| Topic Name: |
Serious advice needed |
| Message Name: |
Not really |
| Date Posted: |
01/20/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
I'm two semesters away from graduation, double-majoring in PoliScie and Business Management. My aspiration is to get into consulting industry.
I enjoy studying political science. However, I've been considering dropping this major and taking more quantitative classes in order to become a stronger candidate when I apply for jobs in consulting.
Would political science major look good on my resume?
I will greatly appreciate your comments.
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| Message: |
As a major, pol sci is ok, especially as a double-major with business ... Not as good as the classis analytic majors like econ, math, engineering, sciences, but not bad.
That said ...
(a) If you are at a school where you can write an honors thesis, you may differentiate yourself that way ... even more so, if the work is has a quantitative / analytical base.
(b) Some of the best analysts just have raw talent which can be quickly developed ... one of the best BAs I have known, was a languages major with little math & business coursework, but his family had strong business connections, so business & strategy was "in the water" as he grew up.
(c) As you mentioned, you can certainly take some analytical / quant classes, do well & mention them on your resume, and that will differentiate you somewhat as well. Classes I would recommend would include intermediate microeconomics, a class in econometrics offerred in the econ dept or a class in data analysis offerred in the stats dept, a class in introductory financial accounting. On the math side, linear algeba is not a bad addition.
Actually, given that you are already a bus mgmt double-major, you already have the acctg.
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By the way, none of this says that poly sci is a non-starter on your resume in the first place ... depending on the school you are at, that may be one of the majors targeted by some firms. It's just a matter of strengthening your resume at the margin.
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One thing you may wish to do, to answer your question empirrically, is talk to the placement office, and see what consulting firms have recruited on your specific campus in the last 5 years, and what majors they targeted. That will give you a better sense of how firms think of your school and various degrees. Then, get a list of students recruited by the firms you would want to be at, and call a few of them, to get their perspective on recruiting as well as what they wish they had taken more of.
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My guess is that, at least for strategy & boutique consulting firms, in most years, the "business" part of your major would be within many firms' pre-screen targest, and the poly sci component would just make you look a bit more broader and interesting the average bus major. So, *chances* are that if a consulting firm is coming to your campus, you will be within the target set ... consequently, the issue becomes building both a finer-grained diferentiation, and specifically one which shows analytic abilities ... *and* one which helps you get through case interviews.
*Given* that you are not going to change universities (which has a first-order effect on the companies avaikable to you through campus recruiting), I think that you are reasonable well situation, and that most tactics have an effect which is closer to second-order ... but, put a few of them together, like intermediate econ, intro econometrics & an honors poly sci thesis which shows you can use the tools, and you start to get somethign beyond a just noticable difference.
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