Consulting has always been one of the most popular and lucrative post-MBA career pathways, with competitive salaries and attractive perks, strong career prospects, and the jet-setting lifestyle associated with the industry. However, the consulting sector has experienced its share of ups and downs in recent years.
As employment trends in consulting show signs of a partial recovery and artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape the industry’s workforce, a pressing question is emerging among prospective business school applicants, current MBA students, and career pivoters alike:
Has the consulting industry recovered in 2026?
The answer is yes, but only partially. MBA consulting placements rebounded at several leading M7 business schools in 2025, while MBB firms indicate that MBA hiring remains strong in 2026. However, consulting employment has not uniformly returned to 2023 levels, and AI is changing the type of work firms hire consultants to perform.
To understand the current consulting job market, it is important to first understand why the consulting hiring slowed down.
Why Did Consulting Hiring Slow Down?
Over-Hiring During Pandemic
Following the exceptionally strong demand due to major disruption caused by the pandemic during 2020–22, consulting firms hired aggressively during this phase. Harvard Business School described this as a ‘growth-driven hiring spree’ triggered by unprecedented client demand before and during COVID-19.
Headcount Corrections
Post-Covid, this industry experienced a slowdown in demand for its services. According to Revelio Labs, major consulting firms experienced large reduction in headcount between July 2021 and July 2023, with BCG reducing the number of management consultants by 19%, Bain and Cognizant were at 17% and 16% respectively.
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These firms found themselves overstaffed; this led to significant reduction in headcount through layoffs, delayed hiring and onboarding, and voluntary attrition.
Higher Interest Rates
Financial Times (FT) reported in March 2024 that a combination of higher interest rates and geopolitical tension resulted in a global slowdown in mergers and acquisitions, reducing demand for deals advisory work across the ‘Big Four’. This, in turn resulted in restructuring and closing down some parts of the business, leading to job cuts.
At the same time, WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) reported that private equity work, a key source of revenue for top consulting firms declined as high interest rates led to a drop in deal-making. As a result, consulting firms saw fewer contracts from these clients. According to Bain, global M&A activity fell by 15% in 2023 to $3.2 trillion.
AI & Automation
More recently, AI intervention has resulted in disruption across sectors including the consulting industry. AI has automated some of the time-intensive and routine tasks usually handled by junior consultants. As consulting firms increasingly integrate AI into their workflows, the role of a consultant has also been evolving.
By analyzing 3-year MBA placement trends across leading business schools and examining the ongoing impact of artificial intelligence (AI), we look at where the consulting industry stands today and where it is headed.
MBA Placement Data: 3-Year Consulting Recruitment Trends (2023-2025)
| Business School | Class of 2023 | Class of 2024 | Class of 2025 | Median base salary-consulting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth Tuck | 46% | 44% | 41% | $190,000 |
| Emory Goizueta | 54% | 41% | 41% | $175,000 |
| Northwestern Kellogg | 42% | 34.81% | 38% | $190,000 |
| UVA Darden | 46.30% | 42.50% | 37.30% | $190,000 |
| Chicago Booth | 38.60% | 33.80% | 36.70% | $190,000 |
| Yale | 44.20% | 31.90% | 36.70% | $190,000 |
| CMU Tepper | 42.20% | 25.70% | 35.70% | $184,000 |
| Duke Fuqua | 43% | 39% | 34% | $190,000 |
| Michigan Ross | 45% | 36% | 33.50% | $190,000 |
| Columbia Business School | 36.30% | 30.60% | 33.20% | $190,000 |
| NYU Stern | 41.90% | 37% | 32.80% | $175,000 |
| MIT Sloan | 33.70% | 32.10% | 32.30% | $190,000 |
| Vanderbilt Owen | 41% | 32% | 29% | $175,000 |
| Wharton | 28.80% | 25.20% | 28.20% | $190,000 |
| Cornell Johnson | 42% | 31% | 28% | $175,000 |
| UT Austin McCombs | 43% | 30% | 28% | $190,000 |
| Berkeley Haas | 28% | 25% | 26.80% | $190,000 |
| Washington Foster | 28.40% | 33.30% | 25.70% | $175,000 |
| UCLA Anderson | 27% | 24.90% | 25.60% | $175,000 |
| Georgetown McDonough | 35% | 36% | 25% | $175,000 |
| Harvard Business School | 25% | 18% | 21% | $190,000 |
| Stanford | 15% | 14% | 11% | $192,000 |
Key Industry Takeaways from Placement Data
M7 Programs Rebound Following 2024 Lows
Top Placement Leaders
The class of 2024 saw consulting among one of the hardest-hit sectors, with most of the top business schools seeing a notable decline in its consulting placements. However, the class of 2025 saw a partial recovery phase across some top schools.
