what kind of career choice should i make?

Hello WSO

I am currently a rising senior at semi-target (Michigan,UVA,UCLA) with a very low GPA, around 3.0. I am currently doing ML PWM internship this summer. (I know this is very bad for a rising senior) I have strong desire to make a career in finace world, but I know previous work experience and GPA arent going to make me competitive. Also I am under HEAVY financial constraint due to my family being on the verge of bankruptcy with HUGE amount of debt to repay. Thus, I would love to get a job that would pay me descent amount of money to payoff my parents debt.

So I am looking for ways to improve my chance for the full time recruiting that is coming up.

Plan 1
Delay
Take a semester off next sememster, do an off-cycle IB intership to leverage myself for the SA 2013 position and try to get a full time offer for 2014.

Plan 2
Graduate on time and try to get a full time position or internship with only PWM internshp

Plan 3
Lower my standard and go for normal corporate job like F500, Big 4 etc( I dont know how hard it is to get into those companies, I would really appreciate it if you have some insight on this)

What can I do to make myself somewhat competitive over the summer and during the last year of college? Is there a fall IB internship program that I should look into?

Also, what would be my safe/target job options given that I only have PWM internship under my belt? F500 corporation? or big4??

What would be the least competitive position for Economics major student, ER, IB, S&T?

So basically what kind of realistic goal should I set for myself in this given economy.

Thank you WSO

 

Big 4 requires a 3.3+ ugrad and now they require graduate degree for new hires (cpa license requirement). I'm assuming you majored in accounting? Otherwise big 4 is not really an option. You don't have the stats for valuation or consulting at big 4 either as those are more selective than the audit / tax stats that I provided above.

Lower the bar further. Not being a dick. Being realistic.

Oh yeah. Network Network Network Network.

 
Best Response
UFOinsider:
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Big 4 requires a 3.3+ ugrad and now they require graduate degree for new hires (cpa license requirement).
Say WHAAAAAAT?

Yeah it's weird. You need 150 credit hours for your cpa license in most states. NYS was late to the game but they finally caught up a year or two ago. Due to this, a masters degree is (not 100% positive, I don't work big 4 anymore) a prerequisite to get the job. That is why a lot of ugrad schools are offering 5 year intensive 'fast-track' accounting / tax masters programs.

All my big 4 friends left public accounting but I have a buddy who is still with a regional firm - they hired a kid who graduated ugrad, he is an intern until he goes to graduate school. And you guys thought banking was bad - at least you dipshits get fucking paid (or used to in '07)

I used to volunteer for recruiting at big 4, anyone who wasn't in beta alpha psi or some other accounting club on campus had their resume instantly tossed. The cut offs for those clubs are like a 3.2. I can safely say 3.0 won't cut it and it is a safe bet that 3.3 is the cut off.

Good luck

 

You should make a good career choice. :)

I'd say S&T, IB, than ER.

I wouldn't delay unless you're sure you could land an IB internship. Do the best you can this year to boost that GPA and network. If you go to a school like Michigan you should have no problem with this.

Working in CF isn't so bad (I'm in CF) if you can get the right position: Financial Planning,Treasury, Consulting, Cap Mngt.

There is a program called SEO that helps place for internships. That is the extent of my knowledge of it though.

Here to learn and hopefully pass on some knowledge as well. SB if I helped.
 

You say your GPA is "around" 3.0 - FYI there is a huge difference between 2.99 and 3.0. Priority #1 one is to get over the 3.0 threshold at the very least. I'm not sure that raising it will be easy; are you really going to be able to significantly raise your GPA with the personal difficulties you're facing at the moment? For those reasons, I would definitely take a semester off and work a full-time internship. Either let the bankruptcy process run its course or get to a place where you guys aren't on the edge financially.

Also, the lowest GPA cutoff I've ever seen for Big 4 is 3.25, so that's not really an option at the moment. Reassess where you are after your internship. Good luck.

 

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