10 Boutique Consulting Firms to Apply To in 2026

Boutique consulting firms are worth applying to alongside McKinsey, Bain, and BCG, and the ten here all hire undergraduates as analysts or summer interns. Each one focuses on a single industry, a single kind of business problem, or the economic analysis behind lawsuits and regulatory cases.

I'm writing this as the founder of WSG. I worked at McKinsey and also went through a bunch of these boutique consulting interviews. I now guide students through recruiting for MBB, Big 4, and boutique firms.

To weigh these boutiques against the larger firms, the consulting jobs open to undergrads this year are listed here. For a firm-level look at a strategy practice outside MBB, Monitor Deloitte's roles, salaries, and interview process are covered here.

Top 10 Boutique Consulting Firms by Area

Each firm's eligibility and pay details come from its current postings unless another source is named. Only Analysis Group, Cornerstone, and Brattle offer visa support, and only for full-time hires with a STEM degree; the other seven either don't sponsor or don't say.

Industry Specialists

Industry specialists do strategy work for companies in one industry. Three of the four here work in healthcare and life sciences, and Altman Solon works in telecom, media, and technology. Industry specialists suit students who already have a reason to work in one industry, such as coursework, research, or a job in it.

1. Putnam

Putnam does strategy work for pharma and biotech companies, and it's the only one of the three healthcare firms here whose postings name economics and finance as qualifying majors. Its clients are teams inside those companies, from commercial and pricing leaders to medical affairs and R&D, at both large drug makers and smaller biotechs. A typical project answers a question such as how to price a new drug and secure coverage from insurers, which products in a pipeline to prioritize, or how large a new product's market will be. Associate Consultants work on teams of four to seven led by a partner, where they do the research, data analysis, and models behind the recommendation and help build the client presentation. Summer interns also run primary research with physicians and patients. Putnam is part of Inizio Ignite, so its postings and careers page carry the Inizio name.

Entry roles: Associate Consultant (full time) and Summer Associate Consultant, a 10-week internship in Boston.

Who can apply: for the full-time role, a bachelor's or master's degree in life sciences, economics, finance, or a related field, graduating by June 2027, for roles in Boston, New York, or San Francisco. The internship is only for juniors graduating in June 2028. Both postings ask for a 3.3 GPA minimum and prefer 3.5 or higher, and neither states a visa policy.

Pay: not published on either 2027 posting, so ask the recruiter once you're in the process.

Who it suits: econ, finance, and science majors who want the business side of biopharma, especially pricing and access to insurers.

2. ClearView Healthcare Partners

ClearView is a life sciences strategy firm that staffs you on one project at a time, usually four to six weeks long, and it says more than half of its consultants hold a life sciences PhD. Its clients are biotech, pharma, medical device, and diagnostics companies, plus investors in life sciences, and the questions run from which diseases a drug should target first to how big a pipeline drug could be and how to plan its launch. In one case study, a drug company moving into neuroscience asked ClearView to find and rank the most promising ways a new drug could work; the team reviewed the scientific literature, interviewed experts, and screened licensing deals. As an analyst, you'd own one part of the problem on each project, build tools such as forecast models, and present your findings to the client.

Entry roles: Life Sciences Strategy Analyst (full time) and a nine-week Life Sciences Summer Analyst internship.

Who can apply: a life sciences major or minor, graduating by summer 2027 for the analyst role or by summer 2028 for the internship, for roles in Boston, New York, or San Francisco. ClearView doesn't publish a GPA cutoff or a visa policy.

Pay: $92,500 base plus a discretionary performance bonus; interns earn $37.50 an hour.

Who it suits: science students who want to keep using that training in a business role and enjoy switching to a new question every month or two.

3. Health Advances

Health Advances works only in healthcare, for companies that make drugs, diagnostics, devices, and digital health products and for investors deciding whether to buy companies like those. Commercial due diligence for investors is one of its five core capabilities, alongside company work such as portfolio and go-to-market strategy. For a drug company, a project might rank which diseases to develop a drug for and how to price it across countries; for a private equity firm, it might test whether a diagnostics lab is worth buying by studying insurers' coverage policies, reimbursement rates, and pricing trends, as the firm did for one investor client. On projects like these, you'd build the financial models, run interviews with customers, physicians, and thought leaders, research the clinical and business questions, and help write the client presentation.

Entry roles: Analyst (full time, starting September 2027 in Newton, Massachusetts, or San Francisco) and an eight-week Analyst Intern program in Newton.

