What do you consider real consulting? You should read MBA forums, poet & quant, firmsconsulting etc.

We all agree prestige wise, mbb > tier 2 (incl. acquired big 4 strat firms) > big 4. So i'm assuming your deduction comes from the fact that big 4 is of a lower tier in a certain industry, hence they are not real consulting firms.

If that's the logic, do you mean to say [NAME OF LOW-TIER AUDIT FIRM (e.g. BDO)] isn't real audit? SME law firms are not real law firms?