Top Colleges for Management Consulting
Article Summary: Where you get your undergraduate degree can have a big impact on how much money you make in your management consulting career.
It’s all about the Benjamins…
Let’s say you’re planning a lucrative career in management consulting, perhaps at one of the top firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Co., Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, etc. And you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck from your undergraduate degree. Which universities regularly churn out graduates with the highest salaries?
A 2023 study from the Burning Glass Institute (a nonprofit that studies employment trends) found that where you get your undergraduate degree can have a profound impact on how much money you make down the road. And over the course of your career, than can translate into the difference of millions of dollars. For their study, they specifically looked at the first ten years after graduation and asked: How much more do you make than the average person at your position?
The results…
Perhaps unsurprisingly, graduates from some the most prestigious universities commanded the highest annual salaries in the decade following graduation, and Harvard led the pack. The average salary for management consultants within the first 10 years of graduating college is $94,009/year. But Harvard graduates earned an average of $61,000 a year more, making an average of $155,000/year. That’s 65% more than the national average!
MIT graduates were next, averaging $152,000/year. Rounding out the Top 5 were #3 Princeton at $150,000, #4 Yale at $147,000, and #5 Dartmouth at $145,000.
Top Public Universities…
Looking to save a lot on tuition? Smart shoppers know a bargain when they see one, and there are a number of excellent public universities that give you a boost in salary when you go into management consulting. Assuming you’re an in-state resident, you can cut your tuition costs in half, if not more, by attending one of the state schools on the list. But, it should be noted that the salary boost you get from attending one of these public universities is not nearly as pronounced as the boost you get from the top private colleges.
For example, graduates of #1 Georgia Tech earn about $21,000 more than the industry average, for an annual salary of $115,000. And graduates for #2 UMich, #3 UVA, #4 UC Berkeley, and #5 UT Austin similarly earn in the $107,000-$113,000 range. But even the #1 public college (Georgia Tech) salary of $115,000 is still lower than #20 private college (Carnegie Mellon) salary of $117,000. For some reason, management consulting firms are willing to pay a premium to attract talent from the top private universities. (Maybe it’s to help those students pay off their hefty student loans? We don’t know.)
Harvard graduates who go into management consulting earn an average of $61,000 a year more than the national average in their first 10 years.
Management consultants help organizations run more efficiently by analyzing their data and suggesting changes.
Management consultants spend much of the year traveling. It’s a fast-paced, high-stress job, but you learn the ins and outs of key businesses.
Georgia Tech in Atlanta tops the list of public universities for management consulting. Their graduates earn $20,000 more than the national average.
Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA may best be known for science and technology, but graduates who go into management consulting earn about $25,000 more than the national average.