Big Three Internship

Graduate student Argentina Guerra is paving the way for her peers as the first student from the C. T. Bauer College of Business to intern at Bain & Company, one of the Big Three management consulting firms in the world.

Bain is a global management consulting firm that advises Global 500 corporations, private equity funds and select nonprofits and startups, helping them solve industry-defining challenges in strategy, marketing, corporate finance, sustainability and more.

Bain has an acceptance rate of approximately one percent, meaning only one in 100 applicants end up with a job offer. The fact that Guerra secured this prestigious internship shows her level of commitment to herself and her future career as a consultant, Rockwell Career Center Director of Employer Engagement Raji Aiyer said.

“Argentina has such an outgoing, warm and welcoming personality,” Aiyer said. “She’s also incredibly intelligent and confident. Her professionalism is exemplary, and she balances it beautifully with her enthusiasm for life.”

As an associate consultant intern at Bain, Guerra works on projects that involve helping companies make decisions on executive-level investments. In her role, she is responsible for gathering data, studying the industry and understanding the bigger picture that will contribute to their consulting goals.

“Bain touches so much of the economy,” Guerra said. “I’ve been in class discussions where we talk about something interesting going on at a certain company. Being at this internship, I found out Bain has had so much involvement in the things I learn about in school.”

Guerra is a Master of Science (MS) finance student, and throughout her education, she said she has realized there is an art to finance. She applies what she’s learned at Bauer to her internship, where she relies just as much on the facts as she does her own judgement.

“You have numbers that you plug into an equation, but they mean nothing without the person, logic and research behind them,” she said. “We work with investment firms, and sometimes we have limited data that we’re working with, so you really have to use what you know to make an informed decision.”

Guerra discovered her passion for consulting during her undergraduate senior year at Bauer while she was a student in the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship. The person who introduced her to the industry and inspired her to pursue it further was Wolff Center adjunct professor Read Boles. She returned for her graduate studies to focus on finance and has since hit the ground running.

She knew that consulting was a hard industry to break into, Guerra said, so she did everything she could to prepare. She was fortunate enough to connect with Bauer alumna and Bain consultant Maria Guerrero (BBA ‘18).

Guerrero helped mentor Guerra and a small cohort of Bauer students. She walked them through the process of what it takes to get an interview at Bain and built out a syllabus that covered important details of what to know for their case interview, Aiyer said.

With case interviews, candidates are presented with a real business scenario, and they are asked to provide a solution. They are not allowed to use calculators or any other assistive technology during the interview, Guerrero said, and they should be comfortable talking about an industry they’ve unfamiliar with.

“You might not get it at first, but you have to keep trying,” Guerrero said. “I can help by providing the guard rails, but at the end of the day, the difference is going to come from the amount of preparation the student puts in.”

She said she noticed from the beginning that Guerra had the level of good judgement, self-awareness and discipline needed to succeed in the industry.

"There are so many talented students at the University of Houston who could have gotten this internship. I am fortunate to be the first one to represent my college."

Argentina Guerra

Guerra found through her experience at Bain & Company that the elements she loves about school are also present in consulting.

Every day brings a new learning opportunity or challenge, and much like her business school education, she is constantly being exposed to different industries, dynamics and cultures.

During her summer internship, Guerra said she plans to represent Bauer with her team spirit, creativity and attention to detail. That way, she can help open the door for other students to follow her and have the opportunity to advance their careers.

She has already begun to pay it forward by recruiting for Bain. Honors accounting and finance junior Grayson Lee will be interning with them in summer 2027 as an associate consultant intern.

"There are so many talented students at the University of Houston who could have gotten this internship. I am fortunate to be the first one to represent my college," Guerra said. "I see this as an opportunity to open doors and inspire others that might not believe this would be within their reach."