Among the US schools surveyed, Dartmouth Tuck and Emory Goizueta were leading with the highest share of consulting placements at 41%. At Goizueta, consulting placements remained the same as the year before while Tuck saw a 3-point decline this year compared with the previous year. The median base salary at Tuck was $190,000 while at Goizueta, it was $175,000.
M7 Recovery Pattern
M7 business schools lead the consulting placement recovery with a rebound across nearly every school including Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Wharton, Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan.
Kellogg continued to lead the M7 consulting placements in 2025, with 38% of accepted job, up from 34.8% a year earlier. Next was Booth which also recorded an increase, from 33.8% to 36.7%. Columbia saw 33.2% job acceptances compared with 30.6% previously, while Wharton’s placements went up to 28.2% from 25.1% and Harvard to 21% from 18%. MIT Sloan saw just a marginal rise from 32.1% to 32.3%.
The tech outlier
Stanford was the clear outlier; the proportion of graduates entering consulting fell to 11%, down from 14% in 2024. But its decline aligns with the program’s focus on tech and entrepreneurship rather than management consulting. In fact, the Stanford class saw record-high placements in technology, the highest in more than a decade.
Schools with rebounds
Among other schools where consulting placements rebounded were Yale that saw a 4.8-point increase; CMU Tepper recorded a significant 10 percentage-point recovery; while for Berkeley Haas, it was 1.8 point and less than 1 point at UCLA Anderson.
Though some schools have shown a partial recovery, consulting recruitments have not yet returned to the 2023 levels.
Consulting Compensation: Base Salaries Hold at $190K
Consulting has historically been the highest paying sector with the elite M7 schools offering median base salaries as high as $190,000. Other than the M7, other top US schools offering $190,000 median base salary include Dartmouth Tuck, UVA Darden, Yale, Duke Fuqua, Michigan Ross, Berkeley Haas, UT Austin McCombs.
Stanford has been the leader as far as compensation is concerned; it recorded the highest median base salary of $192,000 in consulting, slightly higher than that of the previous year ($190,000).
UT Austin McCombs saw a significant rise in median base salary from $175,000 (the previous year) to $190,000. At Michigan Ross, it went up from $185,000 to $190,000, while Columbia Business School also saw a rise from $188,000 to $190,000.
Top International MBA Programs for Consulting Careers
Among the popular non-US schools that usually send a big share into consulting are INSEAD, London Business School, Indian school of Business and IESE Business School. Consulting hiring remained strong across these schools.
INSEAD Consulting Placement and Hiring Trends
INSEAD, a global leader for consulting with campuses across Asia (Singapore) and Europe (France) has consistently sent the highest share of the class into management consulting.
The consulting share was unusually high in 2023 at 61%; it came down to 55% in 2024 and was 50% in 2025. The median base salary in consulting was EUR 106,100, the median sign-on bonus being EUR 30,000, and the median performance bonus being EUR 30,000.
The school saw 27% returnees in management consulting (those rejoining their previous organization). Among top recruiters were BCG, McKinsey, Bain, Strategy&, Kearney, Oliver Wyman and FTI Consulting.
London Business School Consulting Placement Trends
At London Business School, the pattern was similar to INSEAD. The consulting placements were very high (45%) in 2023, it went down slightly in 2024 at 42% while in 2025, it was at 40%.
The mean base salary was £98,856 while other compensation mean was £48,777. At LBS, key consulting employers included Accenture, AlixPartners, McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte and Kearney.
IESE Consulting Employment and Salaries
Another top-ranked European business school, IESE in Spain, has also been a leader in consulting placements. Its consulting share stood at 41% in 2024 while the 2025 class sent 42% of graduates into consulting with an average base salary of €101,900.
Average other compensation was €41,300, while the average one-time compensation was €43,400. Accenture, Bain & Company, BCG and McKinsey were the top hirers.
Indian School of Business Consulting Placements
Indian School of Business, a leading business school in India is a top choice for consulting careers. The school hiring remained strong; it sent 37% of its MBA graduates into consulting in 2024 as well as 2025.
The school does not disclose sector-wise compensation data. Top consulting hirers were McKinsey, Deloitte, BCG, PwC and Indus Insights.
Consulting Employers: Which Top Consulting Firms Are Hiring MBAs
Let’s take a look at some of the top consulting employers at leading business school programs.
Among top consulting hirers at Columbia Business School were BCG, McKinsey, Bain, Deloitte, PwC, Ernst & Young Global Limited and L.E.K. Consulting, while at Chicago Booth top employers included McKinsey, BCG, Bain, L.E.K. Consulting, PwC Strategy&, Accenture, EY-Parthenon, Kearney, Deloitte Consulting and Roland Berger LLC.
At Michigan Ross, hiring companies included Boston Consulting Group (BCG), McKinsey, PwC Strategy&, Bain, Deloitte, EY Parthenon, Kearney, Accenture Strategy, AlixPartners, L.E.K. Consulting, Alvarez & Marsal, Roland Berger and The Chartis Group.
