<p>So basically, while I'm not failing my accounting classes, I'm more in the B to B+ range in my accounting classes, and, realistically speaking, if this continues, there is a really good chance that I won't make it into the Big 4. I'm confident that I'm intelligent enough to get a job at a decent mid-sized firm, but is not making the Big 4 as bad as people make it out to be here? It seems like, unless you make it into the Big 4, you'll never become a partner, a CEO, etc. because all of those things require that you have prior Big 4 experience, so what happens to people that didn't make it for whatever reason? I'm pretty sure there are plenty of very intelligent, hardworking people who might even have had the numbers for the Big 4 that didn't get in for whatever reason, so are they basically screwed, because it sounds like unless you make partner, your salary will be capped at a very low number despite getting a CPA (by capped I mean capped at around 75-80k) and you won't be able to exit to another industry because they all want you to have worked with the big 4. Now I'm not kidding myself and know that 80k is better than most people live, but I was shooting for 150k+ at some point in my working career, and it would really suck if I can't attain what's been a lifelong goal because I didn't initially get into the Big 4. My problem in school is basically that it takes me a while to fully understand concepts, and so I don't always do well on quizzes/tests and only do well on the final, which is what turns me from an A student to a B+ish student. So how screwed are my prospects?</p>
<p>Also, I'm more interested in the private industry and becoming a controller, so unless I go to the Big 4, is that not going to happen either?</p>
<p>You are complaining about B’s and B+'s in your accounting classes? Are you serious? That’s good enough. The intermediate accounting classes really aren’t easy stuff. You should be glad you haven’t been weeded out yet. Anything above a C in my opinion is good.</p>
<p>No it’s not good enough. Big 4 resume looks gold when you move into private industry. So yea you are limiting yourself big time if you don’t get Big 4 experience.</p>
<p>Caution: No where in my post did I say it is not possible to excel in private without Big 4 exp. It’s just an ideal situation.</p>
<p>My dad’s a CPA who was hiring a CPA for a management position last year. He had to go with a guy with no big 4 experience and says he wished he could have predicted the layoffs so they could snap up someone from a big 4 firm.</p>
<p>I guess it’s all about supply and demand. In early 2008, there was a great demand for CPAs, so you would be fine without big 4 experience. Today, there are CPAs with big 4 experience looking for jobs, so you might not do so well.</p>
<p>sp1212, sorry but are you handicapped? A B (3.0) and B+ (3.3) is not a 3.5+. What’s up with always trying to justify and rationalize having a low GPA. I graduated with 3.6 and honestly think it’s disgusting and hardly competitive. Mistake on my part though and I am advising otherwise. You don’t see me here trying to justify that my GPA is ideal for Big 4, because it is not.</p>
<p>Please dont kick yourself over the B+'s. I know for me, I was so upset this past year when I received a B in intermediate accounting. I also have a C+ in calc on my trascript and was really worried that those were going to ruin me. This past summer I interviewed with two big 4 firms with a cum gpa of 3.63. Both didnt seem to care at all about the grades, and my calc grade always gives me an opportunity to show how first semester freshman year I was not doing well, but motivated myself to come back and second semester got straight A’s. It helped me bond with the recruiter, who said she did awful in calc too. So please dont worry about a few B’s. With those two items on my GPA i was still offered positions at both Big 4 companies, so I really think that its about how you talk about your experiences in the interview. If your overall GPA is higher, you will probably still receive an interview. GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>I’ll take your word for it, I went to 3 colleges during my undergraduate and all of the GPA schemes were consistent. 3.0 B, 3.3 B+, 3.7 A-, 4.0 A</p>
<p>Actually, it is a bit harder to get an A at the school that I mentioned because professors would rather give A- or B+ unless the work is equal to that of what the professor can do.</p>
<p>Everyone says Big Four is the best experience and clearly companies hire accordingly. However I think when considering this sort of thing one has to remember that the Big Four gets the pick of the litter. It’s not fair to compare Big Four and everyone else but only Big Four vs the small pool of candidates who were good enough for Big Four but didn’t go that way for reasons other than lack of ambition or whatever. Consider how successful Harvard and Yale graduates are vs the average idiot from Podunk U. They look great but studies have shown that people who get into top schools and go elsewhere anyway still are about equally successful a few decades later. It’s a really tough thing to tease out whether so many CFO’s are Big Four veterans because they went to the Big Four or because the Big Four was just the first to spot their potential.</p>
<p>^ Harvard and Yale graduates who are exceptionally talented go into the business field through more prestigious jobs than big 4, especially since neither offer accounting undergrad and if anyone wants to be a CPA, they’ll probably have to go to a MAcc program before they would go on to big 4, making them grads of Texas, BYU, Illinois and other top accounting grad schools which feed into the big 4.</p>
<p>The question isn’t if you need to go to a big 4 to be a successful businessperson, it’s about just how many doors the big 4 open for accounting grads. The answer is: a whole lot!</p>
<p>As for the GPA calculations: sp1212; unless every class curves around a 1.0, you guys must have absolutely rampant grade inflation. taxguy’s numbers were accurate for my school and curving around a 2.0 is normal here.</p>
<p>Big 4 experience can make it easier to get a foot in the door but it’s not that important. How you perform makes a much bigger difference with regards to promotions than prior experience.</p>
<p>openedskittles, I didn’t say Yale and Harvard students go to the Big Four. I was trying to make this analogy:</p>
<p>Harvard takes great students and makes great graduates. Harvard students are highly successful.</p>
<p>The Big Four take great graduates and they go on to have great careers.</p>
<p>The issue is how much of Harvard alums or Big Four alums success is due to their initial quality and how much is value-added. If you were dictator for a year, and took all of the Big Fours new hires and stuffed them into mid-tier firms and put all the mid-tier into the Big Four…who is to say who is going to end up where 20 years later?</p>