Big 4 Risk Advisory vs. F500 LDP
Hi guys, little background information on myself:
I am going to be a senior, undergrad finance student at a Big Ten university (think IU, MSU, UofI type school). I just completed an audit internship at EY however, I hated accounting and used to be an accounting major but just switched over to finance. Basically, I have two career options at this point:
EY Risk Advisory or a LDP at Abbott Labs which would include international work experience. Pay is very similar in both of these jobs so I'm not really concerned about that. My main focus at this point is which one of these opportunities would set me up best for MBA admissions. I would like to get into a top 10-25 MBA program, (think UT McCombs, Vandy Owen, Kelley or possibly something a little higher ranked such as Darden or Fuqua) and then go into management consulting at a tier 2 firm such as Deloitte S&O or Accenture. Also, I am a white male and have around a 3.6 GPA, with some good leadership experiences at my university. So, which one of these job opportunities would set me up best for what I am looking for? Any input would be appreciated.
I would say these are even for your chances at those MBA programs.
From everything I have heard, Risk Advisory will involve a ton of regulatory work and mostly focus on Financial Service Clients.
The LDP will give you wider exposure to different functions of the organization and Abbot being involved in multiple industries would be a nice plus in your post-MBA goals. The only advantage I can see for EY, is the client facing experience that would lack at Abbott. However, a good LDP should develop the same skillset.
Also, I did have a couple friends intern in Risk. From what I heard they had all different clients, not limited to financial services. The downside is that the work would probably be pretty boring, internal audit and controls, etc.
Sounds like you've made your decision. I don't think you can go wrong with either.
As an audit -> advisory B4 transfer myself, from experience you'll enjoy the advisory side more. Best of luck PM me if you have any other questions.
LDPs tend to be a bit more selective since your start class won't be as large - although having been at a Big 4 firm I would say to go with the LDP. You'll get a wide variety of experiences (even if they aren't client facing per se) and you'll be ready for an MBA right after finishing your 2 or 3 years. You can still get there from EY, but it'll be harder to stand out amongst all the big 4 candidates.
This is the one major negative at EY, I agree that it would be difficult to standout amongst other Big 4. The question is how much of a difference it would be to take an LDP such as Abbott. If I were going for Top 10 MBA programs (which I'm not), I think it could make a difference but 10-25, it's hard to say; of course depending on a good gmat score. But, it sounds like from what you and the other poster has had to say, that there should not be a huge difference in terms of MBA admissions between the two.
Totally missed the Top 10-25 part; you're right. There wouldn't be much of a difference there, but I'd think you have more options out of the LDP if you changed your mind and decided you wanted to target higher ranked programs because of changes in your career. Also, given your goal of consulting, it might be a little easier transition from the B4 gig, given you'd already be used to client facing work.
Although I would think B4 would be alot more of a grind, you'd have a start class if you value that. Overall though, you can't really go wrong here. There really isn't a bad choice and I think either are what you make of your experience when you're there.
Just put in the time on the GMAT and stay at least 2 years. You should be solid
As someone who worked at the Big 4, take the FLDP and run. Risk advisory, unless I'm misunderstanding the specific department you're in, is mostly just internal controls and testing various systems. If you think audit is bad (which it is), at least you do substantive work so you gain financial statement knowledge and can punt to the IT team for getting comfort over a system. On top of that, Big 4 culture is rough and you'll have to grind out long hours for low pay doing boring work and potentially dealing with a crappy manager who can put you in tough spots with little support.
Again, I could be wrong about what Risk is at EY because all the big 4 firms call their things different and now are starting to call things "advisory" to attract more talent (sounds like consulting but is more like audit support), but make sure you know what you're getting into. If it's supporting IT controls for audits, I'd run away as fast as I could.
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