Advisory (big 4) to Management Consulting after 1 yr (future goal: MBA - entrepreneurship or not-for-profit)

Hi WSO,

As I'm new to this forum (and relatively new to the professional world in general), I'd appreciate any insights from more experienced professionals in consulting; Here's the situation:

I just finished up my first year in risk advisory in one of the big 4s. I come from Economics/Math background at a top public university in the country, and was looking only for strategy/management consulting during undergrad recruiting season. Due to tough competition and my status as an international student, I couldn't land a position in MBB after getting through several second-round interviews with a few tier1 & 2 firms that do sponsor work Visa. I ended up accepting an offer from a big 4 risk advisory practice that I naively thought would be similar to consulting, but was terribly mistaken since the work was basically internal audit. I was also preparing for a certification for internal auditor but decide to give it up after passing 2 parts - I constantly feel I'm wasting my time doing this boring and useless exam.

After one year I know for sure I would have to get out - I'm done with GMAT with a decent score (720+) and will be aiming at top 5-10 MBA down the road (possibly after working 3-4 years). I also earned magna cum laude for my degree in Economics during undergrad and try to get as much experience in not-for-profit area as possible since I'm very interested in nonprofit work (had an internship during college at a well-known nonprofit doing development work and loved it), and I know it'd help me with MBA application too.

My question is: How should I position myself as I start (once again) looking into strategy/management consulting? I'm experienced with case interviews (as those were the only interviews i went through during college, except for, of course, the interview for my current job..), but still need to catch up on it as it's been almost 2 years since I touched any cases.

My long term goal is to start my own business or getting into nonprofit management. Possibly the little accounting knowledge I have gained at big four will help with starting a business, but for some reason I know if I keep working my current job I'm just going down the wrong path.. for either short-term goal (strategy consulting - MBA) or long-term goal (entrepreneurship/nonprofit work; I’m passionate about music and hope to do business/nonprofit related to music).

Thanks for reading this lengthy message! Any advice is greatly appreciated!

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