[gvibes]

I'm a Chicago guy, and a lot of my friends are traders. The hours are decent, the stress is high, the pay at the beginning sucks, the potential at the end is stratospheric.

Consulting, as in management consulting, is a tough gig to get. Best route is probably to work in an industry of your choosing for a few years, then get into one of the top B schools (Harvard, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford, etc.). Bain, BCG, McKinzey are nice places to work, though I don't think the money is comparable (at least at the beginning, probably at the end too) to IB'ing.