Student Consulting
Washington and Lee Student Consulting (WLSC) is a student-led organization that provides pro bono consulting services to businesses and not-for-profit community organizations. Our clients have included local, national, and international non-profit and for-profit businesses.
The co-curricular program is housed in the Williams School but is open to all students, regardless of major. Recruitment takes place during Fall term and is open to sophomores and juniors who meet the 3.3 GPA requirement. Members meet on weekly basis to develop professional skills, engage with guest speakers, and present and provide feedback on each individual project.
Often, student consultants will focus on financial consulting, management consulting, human resource consulting, public relations consulting or any number of other sub-specialties. WLSC purposely takes on a broad range of projects so that its members are exposed to diverse professional experiences and sub-specialties of consulting.
During the year, members work on semester-long consulting projects in groups of 3-4 students, and an experienced member from each team is assigned the role of project leader. Clients are referred to the group by faculty and staff, community members, or alumni.
Past projects have required teams to produce everything from marketing plans and social media strategies to human resources audits and community surveys. Students have implemented new accounting software systems, conducted economic assessments, written strategic plans, and developed websites. In sum, each project is unique and students gain a wide variety of valuable experiences from their time in the organization.
The range of work that students produce makes them especially marketable as they look for internships and jobs in the consulting industry and beyond. Graduates of the program have gone on to launch successful careers with leading firms such as Bain & Co., the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Co, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, among others.