Strategy and Management Consulting Major

Keely613 · August 2013

Hey! So what are your opinions of the "Strategy and Management Consulting" major at Emory? Is it any more useful to get consulting jobs than majors like Finance or Accounting? Is it difficult or easy? How's the workload? I'd appreciate any opinions!

Timberwolf4Life · August 2013

It will get you exactly the jobs you want in Strategy and Management Consulting. It is probably more useful in the sense that it is pointed, but you are going to want to have a quantitative background if you want to break New York finance OR consulting. Emory just feeds into different firms...not that there isn't any crossover.

bernie12 · August 2013

Stop worrying about the workload. As Timberwolf is suggesting, it appears more rigor may actually help you branch out especially if it involves developing higher than normal quantitative background/ability. I think that's one reason many Emory students may fall short in terms of landing NY firms and the like, because they avoid the quantitative or whatever isn't viewed as easy and seamless (these places aren't going to full blown target students like this). And trust me, at Emory, even if you chose a more rigorous route, you'll still easily have time for other things. You'll just have to be more academically serious than many of your peers and be willing to split the time more or less equally between work and "play" (play meaning any ECs), that's all.

Timberwolf4Life · August 2013

Bernie12 pretty much summed it up well.

I think if you are looking for a strong, rigorous business program with a holistic approach, UVA's McIntire School of Commerce is great with strong rankings in finance, management, consulting, and strategy. Plus, the proximity to D.C. firms and [relative proximity to] New York firms can help. Rule of thumb: Quantitative is more useful.

If you are deadset on Emory, try some time with Oxford College and then try to gain admission to Goizueta.

bernie12 · August 2013

Yeah, I think Oxford would provide better math foundations and perhaps better econ. foundations as well. You can take their INQ courses in any such areas if you really want to become strong. Virginia's b-school apparently is more rigorous than its peers according to business week. Their workload appears 4-7 hours higher per week than the others. The others are probably just solid for networking, faculty, and maybe even location to some degree. Virginia has all of this and higher rigor. Could be a bad thing if you aren't aiming high, but is good if you are. As suggested, Timberwolf's Oxford/GBS route is also solid.

aluminum_boat · August 2013

I think we've talked about this.
If you want to do something like this, then get a Bschool degree to obtain contacts and professionalism and back it up with a physics or engineering or CS or math major so you're actually an attractive candidate.

BSchool teaches you how to make a good impression, how to make contacts, etc. It does not give you a strong technical background.
Therefore, you will be the first fired if the company has any financial troubles. If you have nothing of value to add (technical backgroudn) you start off at 65-75k a year, but, 3 years down the road, they'll replace you with some other fresh college grad that can do the exact same work as you.

Kind of like what the others have said. The more quantitative, the better. BSchool is not considered quantitative.

bernie12 · August 2013

Unfortunately, I think we're preaching to an "empty chair" (lol). Students at Emory considering B-school are probably not thinking of aiming that high, initially at least. They are perhaps doing it for the safety of getting that 50-60k job right out of college. The more interesting among them are perhaps the people who become more entrepreneurial. Interestingly, even in this category, I think ECAS probably has more of entrepreneurial spirit. Not to say it's great, but it's certainly better than it used to be and could be better than other schools near our rank. It needs more administrative backing and encouragement though). Emory Bubble and Campus Moviefest are good, I guess (though Emory Bubble's impact kind of remains to be seen).

Timberwolf4Life · August 2013

To Aluminum Boat...Business Schools vary in "fluff." Your business degree at MIT will be extremely technical. Not so much at Washington State University. It all depends on the course load YOU take at the business school and what your concentration. Business school is quantitative depending on the school and program. I do not shy away from recommending business school to anyone who IS serious about business and business only and understands that a strong foundation in economics or engineering is also necessary.

But then again, we are talking to an empty chair and I am still a high school kid. Lol! You're probably right man.

aluminum_boat · August 2013

I don't think we are talking to an empty chair. At least I hope not. I don't blame her for weighing all her options. I mean, it took years for people to convince me of this same thing. And, let's face it, the business world is pretty attractive, and this is a big decision.

I agree that BSchools vary in fluff (MIT everything is technical - It's needless to say that it is an exception. There's a reason so many quants come out of there-. And Wharton is another obvious exception)but I'm thinking that she's set on Emory's Bschool. Which is fine, but I still recommend at the least a minor in something else.

Note that even you added the caveat about the strong economics/engineering background in that last sentence. It all goes back to the "what can you do for me three years down the road that a fresh college graduate cannot?" statement I made earlier.

Another thought to think about - Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia etc. don't even bother with undergrad BBA programs (and we can agree that if they wanted to create one, they could easily do so).

Timberwolf4Life · August 2013

You are very right! In any case, Emory will probably feed in Georgia companies such as Coca-Cola. It is just different business I suppose.

bernie12 · August 2013

Haha, I would almost rather go to the technical/engineering side of Coca Cola. They do some amazing things! Soria taught in frosh orgo how Coca Cola essentially screwed nutrisweet over by designing an extremely efficient apparatus to make aspartame. The system was extremely clever and ingenious in terms of the biology and chemistry considered. Those schools you mention w/o BBAs have extremely strong economics and math UG programs though.

Timberwolf4Life · August 2013

Yeah haha that's awesome! I love classes that apply the principles of the curriculum toward the real world. The reason why Ivies get most of the jobs that normal business graduates would get is because the economics courses there are still specialized enough to be of value, like Columbia's financial combinatoric classes or Harvard's asset management classes.

bernie12 · August 2013

Yeah, that sounds interesting. Maybe our econ. dept can be revitalized (or vitalized, I don't know if it was ever strong though one would think some success would have to preceed the creation of GBS) if we brought in faculty that established courses like that and added rigor to the curriculum. Currently, they have made enough courses so that you can specialize/concentrate in certain areas, but I imagine that the actual courses are mostly a fairly non-rigorous approach to theory in each area.

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