feeling lost and don't know what to do for getting into consulting

Finished my freshman year of college a few months ago and I feel pretty lost. Everyone I know who wants to break into consulting also want to work in financial services like IB, PE, etc. For me, I don't really want to work in that field at all, but I don't know if I should recruit for these fields. I'm at a target school, so I would think that I might as well , but I don't find that interesting at all. Any advice from those working in the field? If not consulting, I would love to do AI research, which I am also working towards in regards to applying for grad schools.

 

If you aren’t interested in it, then it may be a waste of time for you to recruit for it. Hopefully you can stick to what you like that way it’ll be a win-win in that you will be happy and your employer will get a productive, happy, interested employee

 

AI research... I would guess that you are a CS major or at least a STEM major. So, perhaps your interest is in the tech or academia. Tech is a great field which is growing, has good compensation, and hours. About academia cannot say something specific as liking it or not depends on a person.

My advice, extend your network and ask different people about their experiences. Maybe finance is actually a good fit for you or maybe not. Both are fine options.

Additionally, the purpose of a freshman year is to explore various paths. It is designed to give you different options to choose from.

Plus, enjoy your college. You are in the target, you have every opportunity which higher education can give you. Not everyone has a chance like that.

Good luck!

 
Most Helpful

You are 19.....you're gonna be fine! Don't worry so much. I have a friend who went right to working in bonds after college. Did it for an extended period of time. Made a good take then got out. He works in a similar field, but makes 100K a year now, and will do so until he retires, with 100% job security and works max 35 hours a week. Sad he misses the cash and the status part of it a bit, but otherwise he's better for leaving. Turned him inside and out a few times over and warped him. Healthier now for having left, though set himself financially thanks to work in the industry for a decade.

On the other hand, I have another friend who is almost 40 and is in his last year of his PhD in machine learning and computational linguistics, and he gets hit up with decent jo offers all the time, usually between 150-200k a year, which is way more than obviously his covered PhD. He has some "grass is always greener" thoughts about going into the private sector, and is debating what to do because obviously that field could be very lucrative here in the field.

I would say keep your options open for now. Don't feel like you need to start taking a ton of business management classes or finance courses(yes take some, just don't ONLY do that)

AI research is and will continue to be around for a considerable future, you can bank on that no matter what. 

 

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