The recruiting story is directionally true but naturally selective. You can work on interesting strategic questions, learn quickly, and get exposure to senior clients. You can also spend long hours cleaning analysis, building slides, coordinating with stakeholders, and revising work several times.

Early in your career, much of the job is execution. The strategic insight at the end of a case is built on a lot of detailed analysis and communication work underneath it. Some candidates are surprised by how much precision and iteration that requires.

The experience also varies enormously by project, office, manager, and practice area. One case can feel intellectually exciting and collaborative; the next can feel operational or exhausting.

So I would evaluate consulting based on the full job, not only the headline work. If you like fast learning, structured problem solving, teamwork, and client service even when the tasks are not glamorous, the reality can still be very rewarding.

Slides. So many slides lol.

The biggest surprise for me was how much time goes into making the answer clear after you already know the answer.