From banking internship to consulting - how hard is it?
Hi all, just wish to ask for advice on a dilemma. I am a rising junior at a top 10 target school, recently received an IBD offer from a tier 2 investment bank (think of Citi/Barclays/CS). However, my heart actually prefers consulting over banking, and the main reason I applied for banking is that banking is recruiting early and MBB internships are harder to get than FT positions.
Now that I only have 2 weeks to decide on the offer, I most likely will take it, but just wondering how hard it will be for me to transfer to a consulting FT role after a banking internship if I still prefer consulting over banking in a year?
Also, I may still plan to interview for consulting this fall just to get more case practice, and if I am lucky enough to get an internship offer from MBB, how bad will it be for me to renege on the banking offer if I don't want a banking job anymore? Just trying to gauge the consequences in case it happens...
bump
Not too hard to be honest. You can make a story about how you found the finance side of business interesting but realised you also wanted to explore the strategy/operations/other sides and therefore decided to pivot. Also mention what transferrable skills you can bring to consulting (teamwork, numerical analysis, attention to detail e.t.c). Overall it shouldn't be too difficult if you're at the internship stage. Getting an MBB internship will allow you to renegade on the banking offer but you'll have burnt that bridge with the firm most likely for a long time.
I’ve seen it happen plenty - not a long shot at all. I’ve met people who have come from internships at BBs lower in the spectrum than the ones you’ve listed who’ve placed at Bain, Parthenon, etc. My understanding from their processes was that that they were able to draw as many comparisons in skill sets between ib and consulting as possible (as the person above noted) and getting started on the networking piece early.
For what it’s worth, I think the other way around (Consulting to IB) is much less common so you’re definitely not in a bad spot at all.
Do you have any insight on moving from S&T to consulting?
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