MBA careers
How To Become A Management Consultant
Jobs nationally
898,280
$60,640 to $171,640 across them
Ranked MBAs in this field
28
Business Analytics concentration
The one job on this site where the federal source names the degree by name: the Handbook says some employers prefer candidates with an MBA. It still calls a bachelor's degree and several years of experience the typical entry, so the MBA is a preference employers hold, not a license the work requires.
What Management Analysts Do
The Occupational Outlook Handbook describes the work this way: “Management analysts, often called management consultants, recommend ways to improve an organization's efficiency.” That is the occupation BLS surveys for the pay figures on this page, so the job description and the wage belong to the same definition. The Handbook page is the source, read on September 22, 2026.
How To Become A Management Consultant
BLS sums the route up in one sentence: “Management analysts typically need at least a bachelor's degree and several years of related work experience.” It then adds: “However, some employers prefer to hire candidates who have a master's degree in business administration (MBA).”
This is the one job on this site where the federal source names the MBA outright. It still calls a bachelor's degree and several years of experience the typical entry, so the degree is a preference employers hold, not a qualification the work requires.
What this site can add to that is the price of the degree and what its graduates earned. Across the 28 ranked online MBAs reporting a business analytics concentration, whole-program tuition has a median of $35,157, and their graduates' median earnings a year after finishing were $79,653. The BLS median for management analysts is $101,860, $20,948 above the $80,912 median a year out of these programs, which is the distance experience covers rather than the degree.
What Management Analysts Earn
The May 2025 wage survey reports 898,280 jobs nationally, with these figures:
| Percentile | Annual pay | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $60,640 | Lowest tenth of the occupation |
| 25th | $77,950 | Lower quarter |
| Median | $101,860 | Midpoint, half earn more |
| 75th | $133,370 | Upper quarter |
| 90th | $171,640 | Highest tenth |
The median, $101,860, is lower than most people expect from a job whose degree is named in the Handbook, and the 90th percentile of $178,620 is where the consulting firms people picture actually sit. MBA salaries by occupation sets all thirteen side by side, with what graduates of the ranked programs earned.
Online MBA Programs For Management Consultants
Business analytics is the closest concentration, because the recommendations the job description mentions are argued from data. Leadership covers the other half of the work, which is persuading an organization to act on them. Full profiles, prices and sources for each of these are on the concentration page; the score describes the whole MBA, because neither federal earnings nor AACSB tuition is reported for a single concentration.
| Program | Tuition | Graduate earnings | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Nebraska, Nebraska | $33,600 | $113,196 | 22nd |
| Saint Joseph's University, Pennsylvania | $36,480 | $116,023 | 28th |
| University of North Alabama, Alabama | $16,830 | $83,366 | 31st |
| Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma | $11,730 | $76,648 | 35th |
| University of South Dakota, South Dakota | $16,980 | $76,293 | 56th |
All 28 ranked online MBAs in Business Analytics · Online MBA in Leadership
Common Questions About Becoming A Management Consultant
Do you need an MBA to become a management consultant?
How much do management analysts make?
Which online MBA concentration is best for management analysts?
Is the job growing?
Other Careers An MBA Leads To
Sources For This Management Consultant Page
- Accreditation, online MBA offerings, concentrations and tuition: AACSB's list of accredited schools, retrieved September 21, 2026. Program details on that list are reported to AACSB by each school.
- Graduate earnings and debt: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field-of-study file (Most-Recent-Cohorts-Field-of-Study_06102026.zip), business master's in CIP 52.01 and 52.02.
- Institution identifiers: IPEDS, used to match each AACSB school to its federal records.
- Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.