Need advice on possible routes to Big 4
Hey guys I would like to start by saying I love this site and all the insightful information it offers. With that said, I would love to hear your opinions on my dilemma. I need some help deciding between a couple of options regarding colleges, and which would be the best bet for attaining a job with one of the big 4.
I did one year at a community college and had ~3.7 gpa. I then took a year off to work in different trades to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. After a year of thinking and researching, I now know that I want to work in accounting and eventually end up in a corporate finance or industry roll. I have two options for schooling, and this is where I am very unsure and confused. I am between Belmont University and Middle Tennessee State University. Both are AACSB accredited, but MTSU is much cheaper. So for me its between doing another year or two at a community college and then transferring to Belmont, or forgetting the idea of community college to go all four years at MTSU. My question is would going to a community college to get gen eds out of the way hurt my chances of transferring into Belmont/ hurt my chances of working for a big 4? Or would it be more conducive to do the remainder of my schooling at MTSU without any more community college?
My apologies for the length of the question, but I'm at a crossroads and need help.
Community college will likely not be relevant (as in it won't prevent you from getting into Big 4) as long as you keep your GPA decently high at university. On that note, go to whichever school is better for business/accounting. You won't regret spending a little extra money for better job prospects. And join the accounting frat, I forget the name, but look it up. There is literally a 100% placement rate for accounting majors at my school, for kids who have above a 3.0 and who are members of the accounting frat.
I assume you mean Beta Alpha Psi.
Even at my school (public Florida school) they do great things for us here. Just tonight, we had a resume workshop with Ernst & Young, where we got advice from professionals on how to improve our resumes, while also networking. Two of the professionals I spoke with asked if they could keep a copy of my resume to pass on to their other colleagues. We do events like this several times a week, although not always with Big 4. Its a great organization to be a part of.
Thank you for the great content and swiftness of your response Droking. Could you give me any advice on how to go about finding out which of the universities would have a better accounting program? Thanks again.
1) The only thing that matters is whether (and if so, how many) the Big 4 recruits on the campus. Ask the two colleges for their alumni stats.
2) The only way more community college would be bad would be if it hurt your chances of getting into the college at which the Big 4 recruit.
3) One other note: watch out for your GPA. It's going to have to be pretty close to 4.0 to get into Big 4 from a non-Big 4 target, and if you're already down to 3.7 at the community college, you need to be careful. It is likely your next college will disregard community college GPA, meaning that your GPA will be based entirely on your last two years of classes - i.e. all the harder ones.
Thanks 808. I was stupid, clueless, and unmotivated my first year in college, but in retrospect I am now driven and am very sure I could get the grades necessary. I just want to go to a school that is relatively cheap and targeted by the big 4, and if not in Tennessee I would go to a school in Ohio (Where I currently live). Also it would be great if anyone could give me advice as to which big 4 service to break into ( TAS, tax, audit etc...) for exit opportunities that include Corp Fin, Controller, and/or Industry. Thanks guys
Also, would university of tennessee be a better choice?
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