Management Consultants made CareerJournal’s Best Careers List. Their ranking criteria were based on which careers make for happy and satisfied working folks. Since the list wasn’t compiled based on salary alone, and instead was based on not being miserable in your career, I applaud the list and the editors of CareerJournal.com for initiating the research.

I was interested to know exactly what is a management consultant and what makes it such a great job? Management consultants / management analysts help companies improve their performance. They’re hired by businesses to analyze lots of data, get a look at the big picture, crunch some numbers and from that information, propose recommendations (I’m guessing pie charts are involved) as to how the client might go about being more efficient, thereby increasing profits.

Why is management consulting ranked so highly? People pay you for your opinions and actually do what you tell them to do. You have a lot of independence, there’s quite a bit of variety. Who would be good at this? Someone with a good head for business (duh) since your whole job will be to make companies better than they were before they hired you. Having a number-crunching, analytical brain which is connected to a people-person would probably be necessary. Being a management consultant/analyst will require a lot of thinking and a lot of telling the client results and recommendations they may not want to hear; i.e.: “That whole department is redundant and if you want to streamline this company, you’ll have to let them go.” Although, as with everything in life, I’m sure it’s not all bad all the time.

The pay is pretty middle of the road — $48,070 to $72,480. But if you’re a senior partner at a management consulting firm, the Association of Management Consulting Firms says your typical earnings in 2004 could very well have been upwards of $317,339.

How do you get to be a management consultant? There aren’t many degrees offered in management consulting. Most people start out in an entry-level position as a research analyst or associate with a bachelor’s degree in business or economics. Advancing to a consulting position would probably require a master’s degree in a pertinent field of study, as well as some years of experience actually working in the field in which the individual wants to consult. Which makes sense—who would want to hire a consultant with no real-world business experience?

Posted by Alexa Harrington
MBA | Business School | Management Education

The Financial Times released its 2007 business school rankings on January 29th. Categories include Top Global MBA Programs, Top European Schools, Top American Schools, Top Asia-Pacific Schools, Top Canadian Schools and Top Salaries.

Top 10 Business Schools - Worldwide

1. University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
2. Columbia Business School
3. Harvard Business School
3. Stanford Graduate School of Business
5. London Business School
6. University of Chicago GSB
7. Insead
8. New York University: Stern
9. Dartmouth College: Tuck
10. Yale School of Management

No surprises though — American universities continue to dominate, with Wharton topping the global list once again.

When searching for the best MBA, consider becoming an accountant. Accounting careers offer many great opportunities for future growth and success. Checkout this site to learn more about an accounting mba.

MBA | Business School

The story of the cheating college student is old news, but, Len Boselovic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, reported that MBA students and graduate students may be just as bad.

According to the study, done by Professors from Penn State, Washington State and Rutgers University, “recent research showing 56 percent of graduate business students admit to cheating at least once an academic year, higher than the 47 percent rate for graduate students studying something other than business.”

What exactly qualifies as cheating?

“‘Cheating’ covered 13 behaviors, from using notes to take an exam to submitting someone else’s work as their own.”

Graduate students are in school because they want to be. And presumably, they have a genuine interest in the subject they are studying.

So why cheat? The article suggests that MBA programs, while teaching economics, forget to emphasize ethics.

But what about other graduate programs? “Ohio University is investigating its engineering school after the originality of some graduate theses and dissertations was questioned. In an Aug. 23 statement, the school said there were problems with 38 of the 55 papers reviewed to date. Two faculty members who approved the problem theses are no longer graduate advisers.”

When I lived in India, I heard stories about exam papers being “purchased” and teachers being “bribed” and degrees being “bought.” America’s institutions of higher education are held in such high esteem. We attract the best and the brightest. This data, if it is to be believed, is disturbing and questions the very foundation of our schools.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
Cheating | Business School

onPhilanthropy.com has a helpful article up for those interested in working in non-profit management.

The article discusses the various degree options for anyone striving to work in the public sector or non-profit management.

“More than 100 schools across the country offer graduate degree programs focused on nonprofit management…these schools include some of our nation’s best: from Harvard and Georgetown to the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern.”

The options include a Masters degrees in Public Administration, Public Policy, Urban Planning, Philanthropic Studies, and Business Administration.

The article discusses, at a basic level, what each type of program offers, what the financial investment is, and what job placements are like.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo
Non-Profit Sector | Degrees | Management

I would say that about 25% of my college classmates and other people I know from my peer group have gone on to graduate school. And 85% of the people that went on to graduate school pursued or are pursuing MBAs.

It’s pretty obvious why. MBA’s who graduated in 2006 are earning an average starting salary of about $92,360. This is an across the board average, not an average of students graduating from the elite institutions. And, this doesn’t include the generous signing bonus (averages around $17,000) and an annual year-end bonuses that are usually tacked onto their salaries. Students with more work experience and students from top programs like Harvard, Wharton and Stanford get even higher salaries.

Most of my friends tell me that MBA programs are about networking and meeting people…not so much about the “academics.” I’ve also heard from several people that the classes, while sometimes interesting, are for the most part not all that intellectually challenging. The Atlantic Monthly ran an article (requires subscription) a while back by Matthew Stewart, who advises that “if you want to be successful in business don’t get an MBA, study philosophy instead.” He claims that the rigors of a PhD in philosophy are far more beneficial than an MBA, where according to him, all you learn is a bunch of lingo.

Then why do it? Well, if the financial payback is so high and so quick, and money is what you’re after, why not? An MBA is also a quick way to change the path your career is taking. It’s a degree that attracts all sorts - engineers, English majors, non-profit employees, small business owners. And it can, for the most part, take you anywhere you’d like to go - the high tech industry, banking, consulting, media, the development sector. You name it, and the industry could use an MBA. Whether the work you’ll be doing there is exciting is another story. In the case of banking, it will just be exhausting. But you can’t have everything can you?

Money isn’t everything for everybody. (This is not to say that all MBAs are only after money! I know some nice ones!) I also know people who have gone on to do their PhDs in computer science and electrical engineering, or their Master’s in International Affairs, or creative writing. But they are few and far between. For the most part, the people in my universe are hopping on the MBA bandwagon.

Posted by Sindya Bhanoo

MBA | Careers | Business School

July 12th 2006

The University of Iowa announced that students in its MBA program should take precautions after a laptop computer containing personal information was stolen.

Officials sent letters to 280 students in the program after the laptop was stolen on June 30th from a faculty member’s business office in Davenport.

It contained names, Social Security numbers and some contact information for 280 current an former students since 2002.

Officials say they know how many students to notify because it was a new laptop and the owner had made a back-up of the data.

But UI officials said they believe it is unlikely the thief sought the computer for its data.

“[Law-enforcement officials] have no reason, at this point, to believe the computer’s theft was motivated by the information it contains,” said Gary Gaeth, associate dean of the business school. “And there is no evidence of data misuse.