Internship Selection in Preparation for MBB/T2 Fulltime Consulting Recruitment
Hello all!
I am a current undergraduate (junior) studying finance at a high-ranking (T20 Undergrad B-school; US News) non-target university. It is my goal to receive an offer from a management consulting firm post-grad, preferably MBB/Deloitte. I am looking for advice on internship opportunities for the summer between my junior and senior years.
I am looking for an internship that would set me up well for management consulting recruitment next summer. I, unfortunately, got smoked during the recruitment cycle for MBB (application(s) rejected), Deloitte S&O (made it to the final round), and PWC/West Monroe (application rejected) this past fall and will not be able to do an internship within the consulting industry itself.
Thus far, I have several options as far as internships are concerned. Here they are, ranked in order of how related to management consulting/prestigious (I think) they are:
1. Ernst and Young (EY) Tax - Transfer Pricing Internship (Offer decision is due in a week)
Pros:
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Great Brand Name (Big 4)!
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Client-Facing role.
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Competitive Pay ($30/hr +2,000 Signing Bonus).
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If I end up working here after college (No MGMT consulting offer), good salary/brand name for MBA in 5 yrs.
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EY Parthenon is in the same office, heard an internal transfer is doable (provided there is no split?).
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Did an office visit, love the people that work in TP at EY.
Cons:
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In tax division- less reputable than advisory/audit?
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Nobody knows what the hell transfer pricing is - Pigeonholes you postgrad unless you do an MBA.
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Skills, outside of client work/analysis are not super transferrable to MGMT consulting due to niche subject matter.
2. Wells Fargo CIB investment banking Internship (No offer yet, deep into the interview process)
Pros:
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EXTREMELY Competitive Pay ($48/hr).
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Work alongside investment banking (not investment banking internship?): looks good on consulting (M&A) application?
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Wells Fargo is at least recognizable as a brand on a resume.
Cons:
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I don't know what the hell the internship is for; am I an investment banker? Am I advising investment bankers? I was told that this is not an investment banking internship, but I would work closely with said bankers.
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Wells Fargo has a muddy reputation in financial services
3. Wells Fargo operations internship (No offer yet, 99% sure I get one next week)
Pros:
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Wells Fargo is at least recognizable as a brand on a resume.
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Would be doing finance stuff (Consumer & small business banking, corporate banking, or wealth & investment management)
-Pay should be around $20-30/hr
Cons:
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Boring Finance
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Not super Consulting-like
4. Wells Fargo Finance internship (interviewing, no offer)
Pros:
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Same brand name, finance stuff as above Wells Fargo internship
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Likely similar salary to above
Cons:
- Super general, could be doing any of 12 different things
5. CHS finance/accounting internship (offer extended, have not made a decision yet)
Pros:
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People are nice
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$21/hr (mediocre wage, in comparison to others)
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Industry experience
Cons:
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Most boring finance imaginable- Payroll, internal accounting, ect.
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No one knows what CHS is
Beyond these internships, there are still many that I could apply for, with deadlines coming up in late October/November - Could apply for local federal reserve branch, etc..
I am also looking at joining a selective program through my school wherein students do actual consulting work for companies. Previous program participants have received offers from MBB, Deloitte, and others. It seems to be a great pipeline into consulting. Would participating in this augment my otherwise lackluster internship experience?
In conclusion: I am leaning heavily towards accepting the EY offer. Should I accept that or wait to hear back from other companies? Would EY, even in tax, look good on a resume next fall/summer when I am recruiting for management consulting FT positions? Should I continue to apply to other roles? Do any of the internships listed look better than the EY position?
Also: Should I ask to extend my EY decision?
Thank you all for your advice and insight!
I appreciate the help.
I'd lean away from the EY offer unless you're confident an internal transfer to EY-P is possible. The skillset derived from tax isn't very applicable to consulting, and I think the reputation might be blurring your vision on it. That being said, if you're confident you can transfer to EY-P after the summer, that's a huge plus. Part of your internship search process should be finding a firm you're comfortable going back to for FT. The better that firm is, the less you have to recruit for for FT.
Bottom line is to gain more clarity on the roles at Wells Fargo and the F100. Speak to some previous interns, or maybe see if they re recruited themselves. Best of luck!
Thank you for the input!
I think that, as of right now, the F100 is out due to the nature of the work (boring payroll/accounting/basic finance).
The Wells Fargo position is in their FIG department, which does a decent amount of IB-type work, but little M&A. Sounds like a lot of credit analysis and valuation.
