Over 10 years ago, I entered the field of management consulting at Bain & Company after graduating with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Prior to entering Kellogg, I had never heard of Bain and had no idea what consulting even was. I was an engineer who wanted to learn strategy from the best, to be formally trained, and to be constantly challenged.

In my job in higher education, I utilize the skills and competencies I gained while at Bain every single day, from the hard skills of Excel and Powerpoint to the critically-important competencies of truly listening to others, influencing without authority, and developing and defining frameworks and strategies. Consulting not only taught me how to solve problems, but also how to communicate and to build relationships at the same time.

And, I’m not alone. Many leaders - both those who are well-known and those in up-and-coming startups - began their careers in management consulting. Here are just a few alums from Bain alone:

Mitt Romney, Former Governor, Senator, and Presidential Candidate
Meg Whitman, Former CEO of HP and ebay
Payal Kadakia, Former CEO and current Executive Chairman of ClassPass
Hayley Barna, Co-founder of Birchbox

Working in a business school, people often talk about the merits and faults of various career paths. When it comes to management consulting, there are certainly people who are for and those who are against pursuing it as a career. Supporters feel how I do — that the skills are extremely valuable and transferable to other industries. Detractors say consulting is old-fashioned and out-of-date. They suggest that it’s much better to be an entrepreneur to get “real” experience.

So, which is it? As with many things, I say that it depends on who you are and what you want. If you are the type of person who wants to be taught by the “professionals,” who feeds off of the challenge and pressure of client service, and who views the road warrior life as an exciting way to see the world, then consulting just might be right for you. However, if you are a bit of a rebel who wants to do things your own way, to fail fast, and to get your proverbial hands dirty right away, entrepreneurship may be a better option.

Either way, pursuing one does not preclude one from pursuing the other. As the examples above demonstrate, management consultants go on to great career paths of all types — from politics to executive leadership to startups…and even higher education.