Hey! Quick question about consulting:
Hey everyone. Quick question:
I'm a junior at a target school, double major in poli-sci/history. I want to go into consulting; I have a 3.4 GPA. however, I have a resume full of public service paid work experience (US Senate, Worked for the mayor, worked for the school board, worked for a non-profit. this is all while in college - I've consistently worked about 25 hrs/wk on top of 2 leadership positions in extracurriculars (VP of fraternity, VP of a student club) and a full college courseload.
Now, you might be thinking, "why go into consulting, why not work for the government?", well my last government internship (US Senate) absolutely sucked (sorted mail for 40 hrs/wk for three months) and totally turned me off of working for the gov't.
Also, money is definitely a factor in why I'm considering consulting. no point in lying to myself about it. it is what it is.
Now, several good friends of have went into consulting and I've often helped them practice cases and I really enjoyed doing them (particularly the book case in point). And to be honest, I firmly believe that if the government solved problems the way businesses/consultants did then there would be less waste and more productivity. But that's a whole different debate.
Anyway, my question is this: do I have a realistic shot, with a 3.4 GPA in poli-sci/history? A friend of mine got an offer at Bain (shanghai office) with a 3.5 as a poli-sci/east asian studies double major, which kinda gives me hope. I'm going to try my hand at all the major firms, not just the top tier. Any thoughts? suggestions? or should I quit while i'm ahead and save myself a bunch of necessary stress?
Not really a quick question, but the quick answer is:
Don't quit, go for it. Don't limit yourself to Bain only though.
Go for it. You might be interested in doing something at Booz or Advisory Board. Coming from a target, you definitely have a shot. If I remember correctly (and it's been awhile since I went through consulting recruiting), the alums from various schools help a bit with choosing kids to interview. That being said, if you do know people at those firms, definitely start networking.
almost every major firm has a gov/public sector consulting arm in the DC area. apply broadly, you should be fine.
i would look at Booz Allen, MBB, EY/PwC/Deloitte, Advisory Board
Accenture has a large management consulting practice based in Reston, VA, focused on government clients.
They just gave me an offer, and I have a 3.5 GPA in polisci.
Below 3.5 is going to make it pretty tough at MBB, unless you've cured cancer, are an MIT engineering grad (or similar tough major at school with little grade inflation), or are related to a partner.
You seem like a good fit for Deloitte/Accenture/Booz Allen, in DC. I'd target your networking outside MBB.
any other opinions? right now i'm going through on campus recruiting, submitting cover letters/resumes and attending career fairs and whatnot. If i can pull a 4.0 this semester i can bring the gpa up to a 3.51. How much of a better position will that put me in? and if I do not get a summer internship at a consulting firm, what do you suggest I do this summer to maximize my chances of being successful next fall when I apply for full-time offers?
Getting your GPA up to a 3.51 would probably be helpful in breaking into MBB
3.4 is cutting it really close to the borderline even at a target, but given your varied extracurricular and internship experiences, you will probably land 1 or 2 first-round interviews at MBB. After that, it all depends on your interview skills, so practice hard! Even if you don't get MBB for the summer internship, if you work for a 2nd-tier consulting over this coming summer (ie. OW, Booz, Monitor, etc.), you will have a good shot at getting interviews from MBB for FT.
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