Caltech-Am I screwed?
Hey so I'm a freshman at caltech. Before coming to this hell of an institution I wanted to be a chemical engineer, but now I want nothing to do with STEM. Upon exploring other career options, I stumbled on consulting and I really want to land a big 4 job post-grad. However, caltech is not really a target school. Not only that, it's almost impossible to do meaningful extracurricular work here given the insane course load, so I'll also have a pretty lame resume. How screwed am I? How can I improve my prospects?
You're a freshman at a top school, no you're not screwed from getting a B4 or better consulting offer
Look up "non-target recruiting" on this forum and others -- don't need on campus recruiting efforts to work somewhere (although it is immensely helpful)
Hopefully somebody who has a similar background can comment, but off the top of my head:
Most important thing you can do is maintain a great gpa. Since you don’t wanna do engineering, find the easiest major offered and make sure you get A’s.
With a great gpa from cal tech, you’ll get consulting interviews with a little bit of hustle.
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You are 100% right, I got so weepy that I was blind to the most obvious option. Will be trying my luck
Slow down -- reach out to alums first to see their experiences. Companies probably don't recruit from Caltech because (1) there are so few undergrads, and (2) most probably aren't interested in consulting. If you want to do it you'll be able to - consulting isn't a field where you need a particular field of study to get interviews, but coming from such a strong brand name college will open so many doors for you if you try
I agree that transferring is an option and you'll have a good story, but it seems like it's not the path of least resistance
it looks like caltech is a target school for both BCG and Bain at the undergrad level. id bet mckinsey would also be open to interviewing you even if they dont recruit on campus. these are the firms you should be targeting as a student at a top undergrad. if you dont want to go through the hassle of transferring, focus on getting good grades and getting involved with any on campus consulting or professional services clubs, and youll be fine for junior internship recruiting. otherwise, transferring is probably your best bet
You’re at caltech. Aim higher than Big 4.
You should easily be able to land Big 4 out of caltech so long as you maintain a decent GPA. If anything, MBB is a very real possibility for people at that school who are interested. You could also transfer to another T10 school that has a major that appeals to you more
Wow only on WSO can someone make Caltech sound like a mediocre school that no employer would want to be associated with. You're in Caltech, you will be fine as long as you keep a respectable GPA.
For what its worth, I worked with two people from CalTech this summer at my MBB firm. Just not that many people want to go into consulting from there I think.
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