Written by Sameer Kamat

Which of these statements would you love to hear yourself say?
1. “I’m a strategy consultant with McKinsey”
2. “I’m an investment banker in Morgan Stanley”
3. “I am attending a top MBA program”
What if you were able to say all of these at some point in your career? That’d be pretty cool, right? Sayanta Dutta is someone who’s been there done that. While most folks struggle to get into McKinsey after an MBA, Sayanta managed to get into one of the most selective & the best strategy consulting firms in the world, without an MBA. And no, he’s not from IIT. Here’s a story that highlights the importance of potential & talent over formal qualifications.

Written by Sameer Kamat

From the results of a recent survey published by Poets & Quants, seems like the answer is yes. The P&Q article has a detailed listing of how many of the top business schools (primarily in the US) have been faring when it comes to popular post MBA careers. Good article, do check it out. If you don’t have the patience here’s a shorter crisper summary.

The best management consulting firms, investment banks, technology companies and several top notch companies appear to have shaken off their post recession blues and decided to give their HR teams reason to start consuming increased amounts of caffeine. Firms like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Google, Bain & Co, Amazon, Booz, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble opened their doors to many

Written by Sameer Kamat

‘Hi, I’m Pattikumar Silvamaranayani. I work for McKinsey.’ Sounds good, na? Replace Patti saar’s name with your own and it sounds even better. There’s no doubt which one’s a stronger brand in that opening statement – Patti saar or McKinsey. Great brands on your CV, nice salaries, globe-trotting and the glamour.  When it comes to MBA job hunting, no wonder then that so many people want to aim for Management Consulting as a post-MBA career.

Written by Sameer Kamat

“So you aren’t an engineer? And you’ve never written a line of software code in your life? Your GMAT score isn’t 750+? And your CV (resume, if you prefer) doesn’t say IIT on it either? Are you sure you are from India? Mujhe toh lagta hai ki aap purush hi nahi ho…maha purush ho maha purush!”

Don’t worry. That’s not how an Adcom member will grill you if you aren’t from the common Indian applicant pool. MBA admission officers screening through the piles of applications aren’t looking only for conventional profiles. They don’t want their classrooms to be filled up only by management consultants (from McKinsey, Bain and Boston Consulting Group), tech whizkids (from Google, Microsoft, SAP) and investment bankers (from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan).