Pros
1. Excellent pay, especially for Senior Associates. Offers a path to earning $145k + bonus by age 25 if you are promoted out of undergrad. 2. Quality / smart coworkers and Partners if you get in with the legacy Booz crowd. You'll learn a great deal. 3. Sometimes it pays to be bigger fish in a smaller pond. If you are talented, the firm will reward you with a strong bonus and do what it can to retain you. And you'll be given major responsibilities on key engagements. 4. PwC's scale - we have relationships with nearly every major company on Earth, which Booz did not. Many underestimate this, but if you actually take the time to learn about PwC's capabilities you will realize the benefits that came with the acquisition. I'd also like to address some cons others have been posting: - We were not over capacity for the majority of FY2017. The firings referenced by the reviews posted May-July '17 were the typical "up or out" exits. Take those reviewers' opinions with a grain of salt. - The complaints about not flying business class on domestic flight are silly, but FWIW, I've been permitted to expense black cars and very expensive dinners on the reg. This likely differs based on Partner, with ex-Booz generally being far more permissive. - I get that it can feel like a "sinking ship," but in truth S& is meeting and often exceeding its revenue targets, and we've won several major engagements with prominent clients this year alone.
Cons
Per pro #2, if you do not get looped in with the ex-Booz crowd you may not enjoy your experience. Make sure your RP is ex-Booz, and if not, network your way in with one. Work-life balance. But c'mon, it's consulting. PwC has all the bureaucracy typical of a large corporation. It's tolerable but less than ideal. Staffing is mostly based on networking. This can be a plus if you get a good reputation (trust me, you'll be begging to be on the beach), but if you develop a bad reputation it can be a death sentence. Healthcare could be better, but if you're young and fine taking a high deductible plan then whatever. Retirement is good but the vast majority vests over 2-5 years, so if you're planning to do the typical "2 years and then bail" then you'll be left with nothing. Rarely will you do growth strategy for F500's. Generally we win 2nd Tier projects (i.e. cost cutting, reorg., etc.) for the top corporations, and only win true growth for smaller companies. If you know what you're getting, then this is fine, but don't expect to be coming up with Walmart's 10-year growth strategy.