How to make the best of your summer between college and full time job (if you can't travel)

Hey guys,

I am a recent college graduate about to start my full time job in management consulting this September. In the mean time, I am trying to make the best out of the first summer since the start of college that I don't have to worry about doing an actual internship. I know some people say this is the best time to travel and see the world, but I don't have the financial means to do that nor I am allowed to leave the United States while waiting for my Visa paperwork to go through. I would love some advice from you guys about what kind of things I should do to prepare for my job or better use my time or just a good book to read this summer.
Also, if you guys are former consultants, I would really appreciate advice on which books I should read or what types of skills (excel, VBA, etc) that I should try to learn before I start my job.

Thanks so much! Looking forward to hearing great insights!

 

I am no consultant, but I believe WSO got a reading list for many career paths, incl. consulting, which I believe you can find here: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/faq/what-should-i-read-if-i-am-intereste…

And well if I were you I would just read books about consulting, watch all the movies in the IMDb Top 250 list, play video games like crazy... and maybe explore every crevice of the town I live at now, which should be a lot cheaper relatively to traveling the world.

Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
 

Grain of salt needed as I'm a rising senior myself, but I would definitely recommend something that interests you. You're likely to learn the majority of stuff you need over the course of the job, so rather than try and acquire hard skills you might not need anyways just work on being someone who can listen and relate to people. If I had to recommend one specific thing it would be to get a handle on a new language (a spoken handle, not written). Being able to speak Spanish as a white dude has been super useful in the last couple years. Get in the habit of learning something new every day even if it's a small thing and utilize that knowledge in the course of your life.

 
Best Response

Similar situation, I've got about 3 months left before I start my full-time job. I'm going to spend at least 4 weeks traveling around Europe (1 next week, 1 in July then 2 in August-September. I don't want to do it all in one go) I've sorted out a 2 week consulting internship in Brazil (internal consulting for a CAC40 company I did an internship with last year).

The rest of the time I spend around my area, from helping my parents with the house, seeing friends, golf and preparing for mext year's job applications.

So yeah, traveling is the main thing for me, if you really can't afford any sort of travel you can just enjoy your free time in your town/city. This is probably your final free summer until you retire, make the most of it!

Edit: Just realized OP posted a year ago..

 

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