thoughts on rising sophomore biology major's plan to pivot and break into management consulting with no experience?
i'm a rising sophomore at a semi-target top public school, and i came into school a freshman on the pre-med track, doubling in biology and a liberal arts major, but after bombing gen chem and realizing that i don't have the calling for medicine that one needs to pursue the career, i'm starting a computer science and a business minor and I've spent the first half of this summer reading about management consulting and I'm very passionate about breaking into the industry
my weak background with no business experience:
mediocre GPA, probably sitting a 3.6 by the end of sophomore year because of freshman fuck ups, not ideal, not sure if being a life science major + doubling + two minors might help ease the poor gpa because heavy courseload?
tons of research experience, wet & dry lab, might be useless outside of medicine/academia
social/advocacy work, some legislative, some awareness focused, some infrastructure type work, sounds decent for consulting on resume i hope because mostly problem-solving type approaches
i'm very interested in venture capital as well, although it doesn't seem to be something feasible to break into as san undergrad at all, so i'm aiming for consulting firms for my junior summer internship but I'm am also thinking of pursuing a vc internship for summer 2025 since they seem much more possible to get through ad hoc methods (cold-emails) compared to consulting because of the plethora of small vc firms. or even a vc internship during the school year at small firms in my city
its july 2024 and recruiting for summer 2026 is next summer/fall, so here's my current basic plan:
Networking
starting right now in the summer all the way throughout sophomore year, i'm going to meet with as many alum consultants as I can from my university, albeit not a target school its still quite reputable and has a t20 business school so there's no shortage of alumni at MBB and other firms, and more consultants/partners etc outside of my alumni pool as well, and hopefully through them I'll learn more about the career paths and what steps I should take and make good impressions for potential referrals. Will also go to all career fairs and events that occur on my campus and city, please any advice on making these events useful is welcome. The goal is to have at least 1-2 meetings a week with individuals, from all firms I'm interested in, every working week of the year.
does each firm limit your amount of referrals to one? or could I have multiple, would multiple look good though? In order to guarantee a referral, should I provide the people I speak to mostly updates about my journey? Or how can I ensure maintaining good contact so that they are happy to refer me when the time comes, as I'd apply for these roles in like summer/fall 2025.
Experience:
as i repeated earlier, i'm also aiming to meet with small consulting firms or venture capital firms in my college city, from whom I can discuss potentially working with ad hoc, whether that be grunt work or more a mentorship relationship, because I just want to gain experience and learn from individuals, and I highly doubt my not so businessy background will land any internships as a sophomore analyst or consultant anywhere, but small firms are definitely more prone to school year not so official internships so I'll scour for one of those, is that a good idea?
I'll also aim to join organizations on campus ofc, lots of consulting, venture, finance, product management organizations that will help with gaining experience and just resume value while I learn more about business. In all honesty, I don't know what else to do.
I can envision what my goal resume would end up ideally by the next summer, I'd keep the highlights of my research thus far, cuz I've poured a lot of time into that, and I'd have a few social impact leadership roles that I've been invested in for a while, and throughout the next year, I'd add any sort of consulting and finance work experience I get through sorts of internships or on-campus organizations, would this be decent for aiming for a junior internship? If framed perfectly, which is one of the hardest parts I believe
Learning:
I'm also beginning to just learn about finance as a whole, and I'd love any tips, whether thats book resource recommendations or just what to google and learn. I have case books like victor cheng's shortlisted which I'll start reading a little later down the road into sophomore year, I've been taking noters on aswath damodarans class to get a basic understanding of corporate finance, I will be starting a business minor this coming semester which might help with foundational skills, please any recommendations for resources, and what key topics I NEED to learn for these careers are welcome. Will start case prepping a bit later down the road, not too late but early into the school year, once I build a little groundwork in business as a whole, I'd love if anyone could just list the key things I should learn because I'm not sure entirely, and I'm eager to learn everything essential to succeed.
The goal is that by the summer of 2025, I'll have racked up any experience I can get, some sort of internships here and there with small firms, because I don't really know how else to gain anything (HOW), have networked extensively with individuals in every single firm I'm applying to, with a referral in each one, and have a perfected resume and application package, with lots of case prep
Any and all advice is welcome, anything from
- resources about business, finance, consulting, vc, just any and all key elements of all these industries that one should learn, as I come from a non-business background with like barely any knowledge
- tips on how to effectively use my time breaking into consulting, tips on networking, building my application package, what questions to ask professionals, how to frame myself to recruiters, who to reach out to in each firm
- tips on gaining good looking experience throughout the next school year, where I should be searching, how I should be reaching out, tips on effectively utilizing cold-contact
- tips on just everything one needs to know in order to succeed in these fields
I know this post was lengthy, and probably confusing to understand, but I just want advice, I've gained a huge interest in this field, and I really want to break in, and I know it'll be insanely tough and maybe even impossible to land the internship I want with a mediocre GPA, coming from a nonbusiness background and no finance experience my entire freshman year, but I'm passionate and will work my ass off to try my hardest
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some detailed insights and advice for your plan to pivot into management consulting:
Networking
Referrals
Experience
Learning and Preparation
Resume and Application
Additional Tips
Summary
By following these steps and leveraging your passion and dedication, you can increase your chances of breaking into management consulting despite your non-business background. Good luck!
Sources: How to ask for referrals?, Advice for summer and return offer rate?, Q&A: Former MBB Consultant, Q&A: Former MBB Consultant, do you refer everyone who asks you to?
bump
I was in a very similar situation to you and I’d love to offer some guidance!
So for context my undergrad was as in a niche field of Biology and first year and somewhat second year of university I interned as a research assistant in laboratories and on boats.
While out in the big city on a trip with a university society I’d joined to help out some friends, I met the finance and business lot and realised these cocky folk work a lot less than me and make a lot more, so I made the jump from academia to corporate.
The key to my jump was policy, and in my case environmental policy. It’s a middle ground between the corporate and scientific worlds. Do what you can to get into policy workshops and ThinkTanks. I was lucky enough to land a small civil service summer position where I sat there doing data entry all day every week, but it showed that I could now know how Governments work and had that interest in policy.
I used this experience to leverage myself for a masters degree in environmental and health policy. At my new university I joined all the random but relevant societies leveraging my past experiences with Policy which allowed me to snowball useful experiences and corporate/business knowledge. During applications I mentioned I have a STEM background with Biology which is great because it allows me to have deep understanding of the underlying processes and problems faced in the corporate worlds of sustainable finance/esg/etc, which we all know we really don’t but we probably care more than your snobby business major. Lastly I recommend using leveraging the research prowess of scientific majors as an easy pivot into market research and business development.
Hopefully this is of some help and best of luck with your journey!
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