Who can apply: a life sciences degree; the internship is for juniors, seniors, and master's students. Newton hires must live in the Boston area, and Newton analysts work in the office about three days a week. No GPA cutoff is published, and Health Advances doesn't sponsor visas.

Pay: $85,000 base plus a first-year incentive estimated at $0 to $8,500; interns earn $34 an hour.

Who it suits: science students curious about how investors judge a healthcare company, or who may want to work in healthcare investing later.

4. Altman Solon

Altman Solon does strategy and due diligence work only in telecom, media, and technology, for the companies in those industries and the investors who back them. One client, a streaming service, wanted to know whether to launch a premium subscription tier, so the team surveyed customers about what they'd pay for and built a financial model of the return. Other projects ask where a telecom carrier should focus its marketing to win subscribers, or whether a group of infrastructure investors should add a fiber network to its portfolio. You'd join a project team from day one and build business models, market sizings, and Excel tools for clients, design and analyze surveys, and interview industry experts. If you're thinking about an MBA or PhD later, the firm offers financial support for one after two years, and it says it doesn't follow a rigid up-or-out system, in which consultants who aren't promoted on schedule are expected to leave.

Entry roles: Analyst (full time) and a Summer/Winter Analyst internship of two to three months.

Who can apply: seniors graduating in December 2026 or spring 2027 for the analyst role, and students graduating in December 2027 or spring 2028 for the internships. All majors are welcome, and no GPA cutoff is published. Analysts work in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco, and the firm doesn't sponsor visas.

Pay: $100,000 base plus a performance bonus. We couldn't confirm pay for the Summer/Winter Analyst internship, so ask the recruiter.

Who it suits: students of any major who want to learn how telecom, media, and tech companies make money.

Function Specialists

Function specialists work on one kind of business problem across many industries. Both firms here work on how companies sell: ZS on sales forces and go-to-market decisions, and Simon-Kucher on pricing. Function specialists suit students who are more interested in customer data and business economics than in any one industry.

5. ZS

ZS is known for go-to-market and sales force strategy, which means deciding which customers a company targets and how big its sales force should be. When a farm products maker going through a merger needed to resize its sales force and redraw its territories, for example, ZS's modeling showed that the company's cost-cutting and growth targets conflicted. With more than 15,000 employees, ZS is much larger than the other firms here; it's on this list because of that sales specialty, which it applies across healthcare, consumer goods, financial services, technology, and travel. ZS doesn't say how its work splits across those industries, so if you want one of them, ask which clients your track and office serve. You join through one of three tracks, and the track decides your job:

• Strategy Insights & Planning: market research and custom analyses, in Excel and ZS's own software, that answer a client's business question. It takes any major with strong quantitative coursework, and some copies of the posting ask for a 3.4 GPA.

• Decision Analytics: statistical models built on client data, in tools such as R, SAS, and Tableau. It asks for quantitative coursework, a programming or analytics tool, and a 3.4 GPA.

• Business Technology Solutions: turning business problems into technical designs and building them, with SQL and Python. It asks for a business analytics, computer science, information systems, or related major and states no GPA.

Entry roles: a Summer 2027 internship in each track, after which interns are considered for full-time associate offers. No full-time posting for 2027 starts was found; the most recent associate posting was for 2026 starts.

Who can apply: current juniors (the Decision Analytics posting asks for graduation between December 2027 and May 2028), with the majors and GPA each track lists above. ZS doesn't sponsor visas.

Pay: $90,000 to $102,000 base on a San Francisco associate posting for 2026 starts; intern pay isn't published.

Who it suits: students who want their consulting work built on data. Pick the track that matches the coursework you already have.

6. Simon-Kucher

Simon-Kucher specializes in pricing, working out what companies should charge and how to package what they sell, for clients across many industries. In one project, a US payment processor facing rising costs found that many of its customers paid less than similar customers did; Simon-Kucher's team helped it raise fees on credit card payments, lower them on debit, and change its sales incentives so the sales team shared in the gain. In another project, the firm designed good, better, and best packages for each customer segment of a health IT company. As an intern you'd analyze pricing data and customer behavior, build financial models, customer segmentations, and pricing simulations, and take part in client workshops.

Entry roles: Consultant (full time) and a nine-week Summer 2027 internship, June 7 to August 6, on a generalist track or a private equity due diligence track, plus a separate Healthcare & Life Sciences internship.

