consulting after undergraduate

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>Hello all, feel free to be harsh on me or whatever…</p>

<p>So I am in my second semester of third year undergraduate study. I had been a pre-med student until last semester, and I decided after an internship that medical school was not for me. My true interest had always been in the financial industry, and I quickly came to realize that I had been fooling myself due to pressure from family.</p>

<p>So that said, I want to break into the consulting industry. I was not granted any consulting firm interviews (probably due to my low GPA of 3.1) and I come here for some advise in planning my next and last year of undergraduate studies.</p>

<li>Summer after third year study</li>
<li><p>The most relevant opportunity that I have received is a financial advisory internship at Merill Lynch. </p></li>
<li><p>Academic year</p></li>
<li><p>Take more relevant courses in subject areas such as accounting and mathematics and do well in them.</p></li>
<li><p>What else should I be doing, any recommendations?</p></li>
<li><p>Summer after graduation</p></li>
<li><p>Are there internships in the consulting industry for those who have just graduated? I am unaware of any… perhaps I should appeal to the Dean’s office so that I can stay for an extra semester?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So is it too late for me to break into the consulting industry? I just feel really lost and don’t know what to do. ANY kind of advice is welcome. Please, help this poor fella, haha</p>

2

<p>It's never too late.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Do the financial advisory internship. Or, if you can find something more inline with what you really want to do.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't take courses "willy nilly". Go talk to a councilo about your goals, assess where you are, and figure out what it is you need to do. This may require you to go another year at school. However, this will give you more time to get applicable internships and take relavent (sp?) courses that will work/apply towards a Masters (business, accounting, finance?). Also, another year my put you into the world at a better economic time.</p></li>
<li><p>After graduation you shouldn't be looking for internships, you should be looking for a job. There are plenty of accounting and actuarial consulting firms that don't hire based merely on gpa or ivy league status. I see a lot of adds for Deloitte, and they are everywhere.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>you could apply for FT recruiting next Fall</p>

<p>Look at smaller, local firms (They probably are still recruiting for this upcoming summer). With that GPA, it's going to be very hard to break into the top shops (especially without networking).</p>

<p>You've got a much better shot at breaking into consulting than IB (I know it's harsh, but you have no shot at IB given the current market)</p>