Accenture are a joke. Period. Don't be deluded into thinking that the £28k and £10k signing bonus will hold you in goos stead. The £10k signing bonus is given to you over two years and around December last year, partners announced that there were to be pay freezes depite the company announcing record profits. This means that there is a chance that your salary as a third year analyst will be less than that in your first year (having accounted for inflation). The work they do is hardly stimulating and all you will be doing is 18 month long systems integration/installation projects for the government. Seeing as they are a huge firm, no doubt the bureaucracy of the organisation and lack of client exposure will frustrate you.
Going back to Mr.Universe's original question here are my answers -
1) yes and no. There are less applicants overall probaly less applicants per place, but the average quality per candidate is considerably higher than that of banking. Banks get applicants from mediocre universities applying for front of office positions, and proply get binned. Consultancies solely market themselves to the best unis and so get better quality candidates. Also, the number of places per year within consultancy is far smaller than within banking - a strategy consultancy will be looking for 5-15 grads per year max, whereas a bank will take on 150-300. as there are places within sales, trading, research, IBD, quants......
2) No. Top 5 only. Oxbridge and LSE on your cv will get you an interview, and exceptional candidates from Warwick, UCL and Imperial. Obviously there are exceptions, but only for exceptional people.
3) No chance mate.
4) Engineering, modern languages, economics or a hard science from Oxford, Cambridge, LSE. If not Imperial, Warwick, UCL.
Your comment about an MBA is a tad naive. You won't do one until you're in your mid to late twenties, and the likelihood is that you'll already be sponsored by your company to do it.