ryanbis

"BU's recruitment in Boston for Big 4 is pretty weak compared to Northeastern, or Bentley (Colleges in the Boston area)."

I would have to disagree. If you are a strong candidate, there is no reason you could not obtain an offer while at BU.

wis3ly

University of Chicago

fener_sk

what is the ideal resume that the big 4 companies look for?? what i mean by this is that what is the their target gpa, years of work experience, etc.

Obviously the gpa will be lower than a finance and marketing major. <3.4?
Is it necesary to get an internship freshman and sophmore summers?

ryanbis

"what is the ideal resume that the big 4 companies look for?? what i mean by this is that what is the their target gpa, years of work experience, etc. "

There isn't a boilerplate ideal resume. The key is to exhibit the characteristics they are looking for--customer service skills, team skills, technical competency, etc.. How you accomplish those things are up to you--there are very few explicit requirements in terms of work experience (some have it, some don't) and academics aside from the fact that you should qualify (or be on your way to qualifying) to sit for the exam if you're going into audit or tax. That is extremely important and the firms are beginning to realign their compensation tiers to demonstrate its importance.

"Obviously the gpa will be lower than a finance and marketing major. <3.4?"

This sentence doesn't make sense. I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

"Is it necesary to get an internship freshman and sophmore summers?"

No, and the Big 4 do not really offer internships to freshman and sophomores, either. They do offer short leadership programs--but it's not a requirement.

kbisus

VIllanova and Lehigh both have great accounting programs, the big 4 are always on campus especially at nova

taxguy

University of Chicago does not have an undergraduate major in accounting that I know of.

BYUFrodo

Barrons Said : "As one who was kicked off the BYU campus for wearing shorts and a Tshirt, it is not for everyone, for sure."
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That is odd and I kind of doubt that since I wear shorts and a T-shirt almost every day until it starts becoming too cold. Yes, the honor code makes it "not for everyone", but frankly NO University is "for everyone". I would suggest to anyone who has this question to look at the Universities with the top (or at least good) Accounting programs, research them, and then apply to the ones that you think would be good for you. Also, BYU is a good choice for some people who are not members of the LDS Church if you are willing to follow the honor code.

barrons

I was there in the 70s when you could only wear shorts if you were doing athletics. they changed the rules since then.

Current rules
Men
A clean and well-cared-for appearance should be maintained. Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, revealing, or form fitting. Shorts must be knee-length or longer. Hairstyles should be clean and neat, avoiding extreme styles or colors, and trimmed above the collar, leaving the ear uncovered. Sideburns should not extend below the earlobe or onto the cheek. If worn, moustaches should be neatly trimmed and may not extend beyond or below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean-shaven; beards are not acceptable. Earrings and other body piercing are not acceptable. Shoes should be worn in all public campus areas.

Women
A clean and well-cared-for appearance should be maintained. Clothing is inappropriate when it is sleeveless, strapless, backless, or revealing; has slits above the knee; or is form fitting. Dresses, skirts, and shorts must be knee-length or longer. Hairstyles should be clean and neat, avoiding extremes in styles or colors. Excessive ear piercing (more than one per ear) and all other body piercing are not acceptable. Shoes should be worn in all public campus areas.

Dawgie

That's hilarious did you copy and paste that from somewhere?

taccount

We all knew there was something missing from your original post about getting kicked out of BYU for wearing shorts.

Your experience from almost 30-40 years ago is really relevant.

I don't see how having these "rules" are a deterrent. I think it could only help people obtain employment after I what I have seen what some students wear at my university.

precocious

I disagree... PwC, Deloitte, and E&Y all actively recruit here and consider us one of their target schools. I interviewed for all three just last week (as well as Grant Thornton and a few others). Crossing my fingers, it's HIGHLY competitive! Northeastern only has a rep because of their co-op program. Big4 love our teamwork-centered courseload, lol. I have no idea how it compares to Fordham though :/

Dawgie

Northeastern has the best placement, Bentley is most likely 2nd place. Just because you are one of their targets schools doesn't make its the strongest recruiting of their target schools. Bad argument.

openedskittles

"While Texas is the top ranked school for accounting, the salaries in Texas are notoriously low compared to other places in the country--and since most of the people graduating stay in Texas, I'm guessing that the average salary for Univ of Texas accounting graduates is only around $43,000 to $45,000. I'll let someone else look the exact number up and post it here."

This is for the most recently published ('08) graduating class (4-year accounting BBA, not MPA):
Average: $52,589
Std Dev: $8,573
A lot of students are really determined to stay in Austin, which brings down the average. The average for students headed to Houston is 9k greater than for Austin and for NYC it's 10k greater than Austin (only 1k greater than Houston).

As someone noted earlier, the cost of living in Texas is much, much lower than anyplace where your salary is likely to be higher. In fact, if you compare the pay to the cost of living, I think you would be better off in Texas than anywhere else for most jobs, which is probably why so many Texas students choose to stay in Texas.

The extra 1k/year does not cover the increased cost of living in NYC. For example, I talked to a guy from Deloitte who said all of the Texas grads who went to NYC either moved back or want to.