Julia Sands

Julia Sands has landed a consulting position at Bain & Company in New York City, even though she won’t graduate from Questrom until May 2026. No doubt she worked extremely hard to get to where she is today, but she credits Questrom for being a trusted partner with her every
step of the way. Whether it was supportive professors, dedicated career counselors, challenging club activities, internships, or alumni networking, Julia took advantage of every opportunity.

“From the start, Questrom motivated me to reach for opportunities—it’s just part of the Questrom culture,” says Julia, who will officially start at Bain this coming summer. “But Questrom isn’t just a culture. It’s also vibrant place, a hub, where you can really feel the energy and ambition of the diverse people around you.”

Starting freshman year, one of Julia’s sources of inspiration was Lecturer Kim Donlan, who teaches Business, Markets, and Society. “She was wonderful and set the tone for my entire Questrom journey,” says Julia, who went on to serve as a teaching assistant for Donlan’s course.

The Feld Center for Career & Alumni Engagement also played an important role in Julia’s educational journey. From day one, she often turned to the staff to learn about cover letters, resumés, and internships. Last spring, Julia was a marketing strategy intern at emap, a London publishing company. At Deloitte in New York, she interned twice—first with the mergers & acquisitions team and then the following summer in technology consulting.

However, the experience that was key to helping Julia prepare for a career in consulting was her involvement in the Boston University Consulting Group. A collaborative, pre-professional organization, BU Consulting Group focuses on consulting career development, skills training, and education for students from all academic backgrounds. Workshops, industry networking events, and intense business case competitions bridged the gap between theory and real-world application for Julia.

Three times during the semester-long BU Consulting Group Engagement program, she joined an advanced team of students helping actual business clients overcome challenges, optimize performance, and foster sustainable growth to achieve their goals. As vice president of the organization’s Strategy Lab, she enjoyed coaching other student teams during a semester-long case competition, helping them tackle a business problem for a real client and prepare to present their strategic recommendations to a panel of BU Consulting Group judges and industry experts.

“In BU Consulting Group, I loved teaching and mentoring and solving problems on a team,” she says. “Professor John Kirks gave me the foundation I needed for my career. That experience helped me realize that consulting was what I really wanted to do.”

As Julia prepared to apply to Bain, another invaluable piece of her preparation came from coffee chats and coaching with Questrom alumni. Scott Carlson, assistant director of undergraduate advising at the Feld Center, not only helped Julia with her job application and interviewing technique but also connected her with relevant alumni. Through the Young Questrom Leaders Council, she connected with Patrick Carroll, MBA ’21, a manager of private equity knowledge management Bain & Company in Boston, who coached Julia on how to prepare for the business cases she’d have to solve during her interview.

Over last summer, Julia took everything she’d learned so far—from her professors, career advisors, BU Consulting Group experiences, and Questrom alumni—and prepped for her interview. Bain recommends that applicants complete a minimum of 25 30-minute practice business cases in advance of their interview. Of course, Julia did 75.

“Bain is a place where intelligent minds come together,” says Julia. “It is a culture, like Questrom, that I’m excited to be part of, where people focused on good work are learning from each other.”

And when Julia graduates from BU this coming spring, there is one more thing she will take with her—a desire to pay it forward.

“In the future, I want to mentor people and be that resource who helps them reach for the kind of opportunities I’ve had at Questrom.”