Activity prioritization for recruiting Master's student

Question

Hi all, I will be starting my pre-experience master's degree soon, and I'm having trouble deciding on what activity should I focus on that would help me improve my CV the most and best prepare me for an Associate Consultant role after I finish my studies.

1) I'm thinking of joining a university consulting club or a pro bono consulting club, but I'm not sure if they would bring any real value since I've done real-world consulting internships in the past (F500 BizOps role and in-house consulting role at an F100 firm).

2) I'm quite motivated to do well in my degree and have good grades. I set myself a goal to be in the top 10% of my class, but again, if I devote more time to building my extracurriculars and leadership experience through other social clubs and volunteering and graduate with distinction, I don't know if the top 10% would make any significant difference.

My question is then: How should I think about choosing where to place my focus during my studies to build an attractive profile for MBB and Tier 2 consultancies?

For context, I'm targeting less competitive offices in Europe (CEE and Nordics) as well as the Middle East.

Thanks a lot for any insights.

Answer 1

Hi,

MBB recruiting is very competitive, and you will be competing with people who have top grades, international exposure and strong internships on top of extracurricular activities like clubs. So the short answer is to try your best to combine all of these. If you are constrained and have to decide where to put the effort, this is how I would prioritize:

1) Top marks. That is the strongest signal of excellence you can provide.

2) Big brand names on your internships.

3) Depending on your specific location, the consulting club or international exposure such as an Erasmus program.

Hope it helps, and good luck.

Best,

Franco