AnyColour

So, how is an internship with the BIG 4 like? What's the duration?
I'm a Hispanic male, will they treat me as a slave or as an equal?

zub88

Im considering changing my major from finance to accounting information systems. Does AIS majors have the same opportunities as someone who just does accounting? is there more demand for AIS than regular accounting?

Dawgie

Hispanic? You'll get in automatically.

jonahrubin

If you get in by affirmative action and everyone knows it because you aren't very good at accounting, don't expect a whole lot of respect from you peers. If a Chinese kid with your grades would have gotten in then I'm sure you'll have no problems. They seem to be very eager to recruit hispanics and blacks here so I really doubt they'd recruit you just to be jerks.

Now, if you were an H1b then I'd be worried about being a slave. It's not like they can quit(unless they want to get booted out of the country).

secretfire

I'm a black male and I interned at Deloitte. I came through the Inroads program. IMO, you'll be at the same level as your peers because they won't recruit a rising senior who doesn't have a decent knowledge of accounting (i.e. Intermediate 1+2). Your grades will get you the interview and your interview will get you the internship. "Everyone" won't know your accounting skills because that isn't what interns talk about. The duration is 10 weeks. If you get an internship.. work hard, learn as much as you can, have a positive attitude, and show your engagement team that you want to be at the firm and you'll have an offer when you leave.

Dawgie

That's ********, they will recruit less qualified minorities from INROADS even if they aren't the smartest individuals on the block.

You won't be exposed during your internship, but when you start full time it'll become very obvious.

God I hate that affirmative action bull, yes I am a minority.

secretfire

Please...they give offers to the overwhelming majority of interns that they select..minority/white/whatever...period. At least at my office. Their interns are essentially their full time hire candidate pool. I'm not sure what office you worked at but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get a full time offer at a Big 4...or even succeed at a Big 4. If you can get the internship and don't **** up..you're good.

Dawgie

That's not the point, I was disagreeing with your statement about having a "decent" knowledge of accounting.

Maybe my sample size was small, but the ones that got through INROADS were typically less bright. Well, a lot of them got laid off in the last round anyway. No exaggeration there.

workworkwork

I'm a 25-year old+ intern at an operating company of a prestigious Fortune 50. Been there a total of 3 years, incl 1 year of an on-going internship (not Finance or Acct dept). I'm returning to school after a few years of changing my mind and indecision. I'm at a Comm. Coll. now, sadly my fifth school since I've moved and transferred a lot (2 of those schools were CC's, the others were out of state since 1999). I don't have any volunteer or organization type experience since I've been supporting myself and going to school. I do have hobbies and obviously, a lot of work experience.

Getting into CSUF should be easy but I want to go to UCLA. I'm not sure what my final GPA is yet but it is definitely over 3. I'd like to major in Women's Studies or Psychology and minor in Accounting at UCLA since my career goal is to be a CPA. I'm just not interested in the Bus Econ major. Will my choice of major and educational history work against me or should I just stick to CSUF and be a business admin?

Also, how will my spotty past affect my acceptance by the Big 4, both internship-wise and politically, and then career in general?

I've always been hard-working and am now very motivated to succeed. Now that I've found my path, I would appreciate any and all advice so I can finish before I'm in my mid-30's.

arajput23

I am majoring in Accounting, and although I do enjoy it very much, I am also interested in investments and finance as well. Do investment companies recruit and hire Accounting majors for investing and finance jobs?

herothydragon

I'm studying a ***** load of accounting as a junior in college, and I really like to know how much of what I learn in college will honestly be used in real life working as an accountant. I'm hoping what I will learn from interning and working at a firm be the only learning I need to be a capable accountant.

Dawgie

You are gonna need strong intermediate accounting for the rest of your accounting career. You are also going to see the same exact crap on the CPA. So it is not going to waste.

pokey07

Does anyone have a list of programs or past experience with applying for Masters in Accounting programs with a non-accounting undergrad background? I'm also wondering, if you have past experience with these programs, did they offer money when you applied? What kind of stats did you have when you applied?

Taking on more debt is a huge concern for me when applying to these programs.

taxguy

Pokey07, there are many masters in accounting that don't need an accounting undergraduate. An example of a school that has that is Fairleigh Dickinson et. al. For the most part, they only give money based on need.

In terms of stats, each school is very different. Call up the applicable school.

zub88

taxguy, i have some questions.

Does AIS (accounting information systems) majors have the same opportunities as someone who just does accounting? is there more demand for AIS than regular accounting?

With my electives for AIS I plan to do all the audit classes that a regular accounting major would do.