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Consulting in Fuqua - Prospective Students Forum Discussions Prospective Stu... Specializing in Consulting

6/29/2008 4:48 AM

	Atish
1 posts

Specializing in Consulting

Modified By Atish on 6/29/2008 2:51:00 AM)

Hi,

I am from a technology background and am applying to Fuqua for the Fall 09 session. I intend to move into strategy consulting immediately after my MBA. I wanted to know if MBA graduates have the opportunity to specialize in some industries. Does that depend on the firm that recruits you? I want to move into Media & Entertainment in the long term and would ideally be looking at consulting firms where I could get good exposure to Media & Entertainment as well as Technology. Typically, do MBA graduates work across sectors initially ( 2 years maybe) and then gradually focus on particular industries?

Regards,

Atish

6/29/2008 12:41 PM

	Rajat Sharma
10 posts

Re: Specializing in Consulting

Atish,

You do have an opportunity to specialize immediately after your MBA; though that is very firm specific. There are some firms where you can start to specialize from the time you join whereas majority of the big strategy consulting firms will likely see you being a generalist for the first couple of years (2-3 years). That said, the onus lies on you to navigate your way through the firm towards your sweet spot.

Hope this helps!!

-Rajat

10/15/2008 3:47 AM

	Ankit
4 posts

Re: Specializing in Consulting

Dear Rajat,

I would like to know whether Global MCs provide strategy consulting to SMB's ? I know global MC's billing rates are very high but as many companies are targeting SMBs (because the number of SMBs is increasing by leaps and bounds) and nobody want to miss the emergent target market.

I asked you this because I intend to start a strategy cum IT consulting firm to cater to SMBs so I could leverage my Global MC firm's experience to solve problems of my Clients.

Regards

Ankit

10/15/2008 1:24 PM

	Rajat Sharma
10 posts

Re: Specializing in Consulting

Modified By Rajat Sharma on 10/15/2008 11:25:30 AM)

Ankit:

Many big consulting firms have SMB clients. That said the definition of SMB's differs from country to country. So a SMB in India is a much smaller sized firm than a SMB in US. Am sure that you can apply your experience in serving bigger clients towards assisting SMB's when you find your firm.

Hope this helps !! Feel free to shoot across any answered queries.

-Rajat

12/14/2008 4:09 PM

	Siddhartha
1 posts

Consulting SME's in Soutb East Asia

Hi Rajat,

I am applying to Fuqua for entry in fall 2009 with the objective of transitioning my career from banking to consulting. I am based out of London and have spent the last five years at JPMorgan after which I joined HSBC to work on strategy for their investment bank. My focus post the Duke MBA will be to get consulting experience with an SME focus (Small and Medium enterprises) at a top tier firm like Mckinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz Allen to name a few. In the long term I wish to utilise my experience in banking and consulting space to start my own firm to consult SME's in South East Asia.

In your opinion in what ways can the Duke MBA program and the resources associated with the program support me in pursuit of my goals? example- Consultancy oriented coursework/ electives, support from DMCC, case interviewing workshops etc

Additionally what would you say you have gained the most from your experience at Fuqua?

Appreciate your time in answering my question.

Best regards

Siddhartha

12/19/2008 7:14 PM

	Rajat Sharma
10 posts

Re: Consulting SME's in Soutb East Asia

Siddhartha,

Duke offers you numerous resources that can help you meet what you are looking for.

On academic front, apart from the core strategy course, there are many electives that you can choose from to obtain a strategy concentration (visit this link for detailed course listing: http://fuqua.duke.edu/student_resources/academics/concentrations/#doc11). Also, apart from the classroom learning, the consulting practicum helps you to work on real-life consulting projects involving small firms.

Many major consulting firms come down on-campus to recruit. The DMCC is the largest club on campus and is instrumental is helping students get ready for the consulting interviews. The club follows a roadmap of events through which it helps students to ramp up preparation by starting with events (workshops, academic modules, mock interviews) as early as September. I will strongly encourage you to visit the website and our calendar at www.fuquaconsulting.com to get more insights on what the club does.

Hope this helps!

Rajat

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