Once fall term 1 ended, Fuqua shut down for a whole week. Many first year students decided to participate in what we call “Week in the Cities (WIC)”: a trip to a big city to participate in recruiting activities for an specific industry.

This year, first years could participate in at least the following WICs:

• Consulting – Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas
• Finance – New York
• High Tech – Seattle
• General Management – New York
• Sports, Media and Entertainment – New York
• Luxury Brand and Retail – New York
• Non-profit – San Francisco

There will also be a high tech WIC to San Francisco at the beginning of next year, a trip that I am really looking forward to. I decided to go to Atlanta to visit several consulting firms. During WIC, I got the chance to visit Bain, BCG, Deloitte, McKinsey, and PwC.

DeLorean, the famous car driven by Marty McFly in Back to the Future

I drove to Atlanta with other three classmates. We left early last Wednesday 23rd and came back to Durham on Saturday 26th. It was a 6 hour drive, traveling through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. On the road, we got to see a car that I am sure you must have seen before. It brought all of us great memories from our childhood: Back to the Future’s DeLorean! Quick fact about DeLorean: there are just 9,000 cars like this in the whole world, and we got to see one of them!

Once we got to Atlanta, we checked into the hotel and decided to go for a walk and explore Atlanta. We visited Atlanta’s downtown walked in the Centennial Olympic Park, where we enjoyed of some amazing views of the city.

Atlanta’s downtown, Centennial Olympic Park

We woke up really early on Thursday and visited three companies: PwC, BCG, and Bain. We spent three hours in each office talking with practitioners and recruiters, listening to corporate presentations and visiting their offices. I was impressed by the quality of each firm and their enthusiasm and efforts to welcome Fuqua to their homes.

Next, you can see some of the pictures I took in the office of one of these companies.

Atlanta’s skyline

With some of my classmates, I’m in the middle

We visited McKinsey and Deloitte during our second day. It’s worth mentioning that Deloitte is Fuqua’s top recruiting company, followed by McKinsey. Two years ago -last year’s employment statistics have not been published yet-, Deloitte hired 45 Fuquans for full-time and internships positions, followed by McKinsey with a total of 27 hires.

That same evening, the consulting club organized a happy hour with Fuqua alumni in Atlanta. Again, it was an excellent opportunity to talk with people working at these companies and in other industries.

Overall, the trip was awesome, as it gave me the chance of getting more information about each company and meeting new people. I also got the chance to explore a new American city, and take some cool pictures!

After four days, I finally made it back home, just in time to prepare the pre-assignments for fall term 2, which started  today. I also had the chance to workout in the Wallace Wade Stadium with two good friends. I have to get fit quickly! I will tell you why in my next post.

Wallace Wade Stadium Athletic field