<p>" Most of her coworkers were recruited from Rutgers though."</p>
<p>This is a true statement. Less likely an CPA firm will go out of the limb to hire out of area or state graduates, because there are plenty to choose from locally. There are approximately 400K business students graduating every year and at least 100-200K of them are accountants trying to get into Big 4 or equivalent such as Grant. </p>
<p>As a 10 year graduates from KPMG from the 80’s, I can tell you that most of the Big 4 recruits are for the large cities. Our largest offices are in NY, LA and Chicago. So, be careful choose schools that not only recruited by Big 4 but also close to their larger centers that you want to live. If you don’t like cold, cut out Chicago, for example. </p>
<p>School prestige has little effect to the Big 4 recruiting efforts, they are looking at top 5-10% of the accounting students from each school. You can go to a no name aacsb school, but if you are in the top 5% you will be successful.</p>
<p>Having said that, USC in LA is very well respected and heavily recruited, the name of the business school is after an accountant. You might have a shot at USC but not with a lot of scholarships. So is Santa Clara.</p>
<p>If you are looking at NYC, you may consider Pace, which will almost give you a full tuition scholarship in their honor accounting program. If you can keep a 3.7 or 3.8 you will get into a Big 4 which is all you wanted. Pace, from the very start is an accounting school, the Pace Institute.</p>
<p>@artloversplus First of all, thanks for your help. I have one concern about the location you mentioned. I would like to work in Chicago after I graduate, but would like to go to school somewhere besides the Midwest. Will that be a problem? I was thinking I could intern at a Big 4 close to my school, then get a job at a Big 4 somewhere else in the country. For example, school in Baltimore, but after graduation live in Chicago. Is that possible? </p>
<p>And by the way, I meant east coast not west coast…I know I wrote it wrong so my bad. </p>
<p>Some firms will travel cross-county to recruit but typically you can only rely on that if you attend a highly-selective, high-prestgious university. e.g. NY Finance firms will recruit at Stanford and to much weaker extend at Berkeley-Haas.
Most firms just have no reason to travel for recruitment when their is already a large supply of domestic students from the local colleges. </p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s 100% impossible and you could always get a transfer later but I really wouldn’t count on it. </p>
<p>@Bomerr Okay thanks for your input. Is it possible to interview with the local branch for a position somewhere else? </p>
<p>I was also thinking that I could apply for an internship in Chicago while I’m back at home (parents house)…is that feasible? Would I be at a disadvantage? </p>
<p>Also, is it difficult to get a transfer after a couple years? </p>
<p>Sorry about all of these questions, but I appreciate your help! Thank you. </p>
<p>Sure you could but you’d be essentially cold calling the different branch office. The whole point of going to a college with recruitment is to talk to the recruiter directly and get the interview offer. Without that local contact you are essentially on your own. </p>
<p>I already told you so, but you kept on asking. For Accounting Majors, you get the best results by going to schools where you want to work and you are thinking backwards. Sure you have some one come from S. C. and work in Newark, NJ, but that is exception than the rule.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, 75% of the first year accountant in Big 4 are gone after the 2nd year. So don’t worry if you found a job in MD after going to Loyola Maryland. The chances are you will be free to work anywhere you wanted after the 2nd year. Had you been the lucky one who was being retained, you might not want to leave any more.</p>
<p>My S recently graduated with a MS in Accounting from a college in the Midwest and wanted to come back home to NYC to work – it was not a problem. He had his first interview on campus and if they liked him then he was referred for an office interview in NYC. He did most of the second office interviews when he was home on break (he made some calls and and two firms were able to change their second interview dates to coincide with his fall break and one firm flew him home for an interview) and ended up with three strong offers in the area. The interview process was probably a bit longer and more cumbersome because he didn’t want to work in the office closest to campus, but it was do-able. </p>
<p>Some of the things I would consider when choosing a school include: What % of accounting students get Big 4 offers? What is the GPA cutoff to be interviewed by a Big 4 firm (different from school to school)? Is there a 5 year MS in accounting program available? (because you now need 150 credits to be a CPA so many students do a fifth year and get a MS in Accounting – this can be done at your undergrad school or you can apply to other school’s MS programs as well) What are the criteria for acceptance into the MSA program? </p>
<p>Sorry you didn’t get into Fordham but it sounds like you have many excellent options so congratulations.</p>