<p>I am a rising junior at UC Berkeley, and I've recently taken interest in the corporate world and dropped out of the premed track. I declared economics as my major, and my gpa is 3.35.
So, i'm not too familiar with mba, business, stuff like these, and lost my chance to apply to Haas as well. So what do I do from now on? I am currently doing a summer internship at a respectable steel-producing firm, but I hear my friends all go on about the "big four" and everything. So if anyone is experienced with these fields, could you give me some guidance on what classes to take, how to get top internships in my junior year, some advise for MBA schools, and what my realistic expectations should be on my future career, etc? </p>
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<li>A 3.35 isn’t going to get you a top internship. Sorry, but it is just not very likely. That said, you should still apply, since you could always slip through the cracks, and getting an interview is all that you need to do to get your foot in the door!</li>
<li>Don’t worry about getting an MBA yet. If you are so inclined, take the GMAT right after you graduate in two years, but definitely don’t go for an MBA right after undergrad… you will then have great credentials and no experience to back them up, so jobs will be tough to find.</li>
<li>The Big Four are generally thought of as the big four accounting firms: PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and E&Y. Economics majors qualify you for nothing but make you a good candidate for just about everything in business.</li>
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<p>The major question for now is, what do you want to do when you grow up?</p>
<p>Hi chrisw, thanks for your reply.
I understand that I am nowhere near to be qualified for the top firms,
but I would just like to get some hands on experience in the real business world.
What are some plausible second tier companies that I could perhaps work for? (i.e. not the big four but moderately recognized firms)
Also, speaking of which, what does getting an interview actually mean? I mean how much of a chance can you reasonably assume that you have once you get an interview offer? How much of an improvement is it from when you’ve just submitted your application?
And on the topic of my future career, my thoughts have been changing very rapidly, and I now want to become an accountant or a consultant. </p>
<p>There’s a sub-forum dedicated to Business majors, so you should try posting this inquiry there to get more results.</p>
<p>Everything chrisw has stated is pretty spot on. Most employers won’t respect your MBA without solid business experience.</p>
<p>
This can most likely be solid local firms or bigger regional firms. Sometimes the best indicator of good firms to work for is by finding out if they recruit at your school or not. I’m pretty sure many many firms other than the big 4 recruit from UCB. Visit the school’s career center and dig up as much info as you can about accounting firms and their job postings.</p>
<p>
IMO, this cold depend. Some employers interview anyone who meets the minimum qualifications as stated in the job opening, but others screen. It may just depend on how competitive the applicant pool is for that particular position. And sometimes the employer already knows they want to hire you when they schedule the interview and the interview is to just make sure you’re not bat crazy and that your personality may mesh well with their business environment. It’s not advised, but employers may tell you how many applicants they’re looking at if you ask. Some will tell you how many they have applying anyway too.</p>
<p>To add on, at Cal you’re going to see recruiters from a lot of companies all over the country. On Campus Recruiting is a hellish but very valuable process, and the worst part is applying and waiting to hear back about interviews.</p>
<p>While it’s true that some recruiters will interview anyone who meets the minimum standard, during OCR things are a little different. Because many companies are vying for limited space, they CAN’T interview everyone who meets the minimum standard (unless very few people apply). With that said, a rule of thumb about on campus interviews is that once you get to the first interview, your credentials are no longer in question, but you need to prove that you can do the job; once you get to the super day or second interview, your ability to do the job is no longer in question, but you need to prove that your character fits with the company. So getting a first round interview is probably the biggest hurdle.</p>
<p>As for accounting and consulting… they’re pretty different industries. That said, for either industry, you can get a great job at a boutique firm and really set up your career nicely. If I were you, I’d relax for a while and pick up a job search starting around Halloween of this fall (get your resume in order; do basic research in December; application season starts as soon as you get back for second semester)</p>