I'm fortunate to have secured a Summer 2026 internship with Visa Consulting & Analytics (UK&I Core Consulting team) as a 2nd year at a target uni. I'm aware of the typical VCA posts here about exit opps and how the work differs from MBB but that's not what I'm asking about.
My situation is that I applied to VCA because the payments/fintech space genuinely interests me, and I'm excited about the 11-week summer to explore whether I like this type of consulting. However, I've been getting told that starting at VCA is "wasting my university brand" and that I should be focused on MBB or T2/B4 strategy only.
My career priorities are just decent salary (as limited as it is for UK), good WLB, good travel opportunities (my passion is exploring the world as corny as that is), ability to transfer between offices/countries, and just genuinely interesting work. VCA seems to tick many of these boxes, especially the travel and WLB aspects.
My question: For those familiar with VCA, is starting there (not exiting to there) genuinely limiting if you want optionality later? As in does the narrower industry focus (payments) hurt early career skill development compared to generalist MBB training? Or is the idea of "MBB or nothing" overated for someone whose goals don't strictly require only prestige?
Would like to get in perspectives from people who've actually worked at VCA or similar in-house consulting arms, particularly around my concerns.
Thanks All 🙏🙏
TL;DR: Secured VCA Summer 2026 internship as 2nd year at target uni. Genuinely interested in payments/fintech and VCA seems aligned with my goals (decent pay, good WLB, travel, interesting work). But getting told that I'm "wasting my uni brand" by not going MBB only. Is starting at VCA actually limiting for future optionality, or is MBB not necessary for someone not chasing pure prestige?
