I understand your point, the only reason she is wondering about this so early in the game is that as a URM, she could possibly apply for some of the freshman summer internship/mentoring options. If the career is obviously not a fit/why bother applying - that time could be better served working/making money to help pay for college.
1 Like
Or those early internships can be used to determine her interest in consulting. If she gets one and learns itās not for her, great. If she gets one and is attracted tot he field, so much easier to get the next one.
2 Likes
I am not sure Iād push for a Summer internship to get the feel if consulting is right or not. Until one has established what their interests are, thereās less reason for a consulting firm to hire them. Chicken and egg in one sense.
Also, not every consultant is a math person. Many fill in other blanks. Some are technical ( not all can do big planning type stuff), others do international consulting (need languages here) or have a specific focus like pharma or oil. Many have odd combinations which make them unique, in a sense.
Best to think along the lines of doing what she has already done ( be a leader, interface with lots of people) and then develop interests which she can build on.
I donāt know of a single person who held a good consulting job as a Freshman/Soph. Maybe they exist, but firms usually wait until students are upper classmen and have developed their skills more.
She should do what she likes and just go deeper than most other people and combine that with a language or tech skill to make herself more marketable. Often, a soft skill and a tech skill (s) can work well together.
1 Like
They exist. MBB hires top URM freshman and sophomores. Much harder to get than a junior summer internship. My DD did an internship with one of them her sophomore summer. She had the same level of responsibility as the junior summer analysts and associates.
Wait, I think I missed that part. If it were one of my kids, Iād make sure they had the skills to succeed in the internship. Iām generally not a fan of the way many internships are set up. Do they/can they replicate the life of someone in consulting? Thatās highly doubtful. Students arenāt going to have the expertise/team skills to work on projects til 2AM and really know what itās life to live this life. A lot as mentioned above involves long hours and travel.
Iām also less impressed of students working in fields where they clearly havenāt built up skills. Iād tell my kid to go and work in a field for at least a year, then try consulting. But Iām not a follower in general so consulting was a great fit for me.
Then again, things have changed a lot. So maybe students feel this is their only way to break into top consulting firms. I had a nephew who followed this course, got an offer then spent a year getting his Masters and lasted about 1-2 years in the field. He didnāt like the long work hours. LOL.
I think your info on how these internships work is a bit dated. They absolutely replicate the lifestyle. My DD worked the long hours and did all the travel. Iām also not sure what skills you think they need before working in consulting that isnāt taught or learned on the job.
2 Likes
S did a management consulting gig with a boutique summer of sophomore. Got the lead on this firm through upperclassmen friends who ended up at MBB. He definitely got thrown into the deep end of the pool ā worked past midnight most weekdays and worked weekends. This firm definitely treats summer interns as ālaborā vs ārecruitsā. He decided MC was not for him and pursued an IB internship summer of junior. Hours were similar but for him he had better job satisfaction. So, I do think these internships can give you a view whether or not it is for you after graduation.
Yep. At the firm my DD interned they were absolutely viewed as labor and evaluated as such. So sink or swim.
For the main (non boutique) consulting firms, there are essentially 2 paths to recruitment, out of UG, and out of MBA. Do they hire professional people from the field? Sure, but in far fewer quantities and these folks are experts in their field, not a few yrs in (think PhD thought leaders and other experts). So the easiest, not the only but easier way, is to get a spot from UG or MBA. In order to get the spot from UG, itās very helpful to have a consulting internship, generally in junior summer but diversity programs exist for sophomores. Unlike banking, the internship pool is fairly small relative to the FT analyst hire pool so you donāt have to have the internship to get a FT spot, but itās very helpful and will afford you the opportunity to see if you like the lifestyle and work. MBB, T2 and the strategy arms of B4 are very competitive in terms of recruiting. If you want to go for consulting, go for it, all in. Starting somewhere else and lateralling in after a few yrs is not realistic as you wonāt have the experience to be considered a professional hire and you donāt fit the profile for UG or MBA recruiting. Theyāll wait for you to get your MBA and do a reset.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule.
2 Likes
Weāre talking about different things.
This is a mom of a high school senior potentially interested in consulting internships at MBB so I guess I donāt understand what youāre talking about at all or your point or the relevance of your comment.
For a student at a tippy top the only careers that are obviously not a fit are ones that they are actively not interested in!
Internships are great ways to figure out the fit. The thing is not to get too focused on there being one right answer or that she has to start planning it right now - before she even starts exploring her interests.
Yes: high achieving URMs can get MC internships earlier- and that is just fine if itās what she wants to do at that point. But she wonāt hurt her future MC chances if she chooses to do something else in the first two years- summer after 3rd year is just as good from a getting an offer standpoint. She has some time, so let her use it and find her path.
Also, donāt underestimate how much her actual, physical brain is changing right now, and will be changing over the next couple of years- the rate of change is almost comparable to the rate a pre-schoolers brain changes.
ps, MC is really not just 3 firms + (lesser) everybody else! Same as the tippy top colleges, the top firms are not homogenous or interchangeable.
1 Like