What do I do the summer after my freshman year?
I've just finished my first year at the University of Chicago with a 3.8 GPA. I currently have two options:
1) RA Position with my History Professor -- the topic is focused on antimonopoly legislation and the history of the law and economics track at UChicago. It pays $20 per hour for 250 hours and is a pretty good gig. My professor is well-known in his field and this is the one I'm genuinely excited about.
2) Sales/Operations internship with a hedge fund research company -- this one is not remote and is in the city of Chicago. It pays $15 per hour and they won't be able to help with accommodations (I live in California and spent this year remote). The responsibilities are somewhat exciting but I don't think I have the resources to move to Chicago for the summer on such a meagre salary.
I would prefer to choose the RA position, stay home, and learn coding (maybe Python and R) and how to drive. Will this hurt me going into sophomore year? I'm interested in management consulting and law school. Not involved in many finance clubs on campus (really only Women in Business). Is the RA position enough to keep me competitive for sophomore year? What should I be doing in my second year of college?
Any advice on recruiting for management consulting would be appreciated.
Being honest, whatever you think you will gain more experiences from that you can talk about during interviews. I get that the hedge fund internship might be less exciting, but it might help you create a more compelling answer of "why consulting" than the research position would. The reason why I say this is because I did research at a top business school during an off semester and did one at a boutique finance firm and throughout my 10+ interviews, I had zero questions about my research, but about half of my interviews asked about my finance firm experience. I think academia is usually brushed aside in comparison to real world experience because it is USUALLY seen as easier to get, even if it isn't true. Also, many kids, including myself (and people in consulting), have probably done research at some point in their undergrad careers and probably didn't have the most rigorous experience so they might project their experiences. Also, I am not sure if this is a thing at UChicago, but maybe they have some kind of funding that you can get to help with housing expenses? DM me if you want more advice, I'm just starting as a summer at MBB so I'm fresh out of the recruiting cycle (relatively)!
Also, for what its worth, I was in zero finance/consulting clubs on campus and it didn't really harm me as far as I know. Maybe I just didn't have as many experiences to draw from so it could have been beneficial actually.
Hi, can I DM you to discuss my specific situation? The problem is that #2 might not be feasible for me because of personal reasons. Can we chat? TYSM for all your words!
Of course. DM'ed you
#2, it is a great position for after freshman year. As a former lawyer who studied ample legal history, #1 will be mind numbing, opaque, and not worth your time.
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