Navigating Prestige: A Freshman’s Reflection on Consulting and Clout in College

My first day of class, freshman year of college, I was supposed to go on a date with a boy, and it had to be rescheduled because he wanted to go to a consulting recruiting event. We were 18 years old. The event specifically said no freshmen or sophomores allowed. It was one of the three, like, really good consulting firms, and that was, like, the hottest event on campus. I went to Penn, so none of this should be surprising. The boy in question and I did work together for two years after school, and he is incredibly smart, and he now works at a private equity firm. And if anyone was going to, like, work at a firm for clout, it would be this boy, and he would be well informed about what as clout. Consulting is very much still considered prestigious. And I think it’s validly considered prestigious because you have access to, like, some of the best companies in the world asking you for advice, and you’re really just 22 years old and you have no idea what’s going on. And I think that can be said about consulting and finance in general, that is part of what makes them such great places to start your job. But, yes, without a doubt in my mind, consulting is considered a prestigious place to work.