McKinsey & Company: Hands down, the most selectively elite firm in the field and possibly across any given industry. The lore is that they accept less than 1% of their 50,000 annual applicants. However, they pride themselves on their diversity, so if you have an advanced professional degree or if you've spent the past few years working in Nepal for a mountain climbing Web start-up, you may have an edge at landing an interview. Contact McKinsey.

BoozAllen & Hamilton: This firm does strategy work as well as other types of consulting. Booz tends to be a bit more mature than some of the other firms, with most of its incoming recruits holding MBAs rather than bachelor's degrees. Contact Booz.

Bain & Company: Bain is a global strategy consulting firm. They tend focus on strategy work and are a younger-oriented firm than BoozAllen. They hire a lot of recruits with both MBAs and bachelor's degrees. Contact Bain.

The Boston Consulting Group: BCG is similar to Bain in many ways, notably the similar age of recent-hires. BCG brands itself as a bit more creatively-minded, however. Eccentrics can stand out here, as long as they have some structure and precedent for backing up their crazy ideas. Contact BCG.

Andersen Consulting: Being the biggest firm in the industry brings with it a lot of structure and training and Andersen has often been lambasted for overtraining (brainwashing) its employees (droids) with the company's ways of handling given issues and problems. The company offers some of its youngest consultants the option of sticking around for a few years beyond the typical consultant's two-year pre-MBA stint. Contact Accenture.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers: PWC is one of the largest firms in the field, but management consulting is only one part of their service and industry offerings. The firm is similar in many ways to the Andersen experience (both firms have similar background), but different in many ways as well. PWC offers excellent perks but the salary is at the low end of the spectrum for the industry (low 40Ks). Contact PWC.

SoYouWanna know more? Check out our full-length article SYW get a job in a consulting firm?