Who can apply: for the internship, students graduating in May or June 2028 who major in business, statistics, economics, marketing, finance, math, or a related field, or in a science for the healthcare internship. Interns work in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, or San Francisco. No GPA cutoff is published, and the firm doesn't sponsor visas. The Consultant posting is open to students and graduates of bachelor's or master's programs, asks for no work experience, and gives no start date.

Pay: $90,000 to $95,000 base on the Americas Consultant posting; interns earn $41 to $43 an hour.

Who it suits: students who like the economics of a business, such as how a price change shifts what customers buy, and want to work across industries.

Economic Consulting Firms

Economic consulting firms do the economic and financial analysis behind lawsuits and regulatory cases, often for law firms and the academic experts who testify in them. Much of the analyst work is data analysis and modeling, frequently on several cases at once. Economic consulting firms suit students who like empirical work in economics, statistics, finance, or computer science.

7. Analysis Group

At Analysis Group, analysts build the data analysis behind litigation and regulatory cases across many practice areas, and they need a graduate degree to be promoted to associate. The firm's own mock case shows the work: a streaming service sues after a TV network's channels go dark on its platform for two weeks, and the questions are whether subscribers left and what that cost. Analysts clean the data, help choose the models, test the method against the critiques the other side is likely to make, and help the expert prepare for deposition, since they're often the people closest to the data. The posting says analysts often go on to MBA, JD, or PhD programs after a few years, with financial sponsorship for high performers. A separate health care track works for drug and device companies on studies of treatment outcomes and costs, and its summer analysts build models such as cost-effectiveness analyses and help write conference presentations and journal papers.

Entry roles: Analyst (full time) and Summer Analyst, each on a generalist or accounting track; in the US, the health care track is a summer internship only this cycle.

Who can apply: for the summer roles, students graduating in winter 2027 or summer 2028; for the full-time role, a quantitative, accounting, or business degree. Every US posting asks for at least a 3.3 GPA. Generalists work in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, or Washington, DC, and health care interns in Boston, Los Angeles, or New York. Full-time hires can get visa support with a STEM-eligible degree and at least 36 months of work authorization; interns can't.

Pay: $105,000 estimated salary for 2027 starts, plus a discretionary bonus; summer analysts earn $2,000 a week.

Who it suits: quantitative students who enjoy research and are open to graduate school later; if you'd rather keep graduate school optional, look at Cornerstone and Bates White. If you study public health or epidemiology, look at the health care internship.

8. Cornerstone Research

Cornerstone Research does the economic and financial analysis behind securities, M&A, antitrust, and other litigation, and its posted $112,500 base is the highest on this list. In one of its example cases, shareholders sue after a company's stock falls, claiming $40 a share in damages, and the team has to separate the part of the drop that the alleged misconduct caused from the part that market and industry moves caused. On a case like that, a generalist analyst does the research and quantitative analysis, helps shape case strategy, and prepares experts for testimony, usually on several cases at once with an academic or industry expert and senior consultants. If you're weighing graduate school, top-performing analysts can get financial support for it and an offer to return, though the posting says many choose to stay.

Entry roles: Analyst (full time) and an eight-week Summer Analyst program between junior and senior year.

Who can apply: seniors graduating between December 2026 and July 2027 for the analyst role, and juniors graduating between December 2027 and June 2028 for the summer program. No major is required, and successful applicants typically have a GPA above 3.6. Full-time hires can get visa support with a STEM-eligible degree and at least 36 months of work authorization. If Cornerstone doesn't recruit at your school, you can apply through its career portal.

Pay: $112,500 base plus a starting bonus and discretionary bonuses; summer analysts are paid at the full-time rate ($4,326.92 every two weeks).

Who it suits: students with strong quantitative work, whatever their major, especially if securities or corporate finance disputes interest you.

9. The Brattle Group

Brattle hires analysts into one of three tracks (Economics, Economics and Finance, or Energy), and it's the only firm here with an entry track built around energy. Each track has its own kind of case:

• Economics: antitrust, consumer protection, and telecom cases. For example, when the Federal Trade Commission tried to block a $5 billion mattress merger, Brattle supported expert testimony for Mattress Firm on how the deal would affect competition.

• Economics and Finance: valuation, accounting, and securities cases, such as testing whether a company's alleged earnings manipulation actually harmed its shareholders.

• Energy: power system models and research on energy markets and policy, such as a study for MISO, a regional grid operator, that estimated $7.6 billion in net benefits for its members in 2025.

On any track, analysts build models in tools such as R, Python, Stata, and Excel, write research memos, and help prepare expert reports.

