We’re deciding between IU Kelley (OOS) (Economic Consulting), Virginia Tech (In-State)(Economics), and UMass Amherst Honors (OOS)(Economics). If you have any thoughts or experiences with these programs or schools, we’d really appreciate your input!
Bloomington, IN and Amherst, MA are both known as two of the great college towns in America and both Business schools are excellent. Friend’s daughter is currently at Kelley and GS is in Honors College at UMass. Both, out of state, are having great experiences and loving their time at their respective schools.
regardless if the above, it’s hard to argue with in state cost at VA Tech. You have 3 great choices. Can’t go wrong with any of the three.
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If she wants to be a high end consultant, IU might have the better track record. Pamplin and Annenberg have the best food in the country.
Va Tech cheapest - does that matter ?
Three good names.
Net price difference and does it matter?
Preferences for business or economics as a major?
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Congrats on the options. If money matters, it is hard to beat VT in-state. If all are affordable I’d take a hard look at the curriculum of Kelly (with a business core curriculum) compared to a liberal arts economics curriculum.
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Is Kelley a direct entry admit? If it or either of the others are not, I would favor the university which guarantees you admission to the school and major you’re seeking.
Take a look at the course requirements.
In industry-speak, Economic Consulting is something very specific- Analysis Group, for example. They consult on big, complex anti-trust cases or similar. They hire PhD’s and econometricians and “expert witness” types with deep and narrow experience, or generalists who are exceptionally strong in modeling and other quant functions. A kid who wants to work at Deloitte or Bain in “strategy consulting” may assume that all consulting is the same but it’s not.
I am not familiar with a specific “economic consulting” major– although have hired quants and econometricians– but if a specific degree in that discipline is being considered, look at the course work, look at where the students end up getting hired. The “Economic Consulting” group of firms and companies is highly regarded, well compensated, etc. but it is narrow. And suitable for a kid who lives and breathes math.
If IU just uses it as shorthand for “consulting”– then that’s a different animal. And recognize that for McKinsey, Bain, BCG (the top tier of strategy consulting firms) a degree in physics, plain vanilla econ, engineering, poli sci, etc. is a fine launch pad/background.
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Kelley is a direct Admit. Umass is a direct Honors College Admit, and the VA Tech program is under the College of Arts and Sciences.
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Preference is economics major with minor in policy or business/data analytics. She is still not clear which direction she wants to go with economics in future yet.
Net price matters but she got 16k annual scholarship from UMass and 6K from IU (expecting to get some more later).
She is still debating what she wants to do with economics in the future- whether to go towards the policy side or the Business/Data Analytics side.
For this major mix, Kelley seems perfect. Many students double-major in Public Policy Analysis and add a co-major in Business Analytics due to the overlap in courses.
To @blossom’s point: it is a little bit of A, little bit of B. Most of the professors who are teaching the classes in the major are associated economists with NERA/AG/CRA etc. but being in business school, there is a little more emphasis on the policy and applied aspects (eg. doing group projects) rather than a traditional, more calculus-heavy experience if it were to be in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Most students use it as a springboard for traditional management consulting roles and pre-law, though a couple do end up in the economic consulting field.
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Budget is always the first criteria - so you don’t want to strain the family. And there is no guarantee of anything.
Econ is going to be econ - with different paths - whether A/S flavored or business school flavored but the gen ed / other business pre req requirements in the bus school will be different.
Direct costs at Va Tech are $35K. UMASS is $61K minus $16K so $45K. IU is about $57K minus $6K so $51K. My kid got $9K and nothing else so what makes you assured there will be more? There may be - but just curious why more would be expected?
Is $35K comfortable for your family? $45K? $51K?
IUs first destination 2025 for the major shows 79% employed and 12% still looking in the major with a who’s who of employers - we don’t know what they’re doing but may assume consulting with 36% in Illinois (presumably Chicago) and 24% in NY (presumably the city). They don’t list salaries for the major but they do for a joint degree with Public Policy. Given IU is at the top at the grad level for Policy/Public Admin, I’m assuming they do very well at the undergrad level given Public Policy in there. I put the link below to salaries.
