Big 10 College Student, Career Trajectory Crisis
Hi guys! I'm Aaron, currently a College of Business sophomore at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I understand the only competitive major here is practically accounting. Doing well in the accounting classes but I have decided that I want to pursue a career in management consulting. I know from the start that I have a passion in managing the overall big pictures and give data supported considerations.
My plan right now is to get into Northwestern as an incoming junior. By the end of my third semester my best guess of a GPA is a 3.71. I don't know how competitive that GPA is; I do have ecs and jobs (Starbucks, upcoming winter job shadow) to back it up.
The reasoning behind targeting only Northwestern as of right now is that my parents are offering to fund half of my tuition if I get in. None, if I chose any other BIG 10 or similar schools (ex. UMichigan, Emory, etc). My mom and dad would consider if it's a Duke, Stanford, UPenn offer. However, my high school GPA was abysmal and my best combined SAT is a 2110. It has been a miracle even getting into CoB at Illinois through the gruesome Inter-Collegiate Transfer process.
Wall Street sounds like a dream to me. My goal in life is to provide a positive impact and make noticeable contributions to the human society. If I don't make it into Northwestern, my next best alternative is to obtain the MAS 5 year Accounting degree, CPA, and offer at BIG four. Also interested in real estate thus I will be preparing for my Illinois real estate license exam this following summer.
Should I be banking on my chances of been able to transfer into Northwestern this following year? I wanna bring my GPA up to at least a 3.8 by the end of my sophomore year. I can, and I believe I will. I want that Kellogg Certificate, and I believe I have the brain, hard work, and perseverance. I feel like I can stand a chance against any of my peers. Always got a chip on my shoulder from people who doubted me. I knew I screwed up tremendously in high school (video games, girls). I have since remained sober.
Please, and help/advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi. I haven't worked in mgmt consulting myself, so I don't feel qualified to give you an advice.. but I did a lot of research on mgmt consulting because I want to go that route after mba. I did work at Deloitte tech consulting as an analyst, however.
I did get to know many people that worked at Deloitte S&O. (mgmt consulting branch at Deloitte) A manager from there told me that they don't hire more than 200-250 new analysts each year nation wide. I can't verify if this number is correct though. But they hire way more people at mba level. so getting into mgmt consulting as an mba is way easier than doing the same at undergrad level. (there are just more slots at mba associate level)
getting into deloitte s&o is pretty tough, so I imagine getting into MBB consulting as a college senior is a very tall order. Coming out of northwestern, you'd better have 3.8+ gpa and ace the case interviews to just have a shot.
what I am saying is, I wouldn't transfer to Northwestern from U of I just to get into consulting after college, especially if doing so would set you back financially. U of I is a decent school and will get you good opportunities assuming you do things right.
Best of luck
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"Career Crisis"
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There's a decent number of people who get management consulting out of UIUC CoB, even accounting majors. Most of the offers are for Big 4, but there a few MBB offers as well.
Obviously, chances for a consulting job are better at Northwestern and if you get accepted as a transfer I'd make the switch if you can do it financially. Even if you don't get accepted your career will be fine and I assure you can get a good job out of UIUC.
And if you're parents will pay for part of NW well then they should also include Duke, Stanford, Penn on that list.
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