Dartmouth Tuck Rises to Top Consulting Feeder School
Spring
Alright, let’s get this straight – management consulting isn’t for the faint-hearted. Sharp analytical prowess, a keen strategic mindset, and industry fluency – that’s the minimum entry ticket. For decades, top-tier MBA schools have been the hunting grounds for elite consulting firms. However, over the last five years, there’s been an unexpected player cutting through the noise: Dartmouth Tuck. Its growing prominence is even more impressive when you compare it to longstanding consulting powerhouses like Chicago Booth, Columbia, and Wharton.
A Close Examination of the Data
Tuck’s Consistent Growth: Starting at 30% in 2018, the percentage of graduates entering consulting surged to an impressive 47% by 2022. It conquered the first place in consulting recruitment percentages in top schools not only last year, but also in 2020, with 42%.
Peer Consulting Heavyweights: With 46% of its 2022 class entering consulting, Yale reaches a close second, growing sharply from 34%-37% across 2018-2021. Darden and Kellogg made significant gains too, reaching 44% and 40% in 2022 respectively. Over in Europe, London Business School is a major consulting feeder, hovering around 40% (note: this excludes INSEAD which does not publish historic data).
M7 Stagnation: In contrast to Tuck, Yale, Darden and Kellogg, the popularity of consulting among other M7 business schools appears to stagnate during the last 5 years. Chicago Booth and Columbia Business School remain the more consulting-oriented institutions in the pack, with 36% of their graduates entering the field in 2022. MIT’s figures oscillate around the 30% mark, Harvard’s and Wharton’s around the mid-20s, and Stanford, the tech and entrepreneurship titan, closes the list with 15%-18%.
Comparative Analysis
While most top-tier business schools have experienced steady interest in consulting, Tuck’s focused efforts in integrating consulting-related elements into their MBA program seem to have paid dividends. These include:
Focused Leadership Development: the school emphasizes genuine leadership transformation, helping students in consulting, and later becoming, senior managers. Its “Leadership Fellows” program facilitates mentorship from second-year Tuck students who actively coach their juniors, and “Tuck Compass” guides students in aligning their personal purpose with actionable leadership experiences.
Data-Oriented Management Training: Tuck understands the necessity of data-driven decision-making in the contemporary business landscape. Their Management Science and Quantitative Methods optional designation equips students with advanced analytical capabilities required in various real-world projects, including consulting.
Collaboration by Design: The campus’s location in Hanover, New Hampshire offers an unintended consulting advantage. The remote setting means students naturally learn to depend on and collaborate with one another, forging stronger bonds. This emphasis on teamwork prepares students for the diverse, fast-paced consulting world where adaptability is key.
Guidance for Aspiring Consultants
Explore Tuck in Depth: For those leaning towards consulting, the program has made a strong case for itself over the past five years. While its intimate environment and distinct location certainly merit consideration, Tuck offers consulting-related resources and alumni support that are matched by few other institutions.
Broaden Your Horizons: While Tuck’s rise is noteworthy, aspirants should also consider the historical strength and industry reputation of other schools. It’s crucial to weigh the school’s culture, network, and other elements in the curriculum besides strategy and management, in order to have an effective growth experience.
Pursue Specialized Offerings: Beyond recruitment percentages, delve into the consulting-focused offerings of each program. This includes specialized courses, consulting clubs, case competitions, and opportunities to work on real consulting projects.
It is important to reiterate that the figures above represent the popularity of consulting in relative terms, as class percentages. For a fuller picture, an examination of actual consulting recruits from every business school is in order. Whether relative or absolute, though, consulting remains a dominant career choice in many business schools. It is by weighing in all measures of consulting recruitment, as well as schools’ cultures and direct offerings, that budding management consultants can make the most informed b-school choices.
