Summer, Revisited (The Consulting Edition)

Linda, Management Consulting  
A.T. Kearney, Chicago

Friday, 06/13

First day of work, and I’m not even done with my last final. The new Chicago office is gorgeous but my brain is otherwise engaged in trying to figure out how much I don’t know for Lubos Pastor’s Portfolio Management class. Answer: too much. Second answer: it's ok, it was worth doing for the experience.

Key Takeaway: Don’t take morning AND afternoon Friday classes Spring quarter.

Wednesday, 06/18

Training, Day 2. Starting to remember peoples’ names. I’m in a group with two associates from the New York office, one in Toronto, and one in San Francisco. We're trying to figure out how much we can save in transportation costs. Our slides look pretty good for a bunch of people with zero consulting experience and negligible artistic skills. 

Key Takeaway: Listen to the full-time associates when they tell you the slide makes no sense. It doesn’t, even if you break out the fancy graphics.

Monday, 06/23

First day at the client site; first day getting up at 4:30AM to catch a 6:30AM flight out to Connecticut. This is the stress-test for career switchers—can you handle life on the road? I am armed with three apps, a Monster energy drink from the 7-11 across the street from MPP, and the ability to pass out on any moving vehicle in under 5 minutes. Verdict looks good.

Key Takeaway: Apply for Global Entry before your consulting internship.

Tuesday, 07/01

My manager is God’s gift to new consultants. I’ve been assigned to a workstream of my own (!) and am learning how to structure a well-reasoned hypothesis and analysis around investment income for the client. The transition from financial services is a little weird—whaddya mean we have to wait for data? Not having a Bloomberg is making me a little sad.

Key Takeaway: Structure your case and figure out what data you absolutely need, before you ask for it.

Saturday, 07/12

In New York, at LAF (Learn About the Firm) to get a better sense of the firm as a whole and get to meet Kearney folks outside of your case team and your office. On Friday, I had some great chats with the heads of the E&P (Energy and Processes) and PE (Private Equity) practices—the E&P teams who won the Client Impact award for their work in Saudi Arabia definitely had fun. Then the real fun began: afternoon cruise in the harbor around the Statue of Liberty followed by Top of the Standard followed by a great night in New York City.

Key Takeaway: Always remember to take something fancy to a firm outing in case you need it. 

Saturday, 07/21

Midterm Review! I would have spent the morning quaking in my boots except I was too busy building my new slides on international competitors in a new market segment. I’ve gone through a truly ludicrous number of historic annual reports and investor presentations in the last week.

Review is totally in line with what I expected. Everything’s great, I’m on track to getting an offer, but my slides still need to be improved. My manager: “They are…just a little bit ugly. Hahaha.”

Key Takeaway: By Week 5, you should know exactly where you stand. If you don’t, that’s Trouble with a T.

Thursday, 07/31

Cannot believe the end is in sight! The last two weeks have really started to ramp up. Gone are the leisurely team dinners—our key deadline is soon, our deliverable to the CEO is beginning to expand in scope, and the Head of Strategy is scheduling many, many meetings. Working past midnight most days at the client site; have eaten my way through 85% of the room service menu.

Key Takeaway: Make friends with your Information Services counterpart. They are very nice, and you get better, faster data when crunch time comes.

Friday, 08/15

Last day of the internship; went to salon to get a blowout for my final presentation. Hair looked awesome and presentation looked even better.  My fellow interns had amazing summers, and it was really something to see all the impactful work that they did in ten weeks. Are we really the same group of people who sweated through Excel Training 101 earlier in the summer? Unbelievable.

Key Takeaway: Work hard, work smart. Crush that internship.

Wednesday, 08/27

In Shanghai!!! Living with my aunt and uncle, and seeing my grandparents on a daily basis. The food is so amazing I nearly cried when I bit into my first xiaolongbao (soup dumpling). My grandparents did cry when I showed them all the pictures of my first year at Booth—dinners with friends, Chicago outings, hiking the Inca Trail with 25 awesome Boothies and partners during Spring Break.

Key Takeaway: When the work’s done, when the slides are in, remember how to take a step back and embrace the important things in life: your loved ones and your community. 

Booth Summer Consulting Experiences

Every year we get questions from prospective students about where our students go for their internships and what their experiences are like. We know a lot of you are interested in Consulting so we asked a few of our interns in the field to give their take on the summer. I hope you enjoy their perspectives!

