Colleagues at my Big 4 firm are relatively varied. I say relatively, as clone is unfair, but there is a fair degree of conformity that will be be new and not wholly welcome to those from outside consulting.It's not all bad as the general standard is quite good and I assume most people will prefer to work with others who are bright, motivated and reasonably normal. At quite a few clients, you may start to feel quite a few of the staff lack some or all of these qualities.I have no idea what it is like at PA but we seem to see little of them these days. I hear they are bouncing back but over the last few years of a difficult economy it's been good to work somewhere which has been pretty steady.Career progression, work/life balance and all the rest are highly variable depending on which part of which firm you end up in, and on partners, managers and projects. Progression is more structured in this sort of firm. I find the hours reasonably light, mostof the time, travel notwithstanding. The larger firm can be more fun as a graduate in as much as there may be loads of you on the project and the student atmosphere may persist, but on the other hand you may feel the work is pretty menial for the first year or two, with minimal client exposure.
