LPPS 3440

Awesome class, awesome professor. Teaches the fundamentals of case interviewing and networking as well as providing a good introduction to consulting through a large project for a real-world client. I'd imagine this class is most helpful for second-year students looking to recruit for consulting internships after their third-year summer, but it could really be for anyone. There is also more general career advice sprinkled throughout the class (i.e., persuasion tips).

Participation is a pretty significant grade and takes a good deal of effort to achieve - I participated a bunch and only ended up getting a 93.5% on participation. There's one midterm (25% of grade, some nitpicky questions) and no final. 40% of your grade comes from presentations you do with your group - 10% of this is a smaller presentation towards the start of the semester, and the remaining 30% comes from your large project for the real-world client. The client project is really interesting because it's an actual strategic deliverable for a real company, so it feels similar to what consultants actually do. For better or for worse, your experience will depend heavily on the quality of your group, and may need to end up carrying more of the project than needed.

There are two downsides to this class, but I don't think these erode the course's value. First, instead of just using Canvas, Boler sent everything out via email, so it felt disorganized at times. Second, at times the client was unresponsive or didn't answer the questions we asked. This is because there are 16 teams in the class, so we needed to have Boler/TAs as an intermediary between us and the client to keep the client from being bombarded with information. We ended up getting some critical information just a week or two before our final presentation, which was a bit of a hassle.

This is a good class to take if you want to see if a career in consulting might be a fit for you. Professor Boler previously worked at Accenture and has a position in the Career Center, so he is knowledgable about the industry as well as general recruiting, and often tries to tie in learned concepts with possible applications in the real world. Much of the course is devoted towards preparing for a comprehensive group project presentation for a panel of judges, which requires quite a bit of collaboration, time, and effort. Beyond that, there is another group presentation earlier in the semester about different types of consulting. You also work on skills that would be useful in consulting and other careers, such as Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations & data visualization, and a 2 minute pitch. There are a lot of readings which are discussed during lecture, where participation is tracked/graded and attendance is mandatory. Many guest speakers and online classes, as well as practice with case interviews. There is also a midterm exam also based on the readings. Overall, you will learn the basics of consulting and see if that is a career path you want to take. #tCFS24

LPPS 3440 was a great class, and Professor Boler's instruction ignited my interest in consulting. A large component of your grade is participation, which is dependent upon engaging with the course's daily readings. Aside from participation, the class includes two group projects. The first, beginning a couple weeks after the first lecture, is a presentation with three to four fellow classmates where you attempt to persuade the class to break into a specific field of consulting. The second presentation is the larger one and is designed like a true consulting case. Through client meetings, SME calls, and persona analyses, Professor Boler does an amazing job of keeping the class engaged throughout this multi-week project. The course is structured, informative, and fun, and Professor Boler is an amazing professor to instruct it.

If you have no idea about what you want to do after college and interested in management consulting I would highly recommend this course. The professor is highly knowledgeable in the field of consulting! The course teaches you what consulting is and what kind of work you might expect to do. There is decent amount of reading each week and small assignments. There is one midterm and two presentations that you must complete for grade. Overall highly recommend! probably one of the most useful work related classes that you can take at uva.