Twenty-Four Seven June 21, 2006, 9:33PM EST

Uphill and Down in San Francisco

"Consulting is a fun job with a tough work schedule," says this Georgetown grad, who bikes the famous hills to work each day

I am a first-year consultant in the San Francisco office of the Monitor Group, a global-management strategy consultancy and merchant bank. My desire to join a highly entrepreneurial firm like Monitor after graduating from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business was heavily influenced by my undergraduate experience as a "social entrepreneur." During my junior year, I founded a nonprofit student group called Hilltop Consultants. Still in existence, Hilltop sends members to nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C. area to help with business-related issues such as fundraising.

After spending the summer between my junior and senior years interning in Monitor's brainy and quirky headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., I knew it was the kind of place I was looking for. While my primary responsibilities here usually range from learning about the latest biologic drugs to developing and presenting economic models, my role in the office is broader. I co-coordinate intern recruiting at UC Berkeley, work on the office social committee, and volunteer for a former nonprofit client to update its brand name and image.

	Mitchell W. Fox Management Consultant The Monitor Group BS Class of 2005, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

Like the vast majority of my colleagues, I split my work 50/50 between two clients, which requires diligent time management. Consulting is a fun job with a tough work schedule. Protecting my work-life balance is largely my own responsibility because I control my schedule.

Here is a typical day:

7:30 a.m.—After one or two "snoozes," I roll out of bed and check my work and personal e-mail accounts. Inevitably, I spend 15 to 30 minutes each morning reading and responding.

8:30 a.m.—Throwing my laptop in my backpack, I hop on my bike and cruise downhill for practically the whole 10-minute trek through Russian Hill, Chinatown, and the Financial District to my office.

9:00 a.m.—I grab cereal and tea from the office kitchen, then spend my first hour taking care of miscellaneous responsibilities. I find someone to send to a recruiting dinner at Berkeley and screen a list of suggested themes and names for the conference rooms in our new office. We're moving in two months.

10:00 a.m.—It's time to switch to client-work mode. I make final edits to a PowerPoint presentation for our upcoming team check-in call with a partner in the New York office. I also start compiling research that might be useful backup for my afternoon client meeting.

11:00 a.m.—The first of an average of three conference calls or meetings per day is either taken on my headset or on speakerphone.

11:45 a.m.—I spend a few minutes cruising The New York Times online and run across an article related to my client's industry and forward it to my team. I respond to my friends' e-mails about plans for the weekend and remind them I am attending a conference out of town on Friday for work and will be staying there with some friends for the weekend.

Noon—The typical lunch ritual requires making office rounds and harassing other consultants to put down their work and join me on a walk to a local eatery.

12:15 p.m.—Five of us return to the office conference room to eat sandwiches quickly and chat about the upcoming weekend.

12:30 p.m.—I realize it's time to get into gear and create several PowerPoint slides from my morning research to include in the appendix of our meeting document.

1:15 p.m.