<p>I am a rising senior at a top 25 school majoring in communications and minoring in economics. I have a 3.35- although I plan to increase that by the time I graduate. </p>
<ul>
<li>I have a upward trend in my grades over the years</li>
<li>Have extremely good extra-curriculars (recently honored as "campus leader)</li>
<li>High SAT and GMAT scores (should I include those? 2190 and 710)</li>
<li>Good work experience (3 internships- 2 in entertainment at large companies, 1 at large media agency)</li>
</ul>
<p>Although I have a strong media and entertainment background, I am looking to transition and start my career in management consulting- I could craft a pretty good (true) story about how I came to this decision.</p>
<p>Do I have any shot at landing a job at a top 25/50 firm? Will they not look at me because of my gpa? Are there any firms I should look into?</p>
<p>Any advice is appreciated, thanks.</p>
<p>no reason you can’t apply to a firm with a strong media / entertainment focus area or practice, if you’re interested in continuing in that industry</p>
<p>in any case, if you make the most of the on-campus recruiting process (make the personal impression on recruiters, have amazingly well-crafted cover letters and resumes that tell your story, reach out to [michigan?] alumni)… it’s quite likely that you’ll be able to get your foot in the door; also, many firms have a 3.0 cutoff, not a 3.5</p>
<p>Yes, that is my biggest regret is not reaching out to on-campus recruiting. And as tenebrousfire said, for many firms the cutoff is 3.0. Your GPA won’t be a huge issue, particularly if you start reaching out early.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice. And yes, Michigan.</p>
<p>That is what I planned on doing, but one thing I was wondering about…how do I explain myself for wanting to go into consulting rather than the actual entertainment/media industries?</p>
<p>Would it be smart to say…having exposure to these industries and knowing the function of the consulting business, i’m find am looking to gain experience broadly…and i’d get more gratification and experience out of taking on the issues of a variety of companies…etc etc.</p>
<p>Sidenote: I do plan to apply to companies in the entertainment business, but the real reason why i’d like to start in consulting are for the reasons above…but mostly because I feel i’d be pigeon-holing myself in an industry I am not 100% sure I want to make a career in (I am torn between entertainment and suit-and-tie corporate America). I feel a consulting start would leave more options open while I learn more about how I’d like to spend my career, whereas with an entertainment start it’d be difficult to transition into other areas of business</p>
<p>that sounds like a perfectly valid reason to me</p>
<p>make sure to hit up all the consulting firms at michigan career fairs - you might meet some of my coworkers!</p>
<p>incidentally i’m flying into grand rapids for work next week, hoping for some good weather</p>