<p>My goal is to work for a management consulting firm, and was wondering which major do you think would be more attractive or relevant to this field.</p>
<p>Is that one major or two? I am not familiar with that title. The more accounting you have–the better, so I would lean to that one.</p>
<p>If I had the option to do it all over again with any possible degrees at my disposal then I would do a double major in Accounting and either MIS/ISDS or Supply Chain.</p>
<p>Accounting gives the ultimate foundation for the business world, while MIS gives the technical knowledge of systems and the computer world that is in play. I also really like supply chain, so I would potentially do that as it is another specialty area in demand.</p>
<p>It’s basically a double major of accounting and economics</p>
<p>If you want to be a management consultant you’re best bet is to study economics at a top 25-30 university. Recently, I have been studying the career survey reports from the career services departments at the top universities and they all confirm that fact. For example, you can look at U of Virginia’s graduate surveys and see that the most popular major for management consulting is economics. You could make it happen from another university just outside of that range, but you would have to really stand out as a student and interviewee while making your own opportunity. If you’re in the top 30 then consulting companies will be recruiting you, otherwise you have to pursue them. </p>
<p>Accounting as a major makes almost zero sense for your intended career path. Accounting prepares one to be an accountant, and the career path after that leads one to being a manager, CFO, or Controller after many years experience.</p>
<p>Management consultants from the top universities usually start out as management analysts right after undergrad. If not from a top university then your best bet is to start out in IT, engineering, or operations. I think the best majors for you would be industrial eng., supply chain, or computer science.</p>
<p>It is definitely possible to get into management consulting with an accounting background. I think it might be the saving grace that allows for someone outside the top 20 schools to actually get into the consulting business. I don’t go to a top 30 school in the country, but I have accepted a consulting job with the Big 4 after pursing accounting in undergrad.</p>
<p>Unless at an Ivy, I don’t like economics as a major because it lacks the practical application. If you pair economics with math or accounting or finance or some other speciality that pushes it into the practical arena, then economics can be a strong supporting major.</p>
<p>^Well then you are an extreme exception to the rule. There are very detailed statistics from many national universities that say otherwise and I will be happy to share those tomorrow when I have time. I just looked at penn state’s and they don’t report any of their accounting majors taking the job title of consultant. The majors that did report the job title of consultant were mainly finance, supply chain, MIS and I believe IE as well, but I’ll have to double check. </p>
<p>An economics major from Penn State (outside of the top 30 at number 47) does not lead to consulting gigs as I suspected, although UT- Austin’s (listed at 45 and which has only case studies and not detailed statistics) liberal arts career center seems to suggest that many of their economics graduates do land in consulting. There’s a lot of information out there taken directly from student surveys conducted by universities, but it is very difficult to find as it is always buried somewhere in the employers, alumni, or parents section of the career services section. Anyways, the picture I’ve gotten from studying these surveys supports what I said earlier: If you want to do consulting either attend a top 30 university and study economics/finance (or whatever you want if you’re ivy league), or go to a lesser ranked university and study IE, CS or MIS, supply chain, or maybe finance. Accounting does not often lead to a career in consulting despite what this Goose guy is claiming; maybe after 5-10 years of being in the industry, but manager, CFO or controller are much more common and even logical routes.</p>
<p>I was looking at job listing earlier tonight at a Big 4 Financial Services consulting position and one of the requirements was a BA/BS in Accounting or Finance. Yes, specialties like supply chain and MIS easily transition into consulting. Finance does as well, but finance is an extremely versatile degree. However, I think you are discounting the value of a CPA and how it can be integrated into the consulting practice.</p>
<p>When looking at these surveys, do you consider than the large, large majority of accounting majors are going to get a MaCC following undergraduate? It would be much more telling to look at Masters in Accounting programs and see what success they have in placing students into consulting roles, than undergraduates.</p>
<p>I will admit this–I received audit job offers from some of the big four and had to specifically ask about their consulting opportunities because they were not openly recruiting for it. However, I have been told that my GPA is what got my foot in the door (3.9+) otherwise those opportunities would have not been available. Also, I go to a small school where they were able to go speak to my professors, we have alumni that work at the firm, etc. which all helped get my foot in the door. Two of the B4 were willing to entertain the consulting discussion, while one was not and only offered an audit job.</p>
<p>I will also admit that I spoke heavily with Accenture and they were unable to find a job for me due to my accounting background instead of systems/engineering backgrounds like they were looking for in applicants.</p>
<p>Here’s the link for the Penn State career survey I was looking at last night: [Penn</a> State Career Services Post Graduation Activities](<a href=“http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/career/postgrad.shtml]Penn”>http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/career/postgrad.shtml)</p>
<p>Here’s some really good reports from Georgetown’s senior survey: [Senior</a> Survey Results](<a href=“Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University”>Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University)</p>