Consulting vs IB vs Big 4 - which one opens more doors for careers?

[makker]

I am currently starting my bachelor degree and will major most likely in finance and management/econ. The question is when I move on to complete my master's degree, is it wise to continue with a degree in a field of finance or should I go for something else in the business world? Is it better to show that you have a strong academic past in the finance field or are you too narrow in scope?

 

[merkur]

..

 

[swaggerisaliability]

Originally Posted by merkur

How difficult is it to switch from MBB to IB or vice-versa (without an MBA in-between jobs)?

Hard considering they're not terribly related. But in the end, it depends on your connections, who you know at the other places, whether they would vouch for you, your knowledge of finance, etc. I'd imagine switching from a top tier firm to a lower tier firm would be easier (i.e. MBB to a middle market/boutique bank or Goldman to a second tier consulting firm). If you network like crazy, it can be done, and I know of people who have switched.

 

[makker]

Could someone tell me what is valued more; a guy with a bachelor and master's degree in finance or a guy with a bachelor in something but a MBA in finance.

The latter one is the stereotypical American on the US job market; they can do 4 years studying whatever from a mediocre college, do some work and then they hit a top-tier B-school and do a MBA and then they are all ******* CEOs.

 

[Cool The Kid]

Originally Posted by makker

Could someone tell me what is valued more; a guy with a bachelor and master's degree in finance or a guy with a bachelor in something but a MBA in finance. The latter one is the stereotypical American on the US job market; they can do 4 years studying whatever from a mediocre college, do some work and then they hit a top-tier B-school and do a MBA and then they are all ******* CEOs.
I would think it would depend on what field the candidate is going into. I'm an engineer, looking to get my MBA at a midlevel program and continue in engineering... I think w/my experience I would be valued in an engineering capacity... but not in finance. Seems like an MBA doesn't really offer much knowledge but is more about networking, branding and providing a basic understanding of business + whatever your concentraion is

 

[Milpool]

Originally Posted by makker

Could someone tell me what is valued more; a guy with a bachelor and master's degree in finance or a guy with a bachelor in something but a MBA in finance.

The latter one is the stereotypical American on the US job market; they can do 4 years studying whatever from a mediocre college, do some work and then they hit a top-tier B-school and do a MBA and then they are all ******* CEOs.

Well, straight out of b-school, the folks with the "business" backgrounds (consulting, banking, etc), regardless of degrees, got snatched up for jobs far faster than anyone else.

Beyond that, the trend I seemed to see was that if you stayed in your field. . . the MBA seemed to make you REALLY marketable. For instance, a mechanical engineer with ME work, getting an MBA and wanting to manage something within an ME company did real well.

If you wanted to career switch, it was a much harder fight. An ME with ME work wanting to be a banker really had to work to get an offer. The interesting thing was that the consultancies seemed to like engineers, but not really scientists.

 

[Mr Herbert]

wouldnt that depend on the experience of the engineer?

an engineer who has worked for an oil company doing project feasability evaluations etc would be in a different position to one who has been working for a valve manufacturer and knows every technical detail there is to know about valves.

 

[Butter]

I would say the biggest difference between those 2 fields is the amount of travel.

Consulting has a STAGGERING amount of travel. You practically live in the airports.

Workload and pay wise, you can argue either way which is better.

 

[HRoi]

these kind of questions are impossible to answer definitively.

i have a lot of experience with the strat consulting firms as a client (primarily Mckinsey, Bain and BCG) - it does get difficult sometimes to manage them for certain projects where a lot of internal expertise is required, because they just get in the way and getting them up to speed is more trouble than it's worth. but they are useful where external analysis or a completely fresh perspective is needed.

unfortunately my boss's boss loves to use them indiscriminately and sometimes we end up paying them hundreds of thousands for the privilege of babysitting them.

 

[Milpool]

Originally Posted by Mr Herbert

wouldnt that depend on the experience of the engineer?

an engineer who has worked for an oil company doing project feasability evaluations etc would be in a different position to one who has been working for a valve manufacturer and knows every technical detail there is to know about valves.

Approximately 0 engineers working for oil companies doing project feasibility evaluations graduated with me (or the class before me). So, in short, I have no clue.

I will say this though, one company I interviewed with, kind of / sort of in my field, actually told me that my previous experience didn't matter to them, and would hold no weight when comparing me to other candidates, they were only concerned with business school stuff (grades, gmat, classes, etc). I was trying to focus on ways I would help them immediately in their business segment that I was most familiar with.

So, generalizations are kind of tough to make.

 

[Cool The Kid]

Originally Posted by Milpool

Approximately 0 engineers working for oil companies doing project feasibility evaluations graduated with me (or the class before me). So, in short, I have no clue.

I will say this though, one company I interviewed with, kind of / sort of in my field, actually told me that my previous experience didn't matter to them, and would hold no weight when comparing me to other candidates, they were only concerned with business school stuff (grades, gmat, classes, etc). I was trying to focus on ways I would help them immediately in their business segment that I was most familiar with.

So, generalizations are kind of tough to make.
What kind of company was it? I am almost certain engineering companies would look at previous engineering experience.

 

[Dashaansafin]

Originally Posted by swaggerisaliability

Hard considering they're not terribly related. But in the end, it depends on your connections, who you know at the other places, whether they would vouch for you, your knowledge of finance, etc. I'd imagine switching from a top tier firm to a lower tier firm would be easier (i.e. MBB to a middle market/boutique bank or Goldman to a second tier consulting firm). If you network like crazy, it can be done, and I know of people who have switched.

Middle Market doesn't mean lower than a BB. Its just a different market. I would go to Lazard or Greehill or HLHZ over Citi, UBS, CS any day.