<p>I go to a top 5 engineering school, with a decent GPA (3.0<x<3.5). I am in my third year now (senior in terms of credit hours) and have decided engineering is not for me. I would like to pursue consulting or some type of self-employed/contracted 'agent' position. I worked as a real estate agent and did extremely well (grossed $20,000 for the company at age 19 in 10 weeks). I'm not really sure where to start after I graduate. I've read that I will need at least 2 years work experience before I get an MBA and hopefully my company will pay for me. So, should I try to apply for the big consulting firms? What are my chances at getting into UCLA's MBA program? I know this is lame, but I really want to go to a UC for my MBA. Thanks</p>
<p>Yeah, consulting would be a good idea. Bar that, do something you'd like to do or even work for a charity group. What is it you want to do? Generally, pre-MBA work experience can help post-MBA.</p>
<p>Also, if you were able to become a high producing real estate agent, that could be impressive, particularly if you wanted to go into real estate finance after graduation.</p>
<p>That being said, there is no guarantee that you will produce big. For 1, 20k in 10 weeks, sounds like 100k a year, until you realize that most transactions are done in a few months a year. (Summer/late spring) (still very impressive for a 19 yr old though). Also, home sales have slowed nationwide and it certainly should be more competitive and more difficult to reach those types of numbers. That being said, if you enjoyed the work and think you will be successful, I would still consider that.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if you mean management consulting or becomming a computer consultant if that's the right term. If you can land a management consulting job it would certainly give you the type of background B schools like. It will be tough this year though because business is way off for those guys and most are not even hiring many of their summer interns.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. At this point, I don't know what field I want to work in exactly. I wouldn't mind doing something related to computers within business. Real estate was something I enjoyed doing; however, it's not something I'd consider long term merely based because it doesn't have stability (while I know most jobs nowadays don't, real estate and anything with housing seems to be a bad idea these days). My question is, what are good consulting firms to look into? I've heard about deloitte (sp?) and that's about it. Do the major financial firms hire consultants? I have a friend who graduated as a EE from my school and was working for Lehman Brothers (I'm not sure what her position was though and haven't gotten a chance to ask). Thanks</p>