I'll answer the last question first. Yes, definitely acquire more information on each of the career paths and organisations, perform a skills and interests audit on yourself, define your priorities (salary, work-life balance, future goals, etc.) and then make an informed decision. Without this, you'll likely find it tough to make strong applications or deliver a punchy reason for why you want, and would be good at, the job.For the other questions, I'll answer with the focus on DC, but the answers are much the same for ACN and BP.Salary $80k+5k signing, but a lot depends on whether you will applying your prior experience directly. For example, Valuation Services is likely to use your experience more than S&O or TI where you would have to join at a more junior level to build relevant experience. ACN salaries in particular are heavily linked to having directly equivalent experience to what you'd have gained as an Analyst in the firm.The Vault guide will be more useful than The McKinsey Mind. Practice cases in person if at all possible - use your b-school's career service resources or join the consulting club if you have one.A simple, straightforward, short resume will be most effective for all the firms you mentionedGetting a reference and applying to adverts in a timely manner (i.e. as soon as they are posted online) really are the best strategies. You can try tapping up your b-school alumni or asking for informational interviews, but they're long shots. My view is that the time and effort is better spent improving your resume or practising presentations, or just getting downtime so you're rested and relaxed for your job interviews.