Among the top consulting recruiters at NYU Stern were McKinsey, Bain, EY-Parthenon, BCG, Deloitte, Infosys Consulting, Strategy&, Kearney and EY, while At UCLA Anderson, hiring organizations included Bain, BCG, Deloitte, EY-Parthenon, KPMG, L.E.K., McKinsey, Actionist, PwC
MBB Target Schools: Which MBA Programs Send the Most Grads to McKinsey, BCG & Bain?
Top Business Schools to get into McKinsey, BCG and Bain
Business School
| Graduating year |
McKinsey & Company |
Boston Consulting Group |
Bain & Company |
|
| INSEAD | 2025 | 100 (55) | 60 (25) | 51 (30) |
| 2024 | 78 (43) | 69 (22) | 41 (21) | |
| Columbia Business School | 2025 | 62 (26) | 62 (11) | 33 (16) |
| 2024 | 62 (12) | 36 (7) | 21 (9) | |
| MIT Sloan | 2025 | 8 | 21 | 7 |
| 2024 | 17 | 21 | 10 | |
| Michigan Ross | 2025 | 16 | 16 | 7 |
| 2024 | 17 | 16 | 12 | |
| NYU Stern | 2025 | 14 | 6 | 10 |
| 2024 | 11 | 5 | 5 | |
| Chicago Booth | 2025 | 35 | 52 | 30 |
| 2024 | 33 | 48 | 20 |
(Numbers in brackets indicate MBA grads returning to their previous employers)
Schools including Columbia Business School, Chicago Booth, INSEAD, NYU Stern saw jumps in total hires joining McKinsey, BCG, and Bain. INSEAD and CBS also saw a higher volume of sponsored returnees (students who worked at MBB prior to MBA).
Though number of hires at other schools were not available, these are traditionally the well-known MBB target programs other than the above: London Business School, Northwestern Kellogg, Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, UCLA Anderson, Virginia Darden, Berkeley Haas, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Yale and Dartmouth Tuck.
MBB Hiring Outlook: What Leadership Says About Recruits
P&Q recently quoted some interesting insider insights from the Big 3 consulting firms.
Keith Bevans, a Bain partner and executive vice president overseeing consultant recruiting, described the firm’s hiring as ‘strong’ and said the following summer’s associate class would be its second-largest ever.
“What has changed is we’ve added industry hires – Bain’s been adding double-digit growth each year in my time here,” he said.
At McKinsey, Blair Ciesil, a partner and global co-lead for talent attraction, said the firm sees itself as a “counternarrative” to the broader hiring slowdown and remains bullish on demand for entry-level consultants. She also highlighted MBAs as an attractive and critical talent pool for the firm.
At BCG too, consultant hiring is “in line with historic norms and growth”, Brian Meyerholtz, the firm’s global talent acquisition lead, said, with longer-term growth generally ranging from the high single digits to low double digits. Also read: How I got into MBB after MBA: LBS grad’s journey from corporate banking to consulting
The AI Transformation: How AI is Reshaping Consulting
As in other industries, AI has been disrupting the consulting industry as well.
Speaking at a Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Bob Sternfels, McKinsey’s global managing partner elaborated on the firm’s “25 squared” approach: how the firm has expanded its client-facing roles by 25%.
At the same time, non-client-facing roles, which represent roughly half of its workforce, have been reduced by about 25%, even as output from these roles has increased by 10%. At that point of time, McKinsey had 40,000 employees working alongside 25,000 AI agents, while the number of AI agents were expected to rise to match its human workforce.
These AI agents have saved McKinsey 1.5 million hours in the past year by managing routine search and synthesis tasks. These agents have generated 2.5 million charts in just six months, freeing consultants to focus on more complex problems.
“That’s a new paradigm and a new dynamic,” he said.
At the same time, Sternfels pointed out to 3 uniquely human qualities that AI cannot fully replicate – setting aspirations, exercising human judgment, and true creativity.
McKinsey has also introduced an AI-powered interview – the McKinsey Lilli Interview, where candidates would be required to work on a case interview using the AI tool.
Business Insider reported that consulting firms including BCG, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and IBM Consulting are investing in AI by hiring more technical talent, developing AI tools and agents, and encouraging employees to incorporate them in their daily tasks. The shift is extending beyond simply using AI: consultants at firms such as BCG, IBM, McKinsey and others are increasingly expected to supervise and manage AI agents, that could reshape the traditional consulting staffing model.
At MBA Crystal Ball, our experienced consultants have helped thousands of MBA applicants get into the top business schools, often with scholarships. Drop us a line at info@mbacrystalball.com if you need help with your application.
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Reference: 1 | Image: Roman (Unsplash)
