<p>This kid I was talking to is saying how he did this program where he's getting 2 undergrad degrees in mechanical engineering and physics. When I heard the mechanical engineering part, I mentioned how one of my friends who will be earning his degree in mechanical engineering has a job offer that will give him many benefits and around a $58k salary.</p>
<p>When I told the kid this, he said "thats it!?" and he was telling me "lets just say its all about who you know" and apparently his dad does some kind of consulting? Idk, but the pay for this must be pretty impressive if it eclipses a 58k starting salary.</p>
<p>At least in structural engineering, to be a good “consultant” you need to have a lot of experience and be really good at what you do. Your clients are paying you for your knowledge. My husband wanted to go out on his owner after a few years of working, but I told him he didn’t have enough experience. You also gain a lot of contacts as you work - it’s important to have a strong network in place before you go out on your own.</p>
<p>We started our consulting firm 13 years after getting out of grad school. That worked out pretty well for us.</p>
<p>You can always work for a consultant, but you won’t get paid what the owner of the company does, of course!</p>
<p>Computer engineering consulting might be different, so I will be interested in other responses.</p>
<p>$58k is the national average for starting salary for a mechanical engineer (and pretty close to the average for most other types of engineering). Sure you can go into consulting if you went to the right school and knew the right people, and while it does pay more, it also isn’t for everyone. It also depends pretty greatly on what type of consulting you do and for what company. Money doesn’t buy happiness though, and I know more than a couple consultants whose lives are otherwise miserable. I know plenty who are happy though, too.</p>
<p>Suffice it to say, though, that if you let money rule your life, you are setting yourself up for a less fulfilling life than you might otherwise lead.</p>
<p>There are many types of consulting. If you go into management consulting and land a position with a top firm (MBB), you typically start around $80k per year. After two years they pay to send you to Harvard/Wharton/Stanford/etc (the type of people they hire have no problem getting into those schools) for an MBA, then you come back making $150k. After 6 years or so, you make partner and make in the $300k - $500k range.</p>
<p>But to do that you need to be a top, top student: top school, very high GPA, well known on campus, hold leadership positions on campus, excellent internship experience, and be an outstanding interviewee. Typically these companies hire a fraction of a percent of the students interviewed. There are dozens of books solely written about how to interview with these companies, and HBS even puts out a book on management consulting interview etiquette.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you go into technical consulting or IT consulting (Accenture, IBM, etc), you’re looking at a typical engineer’s salary: $60k to start, up to $100k in 6 years. Maybe you make partner in 12 years and earn in the $200k range.</p>
<p>The cool thing about private-sector I.T. consulting is learning the business operations of different industries. If it is healthcare, then you end up learning about the healthcare industry, HCFA, providers, billing, etc. If is pharmaceuticals, then you learn about that industry, etc.</p>
<p>In the consulting world the only ones that make partner are the ones that can bring in business.</p>
<p>That’s not true about the top management consulting firms. If you go to a target school you’re chance of landing a postion with them is much higher than a fraction of a percent. Just go look at UVA’s or Berkeley’s most recent placement surveys for undergrads, which are available online. Many students also happen to prefer IB to consulting and the two fields are generally considered either level with each other, or IB slightly ahead; so we can assume that if a student was good enough to get in with an IB they were probably good enough to get into MBB. Considering that many, many grads from target schools go to work for top consulting or IB firms, it’s safe to assume that the chances are not a tiny fraction as banjo’s post implies.</p>
<p>Inmotion12, I think you are overestimating the “many, many” students getting these positions.</p>