Entry roles: Research Analyst (Economics), Research Analyst (Economics and Finance), and Energy Analyst for July 2027 starts (those postings have now closed), plus Summer 2027 internships in each area; start from Brattle's summer internships page.

Who can apply: a quantitative degree, and successful applicants typically have a GPA of 3.7 or higher. The Economics track prefers an econometrics course and the Energy track a climate or energy course, completed or planned. The internships are for rising seniors. Full-time hires can get visa support with a STEM degree and at least 36 months of work authorization. Full-time offices vary by track, across Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Pay: $97,908 base for Research Analysts and $90,000 for Energy Analysts in each US city posted, plus a bonus program with no published amount; interns earn $1,850 a week.

Who it suits: students who already know which practice they want, especially anyone drawn to electricity markets or energy policy.

10. Bates White

Bates White is an economic consulting firm based in Washington, DC, and its consultants can rise all the way to partner without a graduate degree. Its five practices are antitrust, energy, finance, healthcare and life sciences, and mass torts. A typical antitrust question is how much buyers overpaid because of a price-fixing conspiracy: in one matter, the firm built an econometric model of urethane chemical prices, and its expert testified that the conspiracy cost the plaintiffs $608 million in overcharges. Summer Consultants are staffed on a real case from day one, where they analyze large datasets in Stata, R, Python, SQL, and Excel, review legal documents, and present their results. Vault's 2026 rankings, based on a survey of interns, put the program first among consulting internships.

Entry roles: Summer Consultant, a 10-week internship in Washington, DC. No full-time Consultant role for new graduates is posted this cycle, so the internship is the way in.

Who can apply: undergraduates graduating between December 2027 and spring 2028, from any school and any major. A technical background and Stata or R help but aren't required, and no GPA cutoff is published. Bates White doesn't sponsor visas and discourages applicants who would rely on CPT or OPT.

Pay: $37 an hour plus a sign-on bonus of unstated size; full-time pay isn't published.

Who it suits: students from any school or major who like working with large datasets and want to keep graduate school optional.

Do Boutique Consulting Firms Pay as Well as MBB?

Where the figures are published, most of these firms pay a lower base and a smaller maximum bonus than MBB, though Cornerstone Research matches MBB's base and several offer larger signing bonuses. The MBB figures and the bonuses come from Management Consulted's 2026 salary report.

Base salary: the report puts MBB's undergraduate base at $110,000 to $112,000. Cornerstone's posted $112,500 matches it, and the other seven firms that post a full-time base run from $85,000 at Health Advances to $105,000 at Analysis Group. Putnam and Bates White don't publish one.

Signing bonus: this is where boutiques tend to do better. MBB lists $5,000, against up to $17,500 at Analysis Group, up to $15,000 at Cornerstone, up to $10,000 at ClearView, $10,000 at Altman Solon, and up to $8,000 at ZS; Simon-Kucher's is $3,000, and the report lists no figure for the other four.

Performance bonus: only Analysis Group's listed maximum, up to $24,050, is above MBB's range of $18,000 to $22,500; the other five firms in the report list maximums of $8,100 to $15,000. The report notes that the maximum typically goes to the top 5 to 10% of performers, and average performers often receive about half.

Other Boutiques Hiring Undergraduates

These four also have roles posted for 2027 graduates or interns. DeciBio and Trinity would sit with the industry specialists, and NERA and Charles River Associates with the economic consulting firms.

DeciBio: strategy consulting for precision medicine, working with drug, diagnostics, and research tools companies and their investors. It's hiring Life Science Analysts for 2026 and 2027 starts in Los Angeles or Oakland at an $86,000 base; see its careers page.

Trinity Life Sciences: a life sciences commercialization firm hiring for a two-year rotational Associate program that starts in August 2027 in Waltham, Massachusetts, at a $92,500 base, plus a Summer 2027 associate internship at $35 an hour; both postings close October 24. See its careers page.

NERA Economic Consulting: hiring Research Associates in any major who graduate by summer 2027, at a $100,000 base; see its careers page.

Charles River Associates: hiring 2027 graduates as Economics Consulting Analysts or Associates in seven US offices at $92,500 to $100,000, and reviewing resumes on a rolling basis until the roles are filled; see its page for students.

What's Still Open This Cycle

As of October 16, 2026, most full-time deadlines at these firms have passed, but six of the ten still list open Summer 2027 internships.

ClearView's roles closed in June and July and Altman Solon's in September, so use our consulting recruiting timeline to plan next year's applications around the MBB programs.