CR's DC office is very bad. Very bad.This is a rare moment of truth on the industry rumors side of EJMR
Care to elaborate?
Cornerstone and Analysis Group, which one is better?
-
These are not representative of actual base salaries. They are simply ranges that are provided for visa purposes.
According to H1B salary database
Pay at Cornerstone: https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=Cornerstone+Research+Inc&job=&city=&year=2018
Pay at AG: https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=Analysis+Group+Inc&job=&city=&year=2018
Of course, this is base pay only, without considering bonus and signing bonus
These seem spot on for real offers in the wild last year (this years offers are higher). But without bonuses, you are only seeing half of the story.
-
I worked at one of these firms as an analyst (post-undergrad), and also worked at another large economic consulting firm. Interviewed at all of the big ones at different points, had friends scattered across all the main firms, etc.
The experience is going to be broadly similar across all the firms. What will be different are the cultures of each office, which are largely determined by the partners leading those offices and the types of work that they do.
The difference between AG's Dallas and Washington offices are probably no greater than the differences between, let's say, Cornerstone's SF and NYC offices.
You should make your decision based on the people you interview with and the vibes you're getting from each office. On the whole, CR vs. AG is really apples to apples.
-
Most people providing 'insight' here don't really know anything but rumors about rumors.
AG and CR are very similar.
Comparison in hours are not super reliable. I'm yet to meet an AG person who works considerably less than CR folks. I've met AG people who work more than those at CR. Within-frim variation in hours is much higher than across firms.
I've heard that AG is telling fairly tales about 40-hour week at interviews. These have no support in the data.
There could be some differences in workflow across firms. AG hires primarily MBAs. CR hires primarily PhDs. I'd guess it affects how much of thought leadership is expected from associates, but have no data to make a reliable claim.
Culture-wise, it differs a lot across offices, as many people pointed out. Potentially, more so for AG as it's larger than CR. -
Most people providing 'insight' here don't really know anything but rumors about rumors.
AG and CR are very similar.
Comparison in hours are not super reliable. I'm yet to meet an AG person who works considerably less than CR folks. I've met AG people who work more than those at CR. Within-frim variation in hours is much higher than across firms.
I've heard that AG is telling fairly tales about 40-hour week at interviews. These have no support in the data.
There could be some differences in workflow across firms. AG hires primarily MBAs. CR hires primarily PhDs. I'd guess it affects how much of thought leadership is expected from associates, but have no data to make a reliable claim.
Culture-wise, it differs a lot across offices, as many people pointed out. Potentially, more so for AG as it's larger than CR.My AG office hires about 4 times as many PhDs as MBAs each year.
-
This is a random hypothetical question. As people have pointed out there are lots of variations across offices in both firms.
If you are in a situation where you have an offer from both and need to choose one, think about the people who interviewed you at both firms, the locations of the offers (if they are in different cities) and the compensation offered.
If you have questions, both firms would have assigned someone to act as your contact person and they can try answer them. After you have all this information you will be able to make an informed decision. Debating this point on forums is totally moot.
-
This is a well known EJMR meme, but idk if it's actually even true.
Cornerstone DC has some pure evil people who would make your life beyond miserable.
name and shame
In my experience with litigation consulting, nothing I read prepared me for how unhappy that job made me. I don't know specifically about cornerstone DC, but I would be shocked if it was a better experience than how it's written about here.
-
CR is not worth the pay. Their managers will make people work at night, over the weekends, anytime they want on short notice just because they are bad managers and don’t give a s**t about you. It’s NOT because of client’s requests like how this industry usually gets a bad rap. Please just stay away. Talk to people who work there and you’ll hear worse.
-
CR is not worth the pay. Their managers will make people work at night, over the weekends, anytime they want on short notice just because they are bad managers and don’t give a s**t about you. It’s NOT because of client’s requests like how this industry usually gets a bad rap. Please just stay away. Talk to people who work there and you’ll hear worse.
I have to say it’s interesting how much virtually everyone I know in the industry has hated it. Both former analysts and associates. The only people from whom I heard semi-positive reviews were current employees, who naturally are not expected to be totally honest (either with me or with themselves).
-
Their managers will make people work at night, over the weekends, anytime they want on short notice just because they are bad managers and don’t give a s**t about you. It’s NOT because of client’s requests like how this industry usually gets a bad rap.
Ain't this the truth. I knew I needed to get out, after I started realizing how I was becoming part of the problem. One time my VP insisted that we needed to share some presentation with the partner the next day, and, of course, I needed to make the analysts on the project work late to make this happen. There was no real deadline, but this was not a VP who took kindly to second-guessing his plans. So I made a few analysts work late and we put together a presentation to share with the partner the next day. Well, surprise, surprise, the partner was busy and the meeting got postponed a week, and I had been a willful participant in ruining some people's evenings (including my own).
The icing on the cake was when, in my next performance review, I was criticized by this very same VP for making analysts work late when it wasn't necessary.