Hi, I'm Nicole. Before coming to Bain, I was doing a PhD in evolutionary biology at the Univeristy of Chicago, where I was studying the impacts of climate change on marine mollusks. So, effectively, I was raising 200 marine snails in a lab at U Chicago.
"In the last two years of my PhD program, I was thinking about what I wanted to do next. I realized that consulting seemed really interesting and would also be a great foundation, whether I wanted to stay in consulting or if I wanted to go back into something academic related."
My first experience here at Bain was an advanced degree program called Advance Into Consulting. It was a half-day program where we learned a little bit about consulting and did a mock case, just an hour with a consultant who walked us through the answer-first process, and then we got to ask a few questions. That was really great; I loved the office, and I loved the people who were there.
Coming from a non-business background, I never really thought that I would be learning about B2B pricing and diving into that, but it's been really great. I feel like I'm constantly learning about new business problems and new ways to solve them.
For anyone finishing up their PhD and thinking about next career moves, there are a couple pieces of advice that I would give. First of all, try to learn as much as you can about consulting. Bain and even some of the other consulting firms have summer programs, one-day or one-week programs, where you can really learn about consulting. That helped me figure out if I wanted to do the job.
The Chicago office is great; I feel like I totally lucked out. I got a awesome team, and we're super close. And even though I transitioned from the lab into the office, I luckily get to see my snails on the weekend and come into the Bain office on Monday.
