<p>What's the best business concentration to prepare for a career in management consulting?</p>
<p>I was a math major. Liberal-arts majors are not uncommon in consultancies.</p>
<p>Remember, it has little to do with specific "business" knowledge or experience (unless you're an MBA). As an analyst recruit out of college, they're looking for (roughly in this order):</p>
<p>1) People who are really, really smart.
2) Analytical thinking skills, including a strongly organizational approach to abstract problem-solving
2A) The ability to use those skills with common business tools like Excel, Access, Powerpoint
3) Excellent communication skills as demonstrated by fluid interview ability, thinking on your feet, acting "professional", and looking presentable. You need to look and act like the money that clients are paying for you, which is why you wear suits most of the time.</p>
<p>In my experience, consulting firms are fairly agnostic about major when it comes to finding really smart people. However, they have found that those people are unlikely to be business majors, since that tends to be a cop-out from more analytically rigorous options. Such thinking is a generalization, of course, and kids at Wharton obviously aren't looked down on at all, but that is the overall trend.</p>