What would NOT be a wise thing to do for recruiting?
I'm currently a junior with a 3.7+ GPA in a top Ivy League school known for sending a lot of people to finance and management consulting. My major is economics and my courses have been in the realm of business like accounting, marketing, etc.
Now that this semester is about to end and recruiting for summer internships is about to begin, I need to figure out whether I should recruit for either or both of those industries. The main dilemma about doing this is that I very much hate valuation work and am bullish on the usefulness of consultants. However, both of these industries tend to offer their interns full time job offers after the internship ends, and I am scared about the prospect of not having a job lined up by this time next year. And not to be crude, but I also need a well paid internship for next summer.
What I think I really enjoy is learning more intellectually challenging subjects like linear algebra, algorithms, computer science, and product design. However, I've just begun those, and I think it's unlikely for me to find an internship at a tech company for next summer at this early stage.
Should I still focus on practicing for the typical finance and consulting internships and then do my own projects related to my interests once recruiting is over? Or should I completely devote my time to pursuing my interests, disregarding the need for an internship, and cold call/meet any people in that field in the hopes of finding something to do next summer?
Alternatively, please offer what would be an unwise strategy for me to use in solving my dilemma.
It sounds like you have little interest in IBD and only want it because it is a potential area of full-time employment. So an unwise strategy would be spending time preparing for a job you don't even want.
As for your other concerns, I was a summer at an MBB in NY and met plenty of people who were also interested in CS, product design, and highly quantitative and challenging fields. Some have even turned down their offers at the end of the summer to pursue full-time employment in those fields. However, you can't possibly know what consulting is truly like until you've tried it and it's definitely one of the best springboards into various other industries and a huge resume-boost. There are plenty of resources touching upon the work that consultants do, but they teach you how to think, structure problems, and solve them. That might be intellectually stimulating enough for you. It's a different subject relative to the ones you've listed, but interesting nonetheless.
I understand that my response doesn't provide a direct solution, but I don't think anyone can really give you a fool-proof list of the right things to do in this situation, only a list of important things to think about before making your decision and recommendations. Mine? Prepare like hell for consulting internships and get one, pursue classes you find intellectually stimulating (esp. project oriented ones like CS), and make a decision after you have a better tried-and-tested sense of not only what you enjoy, but also what you see yourself working in.
As above, no point recruiting for IB if you'll hate what people generally seem to think is the best part of it (financial modelling/valuation). Recruit for consulting and then leverage a full-time offer from there into a full-time job you want more if you decide you don't want to do consulting.
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