Careers

McKinsey was one of the first consulting firms to actively recruit candidates with advanced professional degrees (APDs). Today, more than half of our consultants have a doctorate (PhD), law (JD), medical (MD), or non-business master’s degree.

Joining McKinsey with an APD offers you an accelerated career path, challenges you to grow both personally and professionally, and creates new career opportunities.

Set up to succeed

Working toward your advanced degree has already given you many of the skills you need to succeed here:

• Your approach to problem solving—developing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and making recommendations—is very similar to what we do at McKinsey.
• You have the intellectual curiosity we are looking for. In your research, you have looked to answer problems others haven’t been able to solve, and tried solutions others haven’t thought of trying. 
• Your knowledge and expertise can be helpful in solving a particular client problem

How you’ll fit in

Our strong commitment to training and support will help you confidently transition to the business world.

In fact, after a short time, our colleagues and clients cannot tell the difference between the business knowledge held by MBAs and those with other advanced professional degrees.

Impact. Opportunity. Growth.

Opportunities abound

Your career path at McKinsey depends on your interests and goals. You may decide to build on the expertise you developed in graduate school and specialize in a certain field, or you may decide to apply your skills in other areas. Whatever path you create for yourself, you’ll continually be challenged to grow. You can progress as quickly as you’re willing to seize opportunities.

Make a meaningful impact

You’ll have the opportunity to work with the world’s most influential organizations to solve problems and make a real difference, whether it’s in the private, public, or social sector.

Open doors to the future

Working at McKinsey will change you. You’ll grow and develop skills that will lead to future opportunities, both within our firm and beyond. McKinsey APD alumni have gone on to found companies, start nonprofits, direct large businesses, and pursue their passions in the arts.

Why people with advanced degrees come to McKinsey

"McKinsey has given me opportunities to help solve healthcare problems that I probably wouldn't have had access to meaningfully working on for another 20 years."

 "I really appreciate my scientific education for teaching me how to think in an analytical, logical way. But I also enjoy working with other people from different backgrounds and with interesting points of view, colleagues who help challenge and improve my understanding. I was excited by the opportunities at McKinsey because they meant working with diverse people on problems that really mattered to me. That was not necessarily what I thought I might get in a science career."

"If you're thinking about leaving academia or law because you want to gain practical skills, here's a job that allows you to use those problem solving skills in a practical environment, confronting the biggest issues that the top businesses in the world face every day."

"If I look at the three important criteria for me—business, helping others, and changing on a daily basis—consulting is providing all of that for me."