I asked my (Wells) final round interviewer if I would be client-facing at all, and they essentially told me no. Do you think that perhaps EY would be better because of the external/client facing nature of the role, or that Wells would be better due to experience gained with valuation and financial analysis? I feel as though EY might provide a better brand name & soft skills rolling into consulting recruitment next year, but that Wells might provide more relevant technical skills.
Once again, thank you for your response!
Also - I see that you're manifesting an MBB offer! Hopefully you get one! (but not over me)
Whether you choose Wells Fargo or EY will not matter for MBB applications, either is fine.I received offers to two of the MBB for full-time. I also previously interned at a top BB in IB and was never directly asked even once about my BB internship during my full-time MBB interviews. As I've told many people, to get an MBB offer, the "prestigiousness" of a past internship does not matter. I know people who got full time MBB offers with no past paid internships, or pre med or pre law or engineer students who didn't do any business related internships.What matters is that you show impact and leadership in whatever you do. You can intern at EY or Wells Fargo, but be able to show impact and leadership in what you did. Also, your GPA matters a lot - keep it as high as you can (based on what I've personally seen with friends, 3.9+ would be most optimal if you're non STEM or a business major, but 3.8+ is also fine for non STEM; with STEM majors, you have way more leeway).Obviously, your casing matters the most, and personality/networking as well. 10/10 times, they will take a candidate with a high GPA, no previous internships, and extremely strong casing ability over a candidate with previous Goldman internships but average casing ability.So to summarize whether you pick EY Tax or Wells Fargo will literally not matter for when you apply to MBB. What will matter is your casing ability, your GPA, and your ability to explain in behavioral answers how you have had impact or leadership in anything that you have done in your life (does not have to be in internships or clubs, can be in anything). So base your EY vs Wells Fargo decision on what you want to learn, what you would enjoy the most, etc instead of which one you think might increase your MBB chances, because neither is going make a significant difference.
Thank you for the advice! That makes a lot of sense - I'll take your advice into consideration as I figure things out!
Graduated from a target with a strong MBB pipeline. Would push back with what you mentioned on prestige with a fold. MBB likes hiring consultants from diverse disciplines, everything from tech, finance, med, etc. I actually got advice from a current employee to do banking over consulting for the summer for this reason. This isn't to say not to do consulting (you should pick based on the work you want to do-- it's what helps with threading your story in interviews, and also just for yourself), but "consulting" as a skill is something trainable that all the MBB/Big 4 consulting firms have down to a T in house: it's not such a make-or-break demonstrated interest signal as it is in something like finance/investing.
Where prestige does come into play is getting past HR screens-- that's where 90% of applicants get cut. Like above intern mentioned, he/she went to a top BB. That opens doors. It's a positive selection signal / stamp of approval that you're a green flag. Have similarly seen conversions from buy-side shops and Big Tech. I agree that the experience itself doesn't particularly matter in the interview process -- if you're sharp and can case, they'll take you -- but it still remains that there are some doors that are more open than others just looking at the resume level. I think it's misleading to attribute prestige as insignificant, especially for such a process like MBB.
I think your primary options of EY and WF are quite comparable in terms of prestige, so it's not a big consideration here. Especially at the intern level, I think your interests are most important-- and I'd think about considering the option you'd want to do most for full-time (I don't know about the Tax role... but IB/Ops at WF seems more interesting to me).
Transferring divisions is possible, but wouldn't count on it. There's a key divide between EY and P, even before the potential split -- (with no insider info on the EYP) I'd treat more as a networking tool than anything too substantive.
Tax pricing is completely different from consulting but if you can internally transfer that would be cool. I would lean towards well Fargo if it is actually IB.
It is in Corporate banking - not investment but similar.
Saw my friend reneging Wells Fargo CIB for EY-P for summer 2023. But would still recommend you to take WF over EY tax because of the comp, great work-life balance (apparently wells fargo's WLB is among the best in banking), and relevant experience
That makes sense! My group would be the corporate banking division of CIB, so no direct IB or M&A. I guess now, given the compensation and skills acquired, Wells seems like the better gig. However, I'm concerned that its brand value is lower than that of EY. Thank you!
Internal transitions to EY-P by and large do not happen. They are incredibly, incredibly rare and typically only happen with major partner support. Most people who wish to make that jump to strategy will leave, go do a M7/T15/T25 MBA, and then re-recruit.
That being said, my idea would be 2>1>>3>>>>>4>5. Is there any chance you can land a non-strategy consulting internship with another big4 or other major consulting firm? The jump from non-strategy consulting intern to strategy consulting FT is not as hard as you might think. I knew many who got interviews for MBB from big4 consulting. Offers on the other hand… well that’s a different story.
My apologies for the late reply! I did take your input into consideration as I made my decision. Ended up signing with Wells Fargo! Thank you for the help!
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