<p>I'm 19 going to be a sophomore in the fall, I have been researching a lot this summer about careers in the future. My biggest issue is the internships at places like the big 4. I will be graduating in 2017, and you need 150 hours for the CPA and that could even change by then. When I graduate in 4 years I will most likely have 120 hours, what some professors told me is to get my masters(they offer a masters pretty much to fulfill the 150). I have seen different answers when researching, such as most students get internships between their junior and senior year. Or students get internships between their senior and MAcc year. The Masters at my school is 15 months (July-Sept) So I don't know if that will conflict with a summer internship. So which option do you think is best for me. Do I intern after my junior year, try and get offered when I graduate and work while i'm doing my masters. Or do I intern after my senior year, and probably get offered when I'm close to finishing up my masters. Thank yo</p>
<p>My S recently went through this process. The large accounting firms (Big 4 and otherwise) will hire interns the summer before their last year of school. In your case it sounds like it would be the summer between your undergraduate and your masters degree. Students who get internships at the large firms between junior and senior year are people who finish their undergraduate degree with 150 credits (often through AP credits, summer classes etc.) and be able to start work the following year. If your program starts in July, it may preclude you doing an internship. I’d check with the program director to see what students in the program generally do.</p>
<p>If you intern and do well you will likely get an offer at the end of that summer for the following year. If you don’t get an offer through an internship, accounting firms tend to interview/hire during the fall semester of your last year in school.</p>