No doubt, if you love the curriculum AND IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT, IU appears on paper to be a splendid choice. Note - Kelley is a huge school and not sure but may have competitive clubs (hard to break into). Econ will likely be fine too at Va Tech and UMASS - it depends on what they really appreciate and what you can afford. Don’t crush the family financially. There is no guarantee a major (vs. another) will lead to success. You will see consultants at some of these same companies from UMASS and Va Tech too. I will say Va Tech’s reported data from 2024 for Econ isn’t near as solid with near half seeking employment (43.7%) but they don’t provide a quantity. Nor does IU but on the salary page there was near 100. I put Va Tech’s dashboard below too so you can see the companies, which decidedly are not in the same range. But your student, if a school is in consideration, can and should reach out to the department, talk to a prof about career services, etc. btw - most at Va Tech showed not seeking a job - so not sure what that is or why that is - and you can ask. UMASS - put their link too - but doesn’t get to the major level.
Other considerations - will the student get homesick to the point they can’t handle (two are far away) and Va Tech and UMASS are considered the creme de la creme of student dining - and many kids struggle with eating and food. Not sure about IU’s food - Niche gives a B+ from student ratings.
IU employers for the major.
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PwC
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Deloitte
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EY LLP
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Kaufman Hall
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Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
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JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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Baker Tilly US, LLP
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Citi
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Guardian Life
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L.E.K. Consulting
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NielsenIQ
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Fidelity Investments
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Bradley Associates
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DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc. (DMA)
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The Hagerman Group
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Carebility, Inc.
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Pearlmark
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Crowe LLP
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Mastercard
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Rolls-Royce Corporation
Business Economics and Public Policy | Undergraduate Career Services | Indiana Kelley
Undergraduate Student Outcomes Data – Career and Professional Development | Virginia Tech
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No. Each of the non-consulting firms on this list have internal “consulting” teams (often called something else) but to my knowledge, Fidelity isn’t looking for new grads to join one of those teams. Ditto Mastercard, Citi, Guardian Life, etc. Nothing wrong with these employers, and nothing wrong with a kid starting out in insurance, credit card, banking, etc. But these are likely not consulting track roles.
I was looking at the top - but yeah - but your earlier point about consultants come in all flavors is exactly right and many companies have “internal” consulting groups - we are about to disband one - and it’s about telling car dealers how to run their businesses. As you can imagine, they are not thrilled with non dealer people telling them how to run their businesses - but they are process improvement consultants.
Even in grad school, the big thing and an offer I got was Change Management consulting at Deloitte - which just meant you were helping with SAP installations….so yeah, they come in all flavors. That was 25+ years ago…but it was the same back then - they come in all flavors.
That’s why I hate when people say - I want to be a consultant…..ok….that runs the gamut to so many things.
Math intensity can be a significant difference between various economics major programs.
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yes - hence the different paths.
Running the gamut means maybe getting assigned to something you hate - which is the case with my GS despite being with a top consulting firm. They expect a lot of hours. A lot. Hard to spend so many of your working hours on something you hate regardless of how well you’re getting paid to do it.
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A significant portion of consulting work performed by the Big 4 (PwC, EY, Deloitte, & KPMG) is implementation of plans designed by major management consulting firms such as MBB (McKinsey, Bain, & Boston Consulting Group).
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Funny - my company uses (not sure why) McKinsey - we’ve completely undone their strategy from 3 years ago - which, I think honestly they did what we asked them to do vs. them telling us it would work.
We use Deloitte - for audit (not accounting) purposes - auditing of dealers following rules for a program.
There’s all types. They’re (for us) not much different than Omnicom - which is marketing/advertising - they audit a leads source. Their job titles - also consulting.
Consultants come in all flavors for sure.
Not to mention fixing their screw-ups.
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