good presence in McKinsey, BCG, Booz, and Accenture in particular. We also have a consulting club that runs case competitions, last years judges came from Deloitte, McKinsey, DAI, Dalberg, Oliver Wyman and PwC. Our capstone projects also include clients from some of these as well. Pretty good representation in ID consulting globally too.

[greendiplomat]

Sigh, can't believe you all want in while I want out. All I can say is have fun!

Anyway, just to add to the discussion, SIPA has has loads of graduates in consulting and seems to have a good presence in McKinsey, BCG, Booz, and Accenture in particular. We also have a consulting club that runs case competitions, last years judges came from Deloitte, McKinsey, DAI, Dalberg, Oliver Wyman and PwC. Our capstone projects also include clients from some of these as well. Pretty good representation in ID consulting globally too.

I'd just like to chime in and say that, yes, SIPA has a good amount of students going into consulting, and I think this can be attributed to the presence of a good number of firms that recruit on campus (partially due to having a strong undergraduate program and business school), the availability of private-sector-friendly concentrations/coursework, and the location in New York.

Apart from the obvious task of looking up past classes' employers (there's usually a link to some sort of factsheet in the prospective students pages), I think the presence of some sort of consulting club/organization at the school is telling that the school has a good number of students each year that want to get into consulting.

[mushroom288]

Only thing that may be misleading about looking at post-graduation employment statistics is that often these students were tied to go back to the consulting firm before they started the MPP program. Because the consulting firm is sponsoring the MPP/MPA program. So it may not necessarily be a good indicator that its a feeder university!

I'd just like to chime in and say that, yes, SIPA has a good amount of students going into consulting, and I think this can be attributed to the presence of a good number of firms that recruit on campus (partially due to having a strong undergraduate program and business school), the availability of private-sector-friendly concentrations/coursework, and the location in New York.

Apart from the obvious task of looking up past classes' employers (there's usually a link to some sort of factsheet in the prospective students pages), I think the presence of some sort of consulting club/organization at the school is telling that the school has a good number of students each year that want to get into consulting.

[abogs78]

Thanks for that thought mushroom288

Only thing that may be misleading about looking at post-graduation employment statistics is that often these students were tied to go back to the consulting firm before they started the MPP program. Because the consulting firm is sponsoring the MPP/MPA program. So it may not necessarily be a good indicator that its a feeder university!

[coffee_fan]

Thanks Abogs for starting this thread!

Another question for Mushroom -- does your firm's government/public sector practice recruit at the business school or the policy schools? For some reason, I was under the impression that the traditional positions of these consulting firms recruited at the b-schools, while the public sector/government practices of these firms, limited their recruitment to the policy schools. Perhaps it is not this black and white?

Thanks everyone!

Thanks for that thought mushroom288

[yeahgradschool!]

So this might seem like a silly question but I figured the people on this thread would be able to help me out!

My question is: why consulting? and what does it entail exactly? I see the career goal of becoming a consultant thrown around all the time on these boards (including from myself!) and I'm wondering what people are expecting from a job in consulting and for those who have worked as consultants before, what is the reality?

I have no shame in saying that I want to make as much money as possible after graduation so I can get to work on paying off my debt, and if consulting is where the money is at then I'm all in! But in terms of grad school course load, what should I focus on?

While still deciding between Carnegie Mellon's DC track and Michigan, I'm worried that with CMU I will only have 1 year of classes based around courses such as applied economic analysis, database managment, information and communication technologies, financial analysis, etc. All of which seem important enough, but are the consulting firms looking for people with a generic background in policy analysis (which is what I'm thinking I'd obtain from the 1st year at CMU) or someone with more specialized knowledge? I'm worried I'm not going to have time to take enough electives at CMU to become specialized in anything. The DC track includes a 2nd year apprenticeship in Washington which is what really won me over but what kind of consulting firm is going to take me on when my knowledge set is so general? Part of my problem is also that my interests are pretty broad. Education/housing/tax/financial/budget reform, it all interests me!

Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

[DCA-John]

So this might seem like a silly question but I figured the people on this thread would be able to help me out!

My question is: why consulting? and what does it entail exactly? I see the career goal of becoming a consultant thrown around all the time on these boards (including from myself!) and I'm wondering what people are expecting from a job in consulting and for those who have worked as consultants before, what is the reality?

I have no shame in saying that I want to make as much money as possible after graduation so I can get to work on paying off my debt, and if consulting is where the money is at then I'm all in! But in terms of grad school course load, what should I focus on?

