Doing Banking and Consulting Recruiting at Same Time

This isn't going to be a debate about the pros and cons so much as has anyone done both consulting and i banking recruiting at the same time?

I ask because I'll be interning this summer at BB as a sophomore so will have next summer to either return to the firm (obviously with a return offer), switch to another or move into consulting. I think I still have the idealized version of consulting and MBB in my head and it's heard to shake that off that it could be a good option versus banking.

On the other hand, I don't want to spend my whole college experience doing recruiting. I worked hard to get an internship this summer so I could hopefully spend the rest of college relatively enjoying my classes and just having fun. But then again, don't want to limit my options.

For those that did both at the same time, was it worth it? How time-consuming was it? Should I decide beforehand what I want to pursue?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

6 Comments
 
Best Response

I did recruiting for both when I was a senior, but I was more committed toward IBD. I didn't really study up for consulting interviews, since all I really needed to do is just modify my answers for "why banking" into "why consulting" (what more operational understanding of businesses, etc.) and also brush up a bit on case interviews. I felt like consulting interviews were always geared more toward seeing how you broke down a given situation vs a right or wrong answer; you can take multiple paths to identifying why a company is losing profits but there's really only one logical way to track depreciation through the three statements.

If i were you, I wouldn't do interview for consulting "just to test the waters". It's more stress and generally unlikely to give you a better understanding of what it's really like to work in consulting (at least, anything you could get out of the last 5 minutes of an interview could be done much better and low key through an informational interview). If you want to do banking, then focus on getting a FT offer. If you find you hate banking, then try and find what you actually want to do (though if you absolutely hate banking in general and not just your group, then I suspect that doing consulting wouldn't necessarily be ideal for you anyway).

 

Great thanks CHItizen! So how was case prep for you, then?

And I guess, the thing is, even after talking to people, I'm still not sure if I want to do consulting. I've heard both good and bad. And it does not necessarily seem any better than banking in any way. In a perfect world, I'd be able to do consulting next summer and then choose (without having to go through recruiting) one of them. If only...

 
cwinnerGreat thanks CHItizen! So how was case prep for you, then?

And I guess, the thing is, even after talking to people, I'm still not sure if I want to do consulting. I've heard both good and bad. And it does not necessarily seem any better than banking in any way. In a perfect world, I'd be able to do consulting next summer and then choose (without having to go through recruiting) one of them. If only...

I didn't really do much case prep to be honest, but if you want to, just look over some of the sample cases in the Vault handbook or your school's consulting club guide (if there is a consulting club, if not, I think there's one on the internet somewhere from Wharton). Like I said, I don't think cases are particularly hard in consulting because all the knowledge you can be legitimately expected to know is mostly general business stuff that you'll know after an IBD internship anyway.

It'd be great to be able to do internships to figure out what you like, but oftentimes the most competitive industries (finance/consulting) force you to go one way or another pretty early in college, but there's always business school. Also note that consulting and finance aren't the only careers, despite what everyone else in your class seems to believe.

 

Unde cupiditate sit est. Qui illum autem velit. Alias et saepe non hic voluptatem qui quibusdam. Repellendus voluptas sint eum autem.

Sunt iste maiores deserunt et. Ea assumenda consequatur molestias velit. Voluptatum ipsa similique aspernatur ducimus sapiente mollitia quod. Autem sequi similique veniam voluptates nemo facilis aut sunt. Similique officia debitis vel eum dolores odit. Sit non sit rem atque quos consequatur consectetur incidunt. Sed quaerat qui quo nam qui sed omnis. Qui provident saepe omnis nulla sapiente labore rerum amet.

Voluptas eum deleniti sunt mollitia. Nobis illo repellat qui repellendus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”