LEK vs. Capital One Strategy Associate
Was hoping to hear some thoughts about which one I should go with.
Pay is around the same, but LEK's notoriety for being a sweatshop is a bit scary while I've heard fantastic things about Capital One's WLB (may work like half the amount of hours at Capital One vs. LEK). I really like the people I've met from both places, but I felt a bit stronger connection with Capital One, but I still have reservations because
1. I want to end up in the life sciences startup space or in an investing role within LS, and I feel that LEK prepares me better for that.
2. I'm like 80% sure I'm going to medical school after 2 years in consulting, and I feel like Capital One would be harder to fit into my story/narrative around medicine, whereas with LEK I can at least say I did healthcare/life sciences.
3. LEK office is close to home, while Capital One is in a great area in VA that I think would be great to live in, but staying close to home is important to me.
Any thoughts or things I'm missing in my consideration? Thanks in advance.
Based on what you said, this seems like a pretty clear choice for LEK? Doing life sciences work is important to your story and the location preference can be pretty big (at least for me I would never want to live in a suburb after college).
WLB will be worse definitely, but you still get weekends and most of your friends will probably be in similar jobs/busy during the week anyways.
Everything from your post seems to be pointing LEK. Although if you haven't taken the MCAT or anything yet, Cap1 may give you more time to prepare but overall LEK may be a better fit for you
The Capital One program is great but is designed for people who see themselves in corporate strategy long-term, either at Capital One or in fintech broadly. LEK will give you exposure to lots of PE DD and growth strategy in healthcare / life sciences, which fits the med school story. In the 20% chance you end up deciding not to go, IMO the best LEK buyside exits are those who go to life sciences funds.
I think if someone just asked me CapOne or LEK with no context, id say CapOne because of the incredible WLB for great pay. But if you feel very confident about your goals, then LEK makes way more sense. One thing to think about is what is the downside to each. For CapOne, you aren’t as well positioned for med school and your exits are definitely worse. For LEK, the downside is basically just hours. You may not be able to get into CapOne again, but you’ll certainly be able to get into another corporate strategy group doing equivalent work. So to put it another way, I view the LEK downside as purely short term pain, whereas CapOne has the potential to hurt you long term depending on where you take your career.
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