While still deciding between Carnegie Mellon's DC track and Michigan, I'm worried that with CMU I will only have 1 year of classes based around courses such as applied economic analysis, database managment, information and communication technologies, financial analysis, etc. All of which seem important enough, but are the consulting firms looking for people with a generic background in policy analysis (which is what I'm thinking I'd obtain from the 1st year at CMU) or someone with more specialized knowledge? I'm worried I'm not going to have time to take enough electives at CMU to become specialized in anything. The DC track includes a 2nd year apprenticeship in Washington which is what really won me over but what kind of consulting firm is going to take me on when my knowledge set is so general? Part of my problem is also that my interests are pretty broad. Education/housing/tax/financial/budget reform, it all interests me!

Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

because (in the US at least), a lot of the interesting work is actually done by consulting firms. Many of the federal agencies contract out implementation of projects / services to consulting firms. In international development, for example, if you want to do anything other than write RFPs all day, you would go with a consulting firm or NGO, rather than going to USAID.

I wouldn't be too worried about having a general skill set - that's what being a consultant is about, particularly at more junior levels. As you rise up, you're expected to either build a reputation as a technical expert or a rolodex of clients, but at the beginning, they're looking for smart, motivated people. Narrow technical skills are less important.

[madeleinesingha]

MPA@NYU is not great for consulting. It's more focused on non-profits, foundations, and domestic gov't. The few consulting companies that do recruit at NYU (that I saw) are the Taproot Foundation and Deloitte. But the Stern school and the undergrad schools at NYU receive Mckinsey recruiters, etc. So in that way, the school is excellent because you have access to recruiters from a variety of consulting disciplines.

[ub3rmensch]

bump

I would like some more information on this topic. Looking to join consulting firms that work for or have a department that works for the public sector. 

[Guest SIPA_MPA18]

15 hours ago, ub3rmensch said:

bump

I would like some more information on this topic. Looking to join consulting firms that work for or have a department that works for the public sector. 

I second the bump. Many consulting firms are looking to hire veterans after they retire or separate from the armed forces, but will getting an MPA/MPP also help me? Anyone from a firm or on the same path as I'm looking for?

[went_away]

Public policy programs will do little to no good for getting one into a top-tier consulting firm - that nearly always requires a top-tier MBA and involves extremely fierce competition. For second/third-tier and more niche public sector and defense oriented firms (which pay considerably less than MBB) SAIS and MSFS seem to be fairly strong in the DC area. 

[Guest SIPA_MPA18]

On December 7, 2015 at 6:37 AM, went_away said:

Public policy programs will do little to no good for getting one into a top-tier consulting firm - that nearly always requires a top-tier MBA and involves extremely fierce competition. For second/third-tier and more niche public sector and defense oriented firms (which pay considerably less than MBB) SAIS and MSFS seem to be fairly strong in the DC area. 

I've done some basic research on them so I will assume you are referring to the top-tier firms as McKinsey, Bain and Boston, right? How competitive is an MPA grad for Commercial consultant gigs? If you work in Federal for a bit, are you able to make the jump to Commercial and vice versa? Commercial pays much better because the firms can't charge the government as much as they charge commercial companies and I assume they are much more competitive.

[went_away]

7 hours ago, mpp2016 said:

I've done some basic research on them so I will assume you are referring to the top-tier firms as McKinsey, Bain and Boston, right? How competitive is an MPA grad for Commercial consultant gigs? If you work in Federal for a bit, are you able to make the jump to Commercial and vice versa? Commercial pays much better because the firms can't charge the government as much as they charge commercial companies and I assume they are much more competitive.

Yep, - was referring to MBB (Mckinsey/Bain/BCG). You probably be better off sticking to gov focused firms if you have an MPA and/or a military background. I'm not sure how much good an MPA would do you otherwise; Wilson or Kennedy would probably be the most useful schools, but you'd still be at a huge disadvantage to top MBA grads. 

[Edugy]

I had a friend from SIPA who got an offer from Mckinsey this year, I had some friends from Columbia Business School who didn't get offers, so it really depends on the strengths of the applicant.

[ridofme]

If your only goal is to get into consulting, go MBA or dual degree. Having graduated in May from a top 5 program this year, I do have classmates who went straight to big consulting firms, but it was a LOT harder than my friends who did MBAs. Big consultancies do not come to recruit at IR/PP schools, so you will have to network like crazy, all based on your own initiative. Of the handful of my friends who "made it" to big firms, almost all either did consulting before grad school or have very specific technical/quant backgrounds, or both. The only exception I can think of is a 30-something vet who is doing security stuff at Deloitte now.

Also, the starting salaries are typically much lower if you're non-MBA (think 80-95 instead of 120+). Unless money is no object to you and you simply want the education, there is absolutely NO reason to do an MPP/MIA if your sole goal is to get into consulting (other than "development consulting," where you're luckily to get 50k/year).