MBB Consulting Demystified: Mike Peng

I speak with my Stanford classmate, Mike Peng. He studied chemical engineering at UT Austin and started his career at McKinsey before coming to Stanford GSB. In this episode, Mike decodes management consulting and the allure of MBB: McKinsey, Bain, BCG. What exactly do consultants do everyday? What are the hours like? What are the pros and cons of the consultant lifestyle? Mike speaks with so much candor and talks through his frameworks of figuring out his dream job and experimenting along the way. I’m so excited for you to hear this conversation, let’s dive in.
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⌚️Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:30 Podcast begins
02:50 Cherie’s first TikTok video
03:58 Why Cherie became a creator
04:48 What does Cherie’s IG explore page look like?
05:35 What does Mike’s IG explore page look like?
06:05 Mike introduction
07:55 Career exploration
11:36 What is management consulting?
13:52 Day in the life of a management consultant
15:38 Pros and cons of management consulting
17:45 Hours as a management consultant
19:20 “Eating the frog”
20:08 The need to prove yourself
23:00 The lifestyle of a consultant
25:35 Mike’s best consulting trip
26:12 McKinsey, Bain, BCG
27:16 Can you break into consulting outside of schooling?
28:18 Advice to aspiring management consultants
32:10 What surprised Mike about consulting?
34:07 Why Mike chose to get an MBA
35:54 Is an MBA needed to progress in consulting?
37:35 How to stand out applying to business school
38:51 Mike’s favorite class at GSB
40:24 Mike’s short and long term goals
41:25 What is a search fund?
42:17 Why does Mike want to start a search fund?
44:32 What has Mike learned about himself the last 5 years?
46:40 What has Cherie most enjoyed about business school?
49:29 Closing thoughts
ABOUT ME
Hello friends, thanks for watching! My name is Cherie and I'm a content creator, Stanford MBA student, & former LinkedIn senior product manager 👋🏻 I share personal career stories on Cherie's Corner Podcast via KZbin and Instagram, so you can learn from my friends and our successes and failures, all while owning our authentic selves and living happier lives.
Music produced by Sammy Signal open.spotify.com/artist/2Hsyk...

[@jetsetter08]

What a great friendship. Both of you are so intelligent and approachable. You’ll be great leaders

[@jessicamillerr]

Hello 🍈 Focus on video editing. It is quite low, edit in good style. Because it is very important in your video.

[@emilybrowno]

Agree at heart. 🍈

[@johnsmithb]

You are right. 🫒

[@BenjaminTaylorr]

What??? 🍍

[@madisonmartinezz]

Definitely yes 🍑

[@laurendavisa]

Yes, video editing is definitely low. 🥑

[@edwap038]

Super insightful and useful - thank you both! ❤😊

[@AndrosRosas]

Thank you both for this meaningful knowledge sharing! Amazing take-aways :D

[@kevinastuhuaman]

This was a really nice video!! Full of insights!

[@katiedickinson4970]

Wow!!!! You are amazing Mike! Thank you for sharing your journey

[@cherie.brooke]

Thanks for being here and tuning in, Katie!

[@Dan-he1zy]

haha MBB hiring people with no background in running their own business/company just to create slides everyday til 4 am 😆

[@distortdude80]

Management consultants = overpaid clowns being replaced by ChatGPT and my bookworm daughter

[@bluepainting4]

Cherie - a piece of feedback, I think starting of your podcast with the guest asking you 3 questions come off disjointed and somewhat off-putting. This type of segment is better served at the end of the interview (perhaps) with a rapid question back-and-forth.

[@sachinshajan8066]

Is he gay ?

[@deez994]

stanford mba's are a joke lol. same with search funds