After almost five years in investment banking, I decided to join BCG for a summer internship. My decision was based primarily on three factors.

First, I wanted an environment that was stimulating and had little in the way of short-term, repetitive work.

Second, I was looking for more client contact. Unlike investment banking, where you have relatively brief contact with clients, consulting gives you the opportunity to go deeper and engage with clients for extended periods—for example, by helping a client determine its next strategic move and then participating in the implementation.

Third, I wanted greater opportunity to chart my own future. I had learned from BCGers I had met during the first year of my MBA program that there was no scripted path to success at BCG; rather, each individual forged his or her own way. I liked the idea that I could mold my personal growth on the basis of an almost infinite number of choices among industries, business topics, and geographies.

The internship was everything I had hoped for, as I was assigned to two projects. The first was a pure strategy case: six weeks of intense work designed to reshape an asset-management firm’s strategy. I worked on a team with two consultants under the leadership of a partner and a principal. From day one, I was in charge of my own module, interviewing BCG experts, analyzing data, and designing frameworks to detail my findings. My second case, in which I worked as a member of a postmerger integration team, was quite different in its goals. In four weeks, I had to understand complex operational issues, fine-tune recommendations, and travel to Asia to get my client’s buy-in.

All told, it was an extremely exciting summer, and I would recommend the experience highly. Every day was certainly different!