--Freddy

I spent the summer working at McKinsey in Chicago. I absolutely loved my team. My Engagement Manager was a Booth graduate, and I can't believe how much trust he and the rest of my team placed in me to drive my own workstream. Hours were tough but fair, and I never worked a single weekend. Overall, it was an incredibly fulfilling work experience!

--Miriam Goldberg

Before beginning classes at Booth, we’re constantly told that we’re learning how to think, not what to think. And it wasn’t really until this summer that I’ve realized what that meant. As a management consultant, I’ve benefited tremendously from the rigor, openness, and intensity of the classroom. These elements are what drive us to think critically, to share viewpoints, and most importantly, to challenge everything. And it’s also great that Booth students and alumni are everywhere!

--Lu Zhang

This summer I spent time as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). My summer experience focused on working with a national retailer to develop category and product strategies and deliver $50 million in cost savings. I had the chance to get to know my case team extremely well, including my Project Leader, who is an ex-body builder and Chicago Booth alum. Let’s just say I didn’t win the late night push-up contest among our case team. The knowledge gained from several of my classes at Booth, namely Marketing Strategy, Competitive Strategy, and Economics, came in very handy this summer. Remarkable problem solving, challenging client interactions, and tons of fun with my fellow interns filled my summer months. All in all, my BCG internship was nothing short of an amazing experience.

--Dustin David Deas

I've never thought so hard in my entire life. Being a summer consultant has been the most challenging, interesting and intellectual work that I've ever done. The supportive team and dynamic environment echoes much of my experience at Booth, as does the openness to new ideas and approaches to solving problems.

--Jenna Beletic

I spent the summer with Boston Consulting Group, based in Washington, DC but traveled weekly to New York City to work on a pharmaceutical case. The internship was a significant learning opportunity, not only because the job itself was new, but the industry is one in which I had no prior experience. Learning about pharma R&D and the challenges and new technological advances in the industry, and helping to recommend an innovative concept that could change part of the way R&D is conducted industry-wide, has been fascinating. Outside of the case, Booth alumni working in the DC office have been incredibly supportive in reaching out and volunteering to help me in any way I have needed throughout the summer.

--Kathryn Leoni

My internship experience was wonderful. I was staffed on the project that I was most interested in, and our team worked directly with the President of Marketing for our client—a major global technology company. I attended and was involved in our presentation to him at the end of my internship. Along with gaining experience presenting and building a business case for important decisions, I have been able to explore Korea and learn about the different industries in which the client operates. On one field trip we toured the company’s shipbuilding yard, and stayed in a traditional Korean pension, sleeping on the floor and eating traditionally cooked Korean BBQ. This experience has not only given me insight into what it is like to be a consultant, but it has also given me experience working in a different country.

--Richard Carey

I worked on a post spin-off procurement project for a specialty pharma client. A lot of the work I do revolves around negotiation strategy and decision modeling. My Strategies and Processes of Negotiation class was critical for me to develop sound strategies for the client and my Competitive Strategy class gave me a serious edge in thinking about the models from an economic perspective.

--Jorge de Azevedo

I worked on a due diligence project for a technology company attempting to enter a new market through inorganic growth. I really enjoyed getting to know a new industry and helping a client tackle its most difficult problem. On the other side, the hours were long (multiple all-nighters), but my team was fantastic and it was a pleasure to work with them. Booth alumni have reached out every step of the way and my marketing strategy class with Prof. Sanjay Dhar was definitely a great class to take before my internship. Since I was a teacher before Booth, my accounting classes were really useful and saved my butt when I was asked to dig through company financials.

--Freddy A. Elorza

My summer internship experience at Deloitte followed the traditional management consulting schedule: up at 5am Monday morning to rush to the airport, return home Thursday evening, and work in the downtown Chicago office on Friday. The internship gave me the opportunity to see things as differently as possible from my prior experience: the travel model, team-based projects, and the experience of working in a huge firm for another large company. I've found this change of vantage points incredibly helpful. Deloitte also provides the opportunity to work as part of a large class of interns, many of whom are from Chicago Booth. I've bumped into several classmates, acquaintances, and co-workers at the airport, and even in the hotel lobby, which makes for a fun end to the night.

--Joshua McConnell