Consensus on a nonLegal 1L Summer? (MBB Consulting) Forum

[Anonymous User]

1L here.

Just got a first-round interview at MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG). Dunno if they unselectively invited everyone from my school who applied or if they saw something in my resume they liked.

I'd rather do something paid this summer and I can see something like MBB speaking for itself at OCI (depending on industry I guess). "At MBB I worked with Client A in industry B, saw the contributions the lawyers on the team made, something something transactional. Oh and I see you also advise industry B."

The paid part isn't the only draw. I would have wanted to do it out of undergrad but it was ambiguous whether my undergrad was a recruiting target, whereas my law school definitely is.

[Elston Gunn]

A split might be possible. I know someone who split between a firm and consulting 2L summer. I'd be hesitant to do it alone if you're intent on being a lawyer--though if you want to be a consultant and there's an offer likely to come at the end of the summer, then who cares?

[Anonymous User]

A split might be possible. I know someone who split between a firm and consulting 2L summer. I'd be hesitant to do it alone if you're intent on being a lawyer--though if you want to be a consultant and there's an offer likely to come at the end of the summer, then who cares?

Thanks for the quick reply but just to be sure, we're talking about doing consulting during -1L- Summer? I know that if I don't do a summer associateship at a law firm as a -2L-then that wouldn't be so good for my becoming a firm lawyer plan.

Also, before coming to law school, I held undergraduate positions at legal organizations and did nonlegal work on legal matters, if that makes sense. So I've been on the inside of legal organizations like a 251+ attorney firm and e.g. Lambda Legal but not particularly that.

[Elston Gunn]

A split might be possible. I know someone who split between a firm and consulting 2L summer. I'd be hesitant to do it alone if you're intent on being a lawyer--though if you want to be a consultant and there's an offer likely to come at the end of the summer, then who cares?

Thanks for the quick reply but just to be sure, we're talking about doing consulting during -1L- Summer? I know that if I don't do a summer associateship at a law firm as a -2L-then that wouldn't be so good for my becoming a firm lawyer plan.

Also, before coming to law school, I held undergraduate positions at legal organizations and did nonlegal work on legal matters, if that makes sense. So I've been on the inside of legal organizations like a 251+ attorney firm and e.g. Lambda Legal but not particularly that.

Yeah, I was talking about 1L. There's *some* chance MBB would be different, but in general not doing anything legal 1L summer will be a red flag at OCI. Even if they like MBB, they may think you really want to be a consultant/in business instead of a lawyer.

[Anonymous User]

A split might be possible. I know someone who split between a firm and consulting 2L summer. I'd be hesitant to do it alone if you're intent on being a lawyer--though if you want to be a consultant and there's an offer likely to come at the end of the summer, then who cares?

Thanks for the quick reply but just to be sure, we're talking about doing consulting during -1L- Summer? I know that if I don't do a summer associateship at a law firm as a -2L-then that wouldn't be so good for my becoming a firm lawyer plan.

Also, before coming to law school, I held undergraduate positions at legal organizations and did nonlegal work on legal matters, if that makes sense. So I've been on the inside of legal organizations like a 251+ attorney firm and e.g. Lambda Legal but not particularly that.

Yeah, I was talking about 1L. There's *some* chance MBB would be different, but in general not doing anything legal 1L summer will be a red flag at OCI. Even if they like MBB, they may think you really want to be a consultant/in business instead of a lawyer.

If you eventual work at a summer associate at MBB during your 1L summer, you probably would be targeting only V10 anyway. Many V10s (at least Cravath/Wachtell/S&C) do not care and even let you go back to your MBB for 2 weeks during your 2L summer.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the same position. I've heard mixed things on whether doing consulting for 1L summer will preclude me from legal jobs, but I doubt it will since we go to law school.

[juzam_djinn]

A split might be possible. I know someone who split between a firm and consulting 2L summer. I'd be hesitant to do it alone if you're intent on being a lawyer--though if you want to be a consultant and there's an offer likely to come at the end of the summer, then who cares?

