Breaking into MBB; What Can I Do Better? What Should I Consider
Hello!
Background:
I am a junior attending top state school (think Berkeley, Michigan, or Virginia) majoring in Political Science. I am a transfer to the current institution last semester from a community college.
Things I did:
- Political Finance Intern at Congressman Re-election campaign.
- Political Research Assistant at Top private school (think Stanford, Harvard, or Columbia)
- Currently working as Strategy Research Assistant at Current Institution B-School.
Weakness:
- I literally f*cked up my first semester GPA like 2.4/4.0. I just took too many classes and realized that too late.
- I am an international student; hard to get H1B sponsorship these days.
Future Plan:
- Planning to apply business minor or emphasis track in the current institution.
-After failing to get an internship at BIG 3 and BIG 4, I am trying to get fellowships from DC Political think tank or Top B-Schools RA internships.
- Want to improve R, Python, and Excel during the Summer.
- After completing the Summer internship, I have to go back to my home country and has to serve. I am trying to use this period to study GMAT and Case Interviews
What am I missing? What can I do more to better my chances?
Thanks!
[Edit]
Extracurricular: Club Fencing and Student Budget Advisory Committee.
It's great you have the drive to accomplish so many things, but I honestly think the best thing you can do is slow down and take a moment to think about where you want to go and what you want to be doing.
If consulting really is your ideal career, having had a bad GPA one semester should not be what will hold you back (but you should definitely not overload yourself as much for your remaining semesters!).
Also, if you didn't get the internship you wanted for next summer, that's ok. You could do something else, another internship, travelling, working on personal projects or hobbies, it doesn't matter that much so long as you can explain why you chose to do that specific thing. What matters to firms is not so much that you have a perfect GPA and good internships behind you. These things help, but if you can't show that you are smart, creative, structured and a good problem-solver, then they are useless. Get involved with your school's consulting club, go to networking events, practice (a lot!) your interview skills and try again for next summer!
I'd suggest you look up the Vocaprep podcast, they have a lot f consultants or ex-consultants talk about their experiences and backgrounds, what led them to consulting and their advice to get in. You'll see many of them entered big firms despite having unconventional education, work experience, age, etc.
Thanks for the reply! I really appreciated. I think you are right. I need to take a moment to really figure out what I want to do.
Glad I could help, and good luck!
I'm going to be honest and say that it's going to be practically impossible. You essentially only have one more semester of grades before submitting your full-time resume application. Therefore, even if you achieved a 4.0 this semester, that would still only average out to a 3.2 on a 4.0 scale - way below the usual cut-off for MBB. Unless there is something extremely exceptional that makes you stand out or if you have personal connections internally, it's going to be a super hard uphill battle. That is amplified by the fact that you would require sponsorship.
If MBB really is your end goal, then I would suggest positioning yourself for a good graduate school. Get your grades up, get a good GMAT score, and then make sure you're a standout at your first full-time job. I've heard several success stories of this happening with individuals who didn't have the best undergraduate track.
Hey! Thanks for the reply. Do you think submitting high GMAT score will help me for the recruiting? In terms of GPA, I am hoping to take some summer classes so I can get around 3.4-5 range. Is 3.5 too low to target MBB?
I would still consider 3.5 pretty low unless you're coming from a STEM or quant-related major. Definitely below average. A high GMAT won't hold anymore weight than a high SAT/ACT, which I'm sure many of your peers have. Your biggest hurdle with MBB is just getting an interview.
Given your GPA projection comes true + heavy networking, I think you'd be in good shape for big 4 consulting recruitment. MBB will be tough unless you're super standout in other categories (amazing leadership/involvement (D1 athlete), name brand internships (another MBB, BBs, FAANG), or internal employees pulling for you).
1) Leadership experience 2) impact evidence 3) compelling “why consulting” story
Thanks!
Don't worry about the GMAT now.
Your only option to get MBB after undergrad is landing a stellar internship and by chance having one of your managers just-happen-to-know a hiring manager at MBB, and by your outstanding performance in an internship, get you an interview and recommend you. Either that or an alumni hook up.
If you can't get that, you're going to have to apply after getting an MBA most likely. Or after good experience after undergrad.
Actually, if you go to a school like UVA, check out the professor's resumes in the McIntire school of business and try to sign up for their classes, or get in the loop with them if they are MBB alum. Especially those who recently worked there as they can just pick up the phone. Get close to them, impress them.
You're going to have to think of creative ways of networking at this point.
Thanks for the reply! I will start searching.
MBB might not be an option due to GPA, but you should still try and network heavily. At the very least you'll get some contacts out of it and maybe some mentors if nothing else. Although I think you can do strategy consulting (albeit maybe at a Big 4/Tier 2/boutique firm) if consulting is what you really want to do. It'll be that much easier to get through a screening process especially if you're genuinely interested. Unless you just want to say you work at MBB, in which case I suggest nailing down an offer from a lower tier shop ASAP and start studying for the GMAT and taking another crack at it in 3-5 years.
Thanks for the reply. To be honest, I don't know what exactly I am tyring to do in the future. But I know, I like management consulting and working as a consultant will allow me to learn versatile skills. Few questions, what is the average cut off GPA (Non-STEM) for MBB? Are Berkeley, Michigan or UVA target schools? I did an interview with Deloitte but ended up with no offer.. haha. Right now I am expected to have interviews with local boutique firm and T7 Business School research assistant position. If I get offers from both, which one do you recommend? Again, thanks for the reply!
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