Switching universities in Germany - a wise choice?

I started studying political science at TU Darmstadt, but received my admission for the ESB Reutlingen (production management) a few days ago. How much of an advantage for breaking into consulting would it be if I'd switch?

Pro:
- more target (looking at the recruiting events)
- not as "useless" as political science

Con:
- I'm happy at my current university, don't know how Reutlingen will be
- losing 6 month

I appreciate any advise.

 

I'd stay where you are.... the proximity to frankfurt is invaluable. If it was Mannheim, EBS or one of the other target then it would be understandable. I don't think you would be doing yourself a favour... do a masters afterwards instead in order to get a brand name on your cv. Try to network as much as possible. None of the students do it in Germany. Shocking....

 

Thanks for your insights.

@another monkey I'd say it's semi target, as Booz, Bayne, BCG, etc are attending career fairs and / or offering workshops. And may I ask what LEO is? I don't really know what you mean right now.

@nauprillon I'm not quite sure if it's useless, it's just their name for a combined business and engineering degree.

 
Best Response

I'd also recommend to stay at TUD. The university has a good national standing and while ESB might have better placement you will have to compete with a larger crowd of applicants with a business background from this uni. Believe it or not, I met quite a few consultants who still reject the idea of working with someone from a university of applied sciences...

My recommendation would be to try and take some business related courses if that's possible through a minor or at least as extra-courses which will appear on your grade list. Try to attend some career events for "Wirtschaftsingenieure" and get a business-related internship (maybe in a 2nd-3rd tier consultancy). With that package you should still benefit from the "non-business-background" recruiting efforts and still stand out from your peers.

 

Thanks for your answers, helped me quite a bit.

I can take most business courses and going for a dual degree starting winter 2012. As a joint b.a. politics/business would get me out of the "non-business-background" at a pretty weak business university, I think I'll just do a couple of business courses. Are there any "must have" besides accounting, company valuation, investing and financing, micro 1/macro1 (have to do these two anyway) ?

 

I wouldn't consider valuation or financing/corporate finance to be a "must have" to get into consulting... My list would include: micro 1, macro 1, corporate strategy and a good add-on would be financial accounting and/or supply chain management (always entry-level courses).

If you aim for specialized consultancies your finance heavy selection might be necessary but not for the generalist firms.

 

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