Thanks for the quick reply but just to be sure, we're talking about doing consulting during -1L- Summer? I know that if I don't do a summer associateship at a law firm as a -2L-then that wouldn't be so good for my becoming a firm lawyer plan.

Also, before coming to law school, I held undergraduate positions at legal organizations and did nonlegal work on legal matters, if that makes sense. So I've been on the inside of legal organizations like a 251+ attorney firm and e.g. Lambda Legal but not particularly that.

Yeah, I was talking about 1L. There's *some* chance MBB would be different, but in general not doing anything legal 1L summer will be a red flag at OCI. Even if they like MBB, they may think you really want to be a consultant/in business instead of a lawyer.

If you eventual work at a summer associate at MBB during your 1L summer, you probably would be targeting only V10 anyway. Many V10s (at least Cravath/Wachtell/S&C) do not care and even let you go back to your MBB for 2 weeks during your 2L summer.

Not nec. They look for very diff. things. MBB doesn't even care about law school grades, so in theory you could bomb law school and still kill case interviews

[Anonymous User]

I feel like firms further down in the pecking order (not necessarily by Vault ranking) would autoreject some applicants if they did a 1L SA at MBB just because they don't think that person would choose the firm over MBB. Could this happen?

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the quick reply but just to be sure, we're talking about doing consulting during -1L- Summer? I know that if I don't do a summer associateship at a law firm as a -2L-then that wouldn't be so good for my becoming a firm lawyer plan.

Also, before coming to law school, I held undergraduate positions at legal organizations and did nonlegal work on legal matters, if that makes sense. So I've been on the inside of legal organizations like a 251+ attorney firm and e.g. Lambda Legal but not particularly that.

Yeah, I was talking about 1L. There's *some* chance MBB would be different, but in general not doing anything legal 1L summer will be a red flag at OCI. Even if they like MBB, they may think you really want to be a consultant/in business instead of a lawyer.

If you eventual work at a summer associate at MBB during your 1L summer, you probably would be targeting only V10 anyway. Many V10s (at least Cravath/Wachtell/S&C) do not care and even let you go back to your MBB for 2 weeks during your 2L summer.

Not nec. They look for very diff. things. MBB doesn't even care about law school grades, so in theory you could bomb law school and still kill case interviews

True, but would you take White & Case/Mayer Brown over MBB?

[juzam_djinn]

I personally wouldn't, but I think some would. With MBB, you can't really plan to last long, whereas in biglaw you can likely squeeze out 5+ years before you are pushed out. I know people paint a really rosy picture of MBB exit options, but it's not quite as nice as one would imagine. So if you are a bit more risk-averse and want to make as much guaranteed $ out of school as possible, biglaw would probably be a better option than MBB.

[Anonymous User]

As someone who will be going to MBB, I'd like to first say that you're putting the cart waaaay before the horse here. It's not that hard to get the 1st round interview at MBB if you're at a target school. Assuming the 1st round is the test which all APD candidates go through, it's not even that hard to get to the 2nd round. It IS insanely hard to get past the 2nd and 3rd round and get an offer. This is really one of those cases where you should just cross the bridge if you come to it, which isn't likely (no offense meant here - just talking odds).

Secondly, no one on this forum can tell you if MBB is better or worse for you than BigLaw. If BigLaw is your long-term goal, then I would take a V10 or something this summer if you can get it (also quite difficult as a 1L), as just doing MBB (as opposed to a split) will probably be a little hard to explain during OCI. If you want to end up in business, then MBB is an absolute no brainer.

I'm also a little confused as to how you're going through the process as a 1L - I was pretty sure that at least at my MBB they only look at you with one summer left to go, but I guess I'm either mistaken or you're looking at a different firm.

Good luck - if you have both a top firm and MBB to choose from as a 1L, then you're definitely doing something right. But wait till you get either.

[lhanvt13]

Wanna case prep together? If so, PM me. I got the first round at the end of this month too.