WhirledWorld wrote:Voyager wrote:FlamingDragon wrote:Thanks for the post, but for other readers, I would not assume the lifestyle at large consulting firms is better (and the pay is worse, with equal attrition). Of my 10-12 college classmates in MBB + Delloite, I know one who actually likes it and plans to stay. Numerous others have left. You will have to travel either 4 to 5 days a week and basically have little life outside of work, and there is no guarantee the work is going to be at all engaging as described here (it's a lot of excel bs).
Both paths are highly setting dependent but I would take higher pay and not traveling 9 times out of 10.
Starting pay was $135k base with a $20k signing bonus, a $20k-$30k performance bonus and ANOTHER $15k bonus put into a retirement account for you yearly.
All in, 1st year made $190k. Year 2 closer to $180k (raise, but not signing bonus).
You make partner in ~7 years. New partners are making $700k.
I left the firm before then and am clearing $250k, all in, similar to my 4th year buddies ONLY because of the good bonuses paid out by biglaw this year. Now I have minimal travel (few days a quarter) and work 50 hour work weeks.
Finally, the work is just more interesting at MBB. It is not "excel BS". It is solving interesting problems. You also get direct client interaction.
Voyager wrote:FlamingDragon wrote:Thanks for the post, but for other readers, I would not assume the lifestyle at large consulting firms is better (and the pay is worse, with equal attrition). Of my 10-12 college classmates in MBB + Delloite, I know one who actually likes it and plans to stay. Numerous others have left. You will have to travel either 4 to 5 days a week and basically have little life outside of work, and there is no guarantee the work is going to be at all engaging as described here (it's a lot of excel bs).
Both paths are highly setting dependent but I would take higher pay and not traveling 9 times out of 10.
Starting pay was $135k base with a $20k signing bonus, a $20k-$30k performance bonus and ANOTHER $15k bonus put into a retirement account for you yearly.
All in, 1st year made $190k. Year 2 closer to $180k (raise, but not signing bonus).
You make partner in ~7 years. New partners are making $700k.
I left the firm before then and am clearing $250k, all in, similar to my 4th year buddies ONLY because of the good bonuses paid out by biglaw this year. Now I have minimal travel (few days a quarter) and work 50 hour work weeks.
Finally, the work is just more interesting at MBB. It is not "excel BS". It is solving interesting problems. You also get direct client interaction.
A few clarifications.
1. Starting comp is a bit higher in law. Base comp right now for new associates is closer to 120k than 135k. You do get the 20k signing bonus and the 20-40k (usually 20k) performance bonus, and the retirement pay-in. Personally, I'd take the 175k in cash, but it probably shouldn't be anyone's decision point.
2. I'd agree that strategy is more interesting than law from a bird's eye view, but the day-to-day work is equally a grind. Putting together a slide deck in a factory basement in Peoria is not interesting.
3. I'll be frank: MBB consulting just isn't an option for 99% of people reading this thread. Conservatively, there are about 2,000 biglaw associate openings in NYC each year for JD candidates. Do you know how many JD-only-candidates got a job at MBB in NYC two years ago? One. One dude. I say this because I know the guy -- he went to Harvard and joined McK (Bain and BCG NYC only hired MBA candidates). But even if you get into Harvard Business School, your shot at MBB is still only like 30%. MBB Consulting is as much an option for people reading this as Blackstone associate positions are an option.
I agree and second a lot of your points with a few modifications and notes, just for the audience of 0Ls/1Ls looking on.
McKinsey was the only consulting firm that actually came to campus and actively recruited us with lunches/dinners and at EIP, but Boston Consulting Group did a resume drop and they accept applications from JD students, so it's not technically accurate to say their NY office only hires MBA candidates. Anecdotally, I also know from a personal contact that they are open to/have taken JDs from at least Harvard and Columbia, and probably other schools too.
Also, this website has a bizarre hangup with acronyms like "MBB". The field of consulting firms that do challenging and interesting work is far more encompassing. It's a little like repeating the only corporate law firms as Cravath, Davis Polk and S&C (very flawed analogy but at least somewhat descriptive). Some will have programs exclusively for undergrads and MBAs, some will be broader. The firm where I was an analyst was not one of these three but it was just a tier below, and we had JDs that started at the associate/manager level. Of course, some firms will have a specific industry clientele and they won't all be strategy work, but if you are seriously considering consulting in lieu of private law practice, broaden your horizons.
Lastly, HBS (and the M7 more generally) send roughly 25-30% of their class into consulting each year, but that does not fairly reflect a student's
shot at those jobs. From a strictly compensation-driven perspective, hedge fund/PE/VC work is more coveted (and probably requires more sophisticated experience). Consulting is more of a default if you aren't more specially qualified in another field. I would think from a top MBA program your chances at a prominent consulting group are higher than 30%, but that's just speculation from data.