Hi there, I wonder if anyone could give me some advice. Im a second year law student and im really keen to go into management consultancy, but I realise how competitive it is to get into a good firm and it is unlikely that my degree by itself will be good enough. I am considering doing a masters after my degree although im not entirely sure what in and whether this would benefit me or not. Ive also been looking at the requirements that are needed to get into these firms and they pretty much all say that relevant work experience is essential, although I don't know where to find this work experience and what kind would look best.If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. Thanks

If you have the right A Level grades and are predicted at least a 2:1 you should try to get on their graduate trainee schemes. In the meantime see if you can get a summer internship with one of the bigger firms to get some experience.

Hi,I am a final year law student currently applying for grad schemes in consultancy - it is a common choice for law students who don't want to be lawyers and I know I have found my applications are doing ok (touch wood).I don't have any experience in consultancy but have a variety of experiences which demonstrate the right skills. I do think that people do appreciate a law degree and the skills that it allows you to develop, also remember that once all your core modules are completed next year you can make your law options quite business orientated. And I know from my degree that the culture in law depts is very much that you take on lots of responsibilities etc so your cv is very rich.If you have any questions or want to chat more I am happy to speak via email or msn.

How do you know you want to work in consultancy when you don't even know what work experience you need, let alone have any of that experience? What kind of Masters do you want to do, in what subject and why do you want to do it? You don't seem to have much idea about what you're doing and are grabbing at straws.It sounds like you're a reasonably smart individual. You're studying a credible subject and have some independence of mind to consider alternatives to the tried and tested path in law.However, for your own benefit, go to your careers service and get some advice, get some work experience in the real world and do some hard thinking. Otherwise you are very likely to crash and burn in every job/internship application you go for as your lack of application will come through. This isn't just for consulting, but for any other sector you may be looking at - law, like medicine, tends to be a vocationally focussed degree so you need to get used to justifying your interest in a job in a way you may not be used to from applications to law firms.

Sitasaran is a Certified Management Consultant with extensive management, research, teaching and consulting experience with both private and public agencies. His firm, CPDS specializes in management skills for planning, including implementation, monitoring and evaluation; research methods, such as institutional analysis, spatial analysis of data; management of change;·organizational behavior and the business environment,·and educational consulting.Sitasaran has degrees from India ( Patna), the United Kingdom (London School of Economics) and the US ( Akron and Cincinnati). Prior to entering the private sector in India in 1991, he was a practicing planner in Kentucky and India. What kind of opportunities I have at age 68?