URM @ Target School

Hello everyone,

I have been recently looking on WSO, and I have found it super helpful to hear people's experiences in management consulting.

I am currently a sophomore at a top target Ivy League college, and I am a first generation student and underrepresented minority. I have a pretty good resume for my year, and decent GPA (3.55).

A year ago, I never even knew what consulting was. Now that recruiting season for junior internships is coming up this fall, I would really would appreciate any advice or help on how to make it into an MBB. I really want to go into strategy consulting because of the unrivaled exposure and learning opportunities. I also plan to go to b-school.

If anyone at an MBB would be willing to connect with me via message or offer advice below, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to hear experiences from people at these firms. I have found cold-emailing somewhat difficult, and I come from a low-income background, so I am not as well connected as some of my friends here.

PS. This is my first post, so please bear with me if these types of posts are not suitable for this website.

 

Are you involved in any extracurriculars or have any past/upcoming internships? Consulting firms will generally be looking for three things: academics, leadership, and prior work experience. All you've given us is that you have a mediocre GPA.

Don't put all your focus on MBB. Given your GPA, it'll be a stretch to get an interview for a junior year internship. Keep your options open, and make sure you network and apply with the other consulting firms that will be hosting information sessions at your school.

 

While your GPA is low for MBB standards, your extracurriculars and work experience are pretty good. I would still encourage you to apply to every major consulting firm next fall. Internships are hyper competitive, but having any major consulting internship almost guarantees you interviews your senior year.

Things you can do now and until the fall:

  • Get good grades this semester

  • Make an impact within your extracurriculars that you are proud of

  • Reach out to alums at the firms you're interested via email

You mentioned struggling with cold emailing because you're low income, but I don't know anyone at my school who got an MBB offer through some wealth related connection. I'm not sure how you're wording your emails to alums—perhaps that's the issue?

I found that I was getting the best response rate by targeting alums that are only a year or two out of school and had something in common with me (major, club, internship). Alternatively, if you can find out which of the alums are involved with recruiting at your target school, they are the most willing to take time out of their schedule for you. Try googling "your school name + firm name".

After you find people to contact, send them a very brief (3-4 sentences) email introducing yourself and asking to chat with them over the phone in the coming week or two. You can start networking now, but don't go overboard. I waited until the summer to begin reaching out to people, and I got a pretty high response rate from McK and BCG. I had to email about six or seven people at Bain before I got a response.

After you've gotten to learn more about the industry from these networking calls, start prepping for case interviews halfway through your summer internship. Read Case Interview Secrets on your own; start reading through some actual cases, drawing up frameworks, and presenting them to yourself; and ideally start doing live practice cases with your peers over facetime or in person. When you're starting to feel confident about your casing ability, you can reach out to some alums for a quick practice case.

Finally, know that recruiting sucks and your success in it doesn't determine your self worth.

 
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