Dinged from T2 Consulting Firms

You probably already know this, but your first, second, and third focus needs to be raising your 2.1 GPA. No one believes that's solely - or even mostly - the result of "terrible exam skills." It gives every employer reason to doubt your ability (or worse, desire?) to do the work. Until you raise your GPA, many doors will be closed to you.

Instead of an internship, I'd consider summer classes. (1) They're typically easier, and you can focus on one or two at a time. (2) Gives more total courses to outweigh the first three semesters in your GPA calculation. (3) You can craft a narrative to prospective employers: "I decided I need to focus on my grades, so I reset my priorities and did what needed doing."

MBB has plenty of 4.0 target students to choose from, so that's almost certainly out. Even T2s are going to prove to be an uphill battle, especially for Junior summer internships. Best case scenario, your GPA is approaching 3.0 by application time. That will still be below the minimum requirement for most competitive firms.

All is not lost. Far from it. As I see it, your only play here is the compelling turnaround story. Many employers will forgive a rough start to college, and it's usually acceptable to put "GPA after semester X" on a resume. Do some soul searching, honestly identify the root cause of your academic issues, make a plan and follow through. You have enough time to turn this around, but no more room for error. There's no reason for despair. Your current situation attending a target school, even with your 2.1, is an incredible opportunity that most people will never get.

Using the term Sophomore is confusing in the context of the UK. If you are in a 3 year program, your "Sophomore" year would be the equivalent of Junior year in the American recruiting cycle. If this isn't your last summer in undergrad, I wouldn't worry too much and find a boutique firm or a corporate internship working in functions that are transferable to consulting.

Will speak from the US perspective, so please correct me if any parts of what I say are different in the UK.

Of the handful of friends/folks who I know that work a top-tier consulting firms (for this purpose, that will include MBB down to Big4/ACN Strategy), very few interned at T1-T3 firms. I've seen the occasional Accenture Strategy intern who moved to MBB, just from quick LKND search of 2nd/3rd degree connections. In fact, the only folks I know who interned at MBB, were placed there as part of a diversity boot camp/program that includes direct placement in a summer program upon selection to/completion of the program.

With that, the folks I know had a motley pre-consulting work experience. Some in finance (IB, AM, ER). Some did Corporate Finance/FP&A, some did risk. There are maybe 10 quality strategy consulting firms, and very few Global 2000 Firms have Corporate Strat roles for undergrads.

I have no knowledge of the boutique firms in the UK (hopefully someone else will), but along with those, I wouldn't be too picky with what you choose to do this summer. I think any white collar role at a Global 2000 is a positive mark for your consulting resume.