Sophomore Consulting Internship

Hello,

I am an incoming sophomore at a target school, and I am wondering what (if any) consulting firms hire interns for the summer after sophomore year. I am considering any management consulting firms and economic consulting firms (cornerstone, AG, etc). I am not a minority so the 'special diversity' programs are off the table.

Thank you!

7 Comments
 

I think all of the big 4 offer sophomore internships. I've seen people in the MC divisions at these firms at that age (this may vary depending on geography though). I'm not sure about boutiques and econ consulting firms though.

Btw, if you're hoping to recruit for consulting in junior year, getting an internship in the field in sophomore year is not required or expected at all, just FYI.

 
Most Helpful

Honestly, there isn't a set path per se when it comes to your sophomore year internship.

Even with respect to the corp strategy/finance comment below, it's not true strictly speaking. To be frank, an intern never looks "good" to a client. Firms sometimes request special permission from clients to even staff an intern on a project and their billing rates are either eaten completely or cut down.

The real "formula" for a 1st/2nd year internship is a "real" job (i.e. not a summer camp or something) where you're doing real work and making an impact. You want a job where you can point to specific things and say you made A, B, and C at your company better.

Brand names on top of that don't hurt because they act as a proxy. P&G for example has a certain bar for their hiring, so it's a positive signal to consulting firms if you have an internship there.

Doing something within the broad scope of "business" is nice, but I honestly mean it when I say it can kind of be anything as long as you're doing a good job. You could be doing software engineering, or data analytics, or strategy, or supply chain, etc...

For context, my 2nd year internship was in data science (i'm not a business major). As long as you do a good job and make an impact, you'll be good. Just remember to show your well rounded skill set in other areas (ex. EC's)

 

No. It absolutely helps though, as almost all competent junior interns get a return offer. However, if you do not have a junior summer internship in consulting it is far from the end of the world. I did not have a consulting internship prior to my full time job - I worked in asset management. It will be important for you to have a convincing answer to 'why consulting' though.

 

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