Switching to MC late in the game (current college junior) - How to prepare?
Hi all,
This will be a long read, but I would REALLY appreciate your help.
I want to do everything I can to get a management consulting FT offer next Spring, even though I am quite late in the game. Some background:
I am a college junior at a semi-target college. I am pursuing a degree in both economics and mathematics and I have a solid GPA. Up until junior year, I was a pre-med student, but I have since decided that it wasn't for me. As such, I have a lot of science coursework and bench research experience, both during the school year and summer internships (2). I also have a lot of volunteering under my belt and past leadership roles related to that.
As I considered what I might want to go into instead of medicine, I researched many careers out there and was really interested in consulting. Through many, many job applications, interviews, and networking, I was very fortunate to land an offer this summer as a consultant at a top HR consulting firm. It has been quite difficult with no prior experience and this summer will definitely help get my feet wet.
I do realize however that HR consulting is quite different from MC, which is where I eventually want to be. What are some ways that I can prepare for FT recruiting? My course load this coming fall is very light and I am class-free MWF (so I could easily work 20-30 hours a week in solid blocks of time). I want to dedicate that time to developing more work experience so that I can become a more competitive candidate. However, I'm not even sure how likely I am to even get a fall internship or how useful it'd be.
Here's what I've been doing this past Fall and Spring semester:
- Networking hard. I've been reaching out to alumni through our school database and through LinkedIn, trying to talk to them and hear about their experiences. I've been going to a lot of on-campus events with professionals and the like.
- Competitions. I entered two case competitions, but unfortunately my team did not place in either one. I am not exactly sure how to show my interest in consulting on my resume. After all, even though I spent many, many hours preparing for these case competitions, I can't even put them on my resume since I didn't place. I did enjoy them though! I was also a finalist in an entrepreneurial competition, but did not place.
I know it's very ambitious, but 2 of MBB, all of the Big 4, and many other top firms recruit at my school. How can I prepare? Thanks.
My view of what is generally required to get the interview: - Good GPA - Good work experiences (1 internship at a recognizable place is enough)
What adds significant value to getting the interview (in order of priority): - Networking (you'd be surprised how much it helps to have just one person back you up) - Case competitions - Interesting personal hobbies - Volunteer work
Once you get the interview, all that matters is how you perform in case/behavioral interview.
At this point, it's hard for you to change the first section much. So build a really strong relationship with a few people and you should have a good shot at getting an interview.
P.S. Switching to consulting as a career as a junior is not "late", I would consider that as a pretty standard timeline. A ton of people I know switched after their senior summer because they realized they didn't like corporate finance or whatever they did their internship in.
I also noticed that you did not mention coursework. I consider myself "late" because I have decided that I want to pursue consulting at a point in college where I could not enter my school's BBA program and graduate on time. At my school, I actually have the option of taking a few BBA courses without being in the program. I haven't signed up for any of these classes, but if it is unnecessary for me to work a fall internship, I would definitely take these courses (which include consulting courses).
Yes, any work experience where you have actual responsibility (corporate finance, Operations, Investment Banking, other types of consulting, Marketing, basically anything where you take on a quasi full-time role) is considered as "work experience" for an MC application. I was always told where you work matters significantly more (to catch resume reviewer's attention) than your actual role.
Business school classes are 100% not necessary. Consulting firms do not want you to recite Porter's Five Forces or the Three Ps or 18 C's or whatever framework you learned in a business strategy class. They want to see if you can think critically and accurately evaluate a problem given the information you have access to. You do need to know some things (like profit = revenues - costs, variable costs v. fixed costs, etc.), but, given you are an econ major, I would imagine you wouldn't have too much problem with this. The most difficult concept ever thrown at me in a (practice) case was elasticity of demand (once again, econ major shouldn't have problem with this).
While 1 internship is enough, 2 is better. Your time would be more valuable doing the fall internship (provided it falls into the quasi full-time internship program I described above) than taking classes.
Case interviews should be a major focus at some point before next fall, hopefully your school has an undergrad consulting club you can leverage.
Keep up the work and you are on the right track!
One next step would be finding reliable case partners (I recommend running a case per day for a month or two before your fist interview). After you get 80% of the way in terms of case skills start reaching out to alumni at your school to run cases with. I found that about 3/4th of the consultants I reached out to were willing to run a case with me and assuming your skills are up to par its a great way to network; consultants feel a lot more comfortable passing on your resume if they know you can run a case well.
Good luck and nice work so far!
gpck I am definitely planning on ramping up my case practice. As far as I can tell though, my school's consulting club doesn't really do anything except for networking events and case competitions.
MCraig That sounds like a fantastic way to show your merit and connect with alumni! I'll definitely try that--thanks!
PE Hopeful Since you said the emphasis isn't on exclusively consulting work experience but quasi-FT work, what do you think of, say, a PE fall internship? I have a friend interning part-time year round at a small PE firm, so not only would that be an easier internship for me to get, but I also think it would be interesting to try some PE work. I'm holding some reservations about whether this would portray me as not being "focused" enough, and having my interests be all over the place.
solesurvivor that is odd that your school's club doesn't do that. In my mind it is one of the fundamental reasons a Consulting club exists. Maybe you could join the club's board and help roll that out.
In my opinion, a PE internship would only be a good thing (if working in the ops or investment side, not as an administrative assistant...obviously). May actually help you if you apply to Bain, LEK, or another firm that does a lot of PE consulting.
Internships are meant to explore your interests. No one is going expect you to be "focused" in any particular area at 21/22 years old. I did 3 internships (once again, not necessary. Don't think my prospects were any better from a MC FT recruiting standpoint after the second internship) - one in PE (on LP side), one in tech consulting, one in banking. Never once did my "lack of career focus" come up in interviews.
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