Recent Accounting Grad from a Non-target School

Hello,

I just graduated magna cum laude (GPA: 3.8) from a non-target school (UT Tyler) with a major in accounting and minor in finance. I served as treasurer for Enactus from February 2014 until May 2014 and was a candidate for Beta Alpha Psi from August 2013 - January 2014. I have no professional accounting or finance-related experience-- my only work-related experience is that I have worked at Sears as a consultative sales associate since my sophomore year of college. I am very concerned about my future and am studying for the GMAT like crazy so that I can get into a better graduate school. Right now my goal is to get into Baylor, University of Houston, or some other more prestigious school. I joined this site in order to help me land an audit internship with one of the big 4 accounting firms or an IB analyst position with a respectable bank. Many of you on this site are probably wondering why in the heck I didn't get an internship earlier-- the problem is that I had been taking 18-21 hours at school each semester for the last year or so (Except during Fall of 2013, when I had taken 15 hours) and barely had time to even sleep. I also took had taken two courses during the summer this past year as well. I had two interviews with CGI, and they were very interested in me until recently. I'm not quire sure what made them lose interest in me. I can provide more details on that in a later post. Anyways, I am highly interested in tech, plan on learning more programming as a hobby (I already have some background in C++), and am freaking out about the future.

4 Comments
 

Welcome

Quite a predicament to not have any internships.The good thing about accounting is that you don't need to go to a really prestigious school to get into big 4(as opposed to MBAs). Just make sure you go to a MAcc program that has a good relationship with the big 4 and go from there.

Really surprised you weren't able to get an offer from a big 4 or 2nd tier firm(DT, BDO etc) with that high of a GPA. Did any firms come to your campus to recruit?

 

None of the big 4 recruit directly from my campus, just some smaller local firms. The only relationship my school has with the big 4 is my tax teacher used to work at KPMG for several years. The small firms usually are only willing to hire graduate students or students that can sit for the CPA exam.

 

Your stats look fine for a potential Big 4 hire. You can probably even make it through the screening process if you submit your resume online. Most firms heavily recruit in the fall, but if a decent resume lands on their laps, they may make an extra effort to get you for the summer. Otherwise you can try asking your tax professor if he still knows anyone at the firms. You should have a decent resume based on your history that I'm sure he wouldn't mind forwarding to a manager/partner at the firm.

 

Debitis optio dignissimos non adipisci dolores sint ut. Deleniti incidunt et necessitatibus.

Consectetur harum officia illo ipsa ut. Debitis in consequuntur excepturi molestias aspernatur. Sed error qui magnam odit voluptatem consectetur. Veritatis aspernatur iusto repellendus aliquam quos non et.

Et praesentium est atque dolor culpa molestias. Consequatur suscipit aliquid hic velit ut ipsum eaque molestiae.

Optio eaque exercitationem repudiandae facilis. Corporis aut rerum consectetur et. Optio et nihil laboriosam voluptas possimus consequatur eos. Maiores quis quae sunt in tenetur. Alias illo qui nostrum sunt labore fugit dolorum. Aut odio tempora et facere voluptates neque cumque. Aut molestiae tempore aut velit non ipsam est. Beatae quia non qui quasi quidem earum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (74) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”