I got the email on a Tuesday as I scrolled through my phone one morning before class. The subject line read “Congratulations on your acceptance to diiVe 2021!” The moment I saw the notification, my heart knew that it was the right opportunity for me. Unlike many of the other job application processes I had been through this Spring, diiVe felt natural. From connecting with ambassadors and learning about the program to zooming with Elspeth, my exploration left me with more energy and excitement than I knew was possible from a job hunt.
The opportunity to “take the diiVe” came at a pivotal moment for me. I had been struggling to find my passion as I attended information sessions, talked to my school advisors, and spent many hours reading about career paths. Without an idea of who I was or where I wanted to be, it was difficult to get myself excited for the roles I was researching. When I discovered the personal reflection aspect of diiVe, I was hooked. From there, I fell in love with consulting. It had all my favorite parts of the school — working in teams, learning all the time, and using creativity to solve business problems.
But in spite of my gut reaction, something held me back from accepting right away. Fear of failure crept into my mind. What if I poured myself into consulting only to discover I sucked at it? How could I really know that this is best for me? What skills could I even bring to the table as a consulting intern who had no experience? A few weeks later, I woke up in a cold sweat at 3 am, realizing that I almost missed the deadline to accept. The email was still burning a hole in my starred inbox while I grappled with my doubts. In a moment of clarity, a cheesy quote that my brother always says rang through my head: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. Right then and there, without even getting out of bed, I paid the deposit to accept the offer.
Now over a week into the program, I am beyond glad that I didn’t sleep through the opportunity to accept. I didn’t know what was going to come out of this program, but if I knew everything, then there would be no point to the experience. In the short time we have been together, I have gained a significant amount of insight on both myself and the professional world of consulting.
The first week felt like looking at the world through a telescope and a magnifying glass at the same time. We studied things like teamwork, something that seemed so common and instinctive after years of being a student. Many of us had been doing group projects, playing sports, or working in settings where we had to collaborate. But after learning about the skills and best practices of agile teaming, teamwork had a completely different meaning. Things like checking in with your team became more necessary than a simple pleasantry.
As a result of this fresh perspective, I am beginning to see the opportunity in everything. Every new group is a new chance to exponentially increase the value of our work. Together we can learn from each other and pool our skills so 1 + 1 = 3 rather than 2. Sometimes the projects we were given in our second session of the day seemed impossible to complete in the time frames we were given. The briefs demanded that we read long articles, work with people we had just met, create a polished deliverable, and most frustratingly solve a problem that had no right answer — all within less than two hours. I was worried we would not get it done in time, the deliverable would be sloppy, or we would miss a critical piece of information that significantly impacted our solution. However, the project always got done. Beyond that, each deliverable was a creative, professional proposal that was one step closer to solving a real problem in the world.
That being said, “taking the diiVe” is more than a cheesy hashtag or phrase used to market the program’s name. To me, it’s challenging us diiVers to look deeper at the world right in front of our eyes. It is discovering and creating value wherever we go. That is my goal going forward: to recognize the value in myself and use it to create value at any company I consult for in the future.
By Michelle Horning (diiVe Summer 2021)
Michelle is a rising Junior at Boston College studying at the Carroll School of Management. On-campus she is a member of the ‘Real estate club’ and sits as an Executive Board member. Michelle has also worked as a Marketing Intern as part of Imbio LLC. Her interests include alpine ski racing and wake surfing.
