The email below actually asks be a B-school-related question, which is something I haven’t had in a while. It seems that most of the emails I get nowadays are about consulting. But, this one has a tie to consulting, so I guess it isn’t totally away from this recent norm…

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P wrote:

“Hi Marquis,
Your blog has been incredibly helpful in outlining the b-school experience including both the admission process and the post b-school job/recruiting experience. I was wondering whether you could give any confirmation to the comment I have heard recently from consultants and b-school students. I was told that people who worked in consulting before attending business school found the course work much more manageable and generally were not as stressed out as their non-consultant classmates. Did you find that your former consultant classmates at the GSB had an easier time on average with their coursework than your non-consultant classmates. Thanks so much!
Regards,
P”

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My response:

P,

Thanks for checking out my blog and using it as a resource. Your question is an interesting one and I’m not sure if I am the best person to answer it. I could give you my perception of my former consultant classmates’ experience, but I never asked any of them if they found school to be easier. I would suggest finding a couple of B-school students and alums who were consultants before matriculating and asking them whether they found B-school to be a relatively easy two years. Anything outside of that would just be second-hand info and might not be too useful to you.

With that said, I can still give you my second-hand view to answer your question. In short, it seemed like my former consultant classmates were superstars in the classroom from Day One…but, from the perspective of someone who didn’t know anything about business, a lot of people seemed like superstars from the start. The former consultants were masters at cracking a case for class discussion and digging into the heart of the problem, while I started off simply answering the questions that came along with the case. In other words, I saw myself as barely scratching the surface during class discussions while the former consultants were digging deep into the cases with a backhoe. Also, the former consultants in my classes spoke with such clarity, structure, and confidence that it gave off the impression that they KNEW what they were talking about and, as such, you should know that they were on point. It was amazing seeing how these folks got down in class. By second year, we’d all gone through the core and it felt like everyone “got it”, so the level of discussion and analysis increased among all of us.

Now that I’ve been doing this consulting thing for a while, I can see why having spent a couple of years doing it prior to B-school would be great prep for B-school. During a 2-4 year pre-MBA consulting career, one can work on studies across a range of industries and functions, which can offer a broad view of business. This collection of experiences and associated business understanding can make the most of the Core B-school curricular seem familiar from the start. Also, Business Analysts spend this time getting to the heart of a client’s business problem, analyzing the associated issues, and developing a set of recommendation for the client, all of which is great preparation for in-class case discussions. Finally, a pre-MBA career in consulting helps one to develop great communication skills due to exposure to clients and senior professionals. Many firms put Business Analysts in front of clients from the beginning, which gives them early experience with structured communication and serves as great prep for B-school class discussions. But, as I said above, once you get to second year and start taking electives, the material is new to everyone for the most part, which can make for a different dynamic.

Take care and have a great day.

-Marquis