<p>Hey,</p>
<p>So I saw on salary.com (yeah I'm a bit superficial like that) that there are (insert speciality here) engineer consultants. Are they essentially there to help a certain company come up with ideas to increase business or what?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know how competitive it is to get a consulting job/how well consulting pays? Does prestige of Business school matter at all?</p>
<p>If you want to do consulting in engineering you would need a degree in engineering.</p>
<p>If you mean just consulting with a business degree, then yes, it is difficult to get these jobs.</p>
<p>In general, consulting pays well.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, does anyone know how competitive it is to get a consulting job/how well consulting pays? Does prestige of Business school matter at all?
[/quote]
Yes prestige matters a lot in consulting. Make sure your at a target school for whatever consulting firm you want to work for. If you want McKinsey/Bain/BCG you have to be at a TOP school (Ivy, Stanford, MIT).</p>
<p>thanks. I was just wondering also whether or not degree matters. I'm thinking about doing a double major in BME (since I'm still highly considering being a doc) and econ (or w/e business related field I like ie finance). Would B-Schools/employers like the double major? Can I still major in engineering and be a consultant for something non-engineering like?</p>
<p>thanks (I'm pretty ignorant about this stuff)</p>
<p>PS How stable is consulting? Is it easy to get laid off?</p>
<p>thanks again (sorry I'm being annoying right now)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Can I still major in engineering and be a consultant for something non-engineering like?
[/quote]
Yes. You can major in anything, just have a high GPA.</p>
<p>
[quote]
How stable is consulting? Is it easy to get laid off?
[/quote]
Not the most stable of industries. You have to remember that if you do get the opportunity to work in consulting, your competing against some very bright folks. Most consulting firms have an up or out culture, just like any other "prestigious" business profession.</p>
<p>Consulting is not stable at all. For example, most IT consulting companies are trying to outsource most of their work. In certain companies, the only jobs they offer are consultant roles in which you are a liason between the client and your "team" which is composed entirely of Indians.</p>
<p>When I graduated from college, 20 students in my class accepted jobs with a Big 4 (5 at the time) consulting firm. They all signed to receive the signing bonus. Later, 5 of those students backed out because they received better offers (and just paid back the signing bonus...per the contract they had signed). This company got very ****y about it and really had a fit with our Career Center (especially when a student leader backed out of her deal).</p>
<p>Regardless, there were 15 students that still had offers with that consulting company. When the economy took a downturn they cut all their offers (actually, they said they were putting them on hold for 12+ months...really, they just cut them). For a large company that got all ****y for students backing out of their contract, they sure didn't hesitate to break their loyalty to other students.</p>
<p>BTW, it's much easier to go from engineering to business/IT consulting. It's near impossible to do the opposite. Engineering (ie ChemE, EE) is a much more demanding major.</p>