What are my chances at MBB + Tier 2 firms with no business background?

Rising senior at a public target/semi target (think Berkeley, UMich, etc). Majoring in Chemical Biology and minoring in Computer Science. GPA is 3.55, SAT is 2400 (lol). No business background as I was originally planning on going into the biotech/pharma industries after a PhD. No business/finance classes but I do a bit of personal investing. Kind of relevant quantitative classes include multivariable calc, linear algebra, differential equations, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, foundations of data science, data structures and algorithms, classical political economy, and technology entrepreneurship. How much of a leg up does knowing Python, Java, Matlab, and R give me?

In terms of experience I've spent the last two summers working for multinational big pharma companies. One was mid stage drug development and the current one is biotech manufacturing data analysis (lots of Excel, VBA, cost analyses). During the school year I also do genetic engineering research and have co-authored a paper on that. I don't really have super relevant ECs, just a social fraternity plus campus rec/entertainment board.

I know MBB hires from my school but not in large numbers. I'm also looking at Big 4, Accenture, ATK, LEK, etc as well as healthcare shops like Putnam and Charles River. What are some other firms that I should apply for?

What are some recruiting/networking tips for breaking into this new sector?

 
Best Response

IE undergrad background here. I went to a non-target, none of the firms recruited on my campus, and I had a much lower GPA than you, so there's hope for you. What gets us with technical backgrounds in is having impact experience with a platform like Python. I also had 3 internships under me, and at the time, just 1 co-authored paper, numerous leadership experiences, but really, all that mattered was my last internship and having great python experience to talk about. They don't care so much that you do kaggle or hackathons, they want to hear that you've taken real data, and solved a real problem. That is what I'm confident got me interviews and eventually offers. I interviewed with ACN, Deloitte, and McKinsey. Made it to the final round with McKinsey, got dinged, but invited to try again in a year or 2. Received offers from both Deloitte and ACN, accepted Deloitte. For networking, coming from a non-target, I had to rely on linkedin a ton. i asked people for coffee, i looked at local events, i signed up for hackathons with only the intention of meeting people in the field. Since you go to a semi-target school, you should be fine by just reaching out to alumns.

Disclosure*** I feel I should say that I received all of my offers during my first year of my MS degree and not as an undergrad, also by the time Deloitte reached out, I had 3 co-authored papers, but I highly doubt it made a difference.

 

Sure, feel free to PM. Here are two bullets on my resume' when I was applying: • Pulled public police records with an API to forecast the number and types of crimes that occur in different Chicago neighborhoods so the Chicago Police Department could better allocate forces. The predictive model resulted in an 80% accuracy; dynamic dashboard published in Tableau. • Applied the Apriori algorithm in Python to help the owner of a local restaurant discover items that are frequently purchased together; marketing changes occurred which increased frequency of existing customers.

 

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