T2 Consulting vs Tech Industry

Hey everyone, I'm currently deciding between two full time offers and would love your guys' advice. I spent last summer interning for a big 4 strategy consulting firm (Deloitte/S&) and got a full-time offer, and I'm also comparing it against a financial development rotational program at MSFT. I'm still recruiting for a FT position at a sales/finance role at Facebook that I would leap at if I got the opportunity, but that's still up in the air.

Would you guys recommend sticking with the Big 4 consulting gig, or going with the MSFT rotational program? I enjoyed last summer's consulting work and found it reasonably engaging, but the constant M-TH travel and nature of needed to network constantly for projects will be draining, and while I'm okay working 55+ hours right out of undergrad, I'd prefer not to. On the other hand, I know Big 4 consulting is a great stamp even if it's not MBB, and will lead to pretty solid exit ops, fast-paced career progression, and give me a shot at an M7 MBA, albeit from a competitive pool.

On the other hand, MSFT seems like a cool opportunity, but being put into a finance role in a tech-dominated company worries me, as my friends pursuing banking have warned me against taking more of a "back-office" role. I've been offered to move into a marketing position instead, but either way, I'm worried about career progression/security after the initial promotion since I'm not in a critical "front-office" style role/engineer, and the lack of clear "exit-ops" compared to consulting. On the other hand, while I'm not really interested in doing FP&A long-term, I do see myself liking tech and potentially going for a Product Manager/Marketing Manager post-MBA/exiting. Obviously, W/L balance would be a lot better, hovering around 45 hours a week and no travel.

Total Comp roughly the same at 90-100k for year 1, and I'd be in PNW no matter what (my preference). T2 consulting has a higher base salary but no performance bonus for the first 2 years while MSFT is offering some stock options and performance bonuses but at a lower base. Travel Cases at consulting would also let me expense a lot and save on vacations/travel. I do see myself pursuing an MBA at a T-10/M7 most likely, so that also factors into what job I choose.

 

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