Undecided - 03-08-2017 | Clear Admit DecisionWire

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March 8, 2017 12:51am ET

Enrolled: Undecided

Admitted: UNC Kenan-Flagler , UT Austin / McCombs

Applied: UNC Kenan-Flagler, UT Austin / McCombs

Entering Year: 2017

Post MBA Career: Consulting

Notes:

International student looking to go into consulting. Which school will provide better opportunities?

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Show Comments (14) Last: March 20, 2017

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Where do you want to end up geographically? Both have stronger regional presences compared to national. Not to say you couldn't go elsewhere, you'll just have to put in more work. (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 I want to choose a school which gives me a better shot at becoming a management consultant. Is UT better because it's the best school in Texas whereas UNC students face tough competition from a better school like Duke? Any thoughts? Location isn't much of a concern. (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Everything else being equal, I would go with UNC here. If you look at UNC's employment report, there are far more national than UT (2/3rds of UT students stay in West Region). However, consulting is mostly regional anyway. Also a third of UT students go into Tech whereas it's more balanced at UNC. Anecdotally, I am in at UNC and am awaiting a response from UT. I met next year's leaders at UNC's consulting club and they are very impressive. (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Thanks for the useful info, I appreciate it. Don't you think having a school like Duke in the vicinity makes the competition a tad harder whereas Texas can comfortably claim that they are the best in the region? Having talked to people from both the schools, I didn't find any difference in the total number (proportion) of students who were able to land consulting jobs. What do you think? (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Both are going to give you equal opportunities, and you're going to be competing with brilliant candidates regardless of where you end up; consulting isn't an easy path. Going along with your perception of competing with Duke students: consulting firms are going to NC because of the great schools in the area, and the students they produce, it's up to you to be the best candidate. I would definitely consider geography...TX is hot as hell. (0)

LW Likes Earned: 0 I might have to make a similar decision once I hear back (applied/interviewed at both) so interested in your choice. It depends on which companies you're interested in. McKinsey recruits at UNC but not UT, UNC also sends a lot of students to North Highland, and both send a lot to Deloitte. Either way Big 3 is ridiculously competitive and would have an approximately pre-set number of slots for each school. Not sure how many though. (0)

@ClearAdmit Likes Earned: 0 Congrats on your admits! Another way to look at UNC's proximity to Duke is that it allows all the top consulting firms to kill two birds with one stone - and may ultimately help Kenan Flagler in that regard. Also, don't overlook the fact that UNC has a management consulting concentration option in their curriculum and is generally well regarded by employers for the level of preparedness with graduates. None of this is to say that UT Austin is a lesser program - it's up to you to decide, but we want to make sure you are thinking about this from all the angles. Another thing to consider is your preferred type of consulting. For instance, if you have a background in energy sector or find energy sector consulting particularly appealing, one might give the nod to McCombs... Lots to consider! Best of luck to you! (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Unc is def stronger than McCombs (0)

Anonymous Likes Earned: 0 Anyone who says UNC is a higher ranked school than UT is too ranking obsessed. Yes, technically in the most recent USNWR rankings, UNC is one or two spots higher than UT but they fall into the same bucket of schools (UNC, UT, Emory, etc) in the 16-20 range that are prestigious top 20 schools but tend to have some regionalism to them. Both send a pretty large proportion of their students into consulting (with UT's industry sell being Tech and UNC's being Finance), so as long as you join the Consulting Club and nail down the case method you should be in good shape to get at least a big 4 consulting gig (FYI after visiting both schools I can attest to their students being sharp with a strong consulting presence among the student body so don't worry about exposure to smart people with like-minded career goals) . As other people on here said, I would focus more on what you would want your base city to be, as UT tends to put people in Houston, Dallas, Austin while UNC sends consultants based in Atlanta, Charlotte, and DC. I would think less about industry unless you have a strong background in a specific one because you'll probably end up getting staffed on whatever project they wanna place fresh MBAs on (0)

ANONAPOTAMUS Likes Earned: 0 sounds like people here are biased. they are both peer schools. i would say you visit both campuses and talk to people from both schools. (0)

anon Likes Earned: 0 UNC! (0)

Anon Likes Earned: 0 All else being equal (since both schools are fairly equivalent on so many levels), wouldn't you rather be at the best school covering an entire region rather than be in competition with your more highly ranked neighbors at Duke up the road? (0)

Any Likes Earned: 0 You are in international, so I'd suggest McCombs. Reasons: - Less cost, you would love it later in the life. - UNC has a little stronger recognization in consulting, but McCombs does great job in Texas and region and you cna't be wrong joining it. - cracking MBB is very tough, and even tougher for internationals. McCombs will help there in 2nd tier. - H1B is uncertainty, less debt will be cushion in worst case scenario. (0)

UNCgrad Likes Earned: 0 UNC is better for consulting, hands down (0)