<p>Also, all three of Georgetown University bachelor single major accounting graduates were placed with the Big 4. </p>
<p>Out of 27 who double majored in accounting and something else (usually finance), 9 of them were placed with the Big 4 in accounting, tax, audit, or consulting roles. </p>
<p>I’m gonna need to see more proof that a master’s is required to get in with the big 4 because all the evidence I see does not bear that out. </p>
<p>I did not say it was required everywhere. It is at one office of one firm, according to the partner I had dinner with prior to my interview with that firm. I’m sure a URM with a BBA, 4.0, and president of BAP would get hired anyway. If that’s not you, best to choose the path of least resistance.</p>
<p>Secondly, Georgetown grads are probably being recruited to work in Washington, DC. No 150 hour requirement there. I don’t know about Virginia Tech. 10 for all 4 firms isn’t that much particularly if that includes ones going to DC and those who are going into advisory. My school sends 40+ to the Big Four and if you aren’t getting your Masters you have to network really hard just to get them to pay attention to you. Sure you can do it, but it is harder. You can get into the Big Four from schools where they don’t do on campus interviewing, but if Big Four is your goal you should OBVIOUSLY go some place where they do on campus interviewing and recruit a lot of people. </p>
<p>For the foreseeable future, the Big Four can COMPLETELY fill their hiring quotas with people with Masters degrees. MAcc programs are all over the place now. If your goal in life is to get a Big Four job, and you don’t plan on working in a 120 hour state, you should get into an integrated program. That’s where the interviewing and the wining and dining will be focused.</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything more about the Big 4 hiring and MAcc deal? Do you think if they know that I’ve met the requirements to become a licensed CPA without a MAcc that they will look upon this favorably?</p>
<p>I was looking into the MAcc at my school and there is actually a financial incentive to pursue a fifth year of undergrad to meet all the CPA requirements because the tuition charged for the MAcc program is over $10,000 higher…</p>
<p>I think if I actually spoke to my business school office I could convince them to admit me to the MAcc program for the 5th year possibly if I took the right classes in my fourth year… but like I said it would be quite a bit cheaper to actually just do a fifth year of undergrad in order to meet the CPA requirements.</p>
<p>Also, the Big 4 does seem to recruit heavily from my school, but what if I pursued my MAcc at a school that’s not as recruited from as heavily but close to where I want to work? I mean don’t you typically get recruited for the Big 4 while still in undergrad? </p>
<p>I think my ideal post graduation situation would be to after I graduate from undergrad in five years, go work for a CPA firm, pass CPA exam/get license, and THEN get a MAcc by attending the local university part-time. I mean how receptive would the Big 4 be to the fact that I plan on getting a MAcc, just that I plan to not do it at my current university because I would rather get into the workforce?</p>
<p>There really isn’t much sense in getting a MACC if you’ve already got the 150 credit requirement and passed the CPA. These programs are pretty much designed to get students to the credit requirement and prepared for the CPA exam. You would be wasting money and effort to go back for the MACC after you’ve done all of these things.</p>
<p>If you have the 150 hours, go to career fairs and whatnot and talk to the recruiters from each of the Big Four and ask what to do. </p>
<p>At my school it is not technically possible for non-5 year people to apply for the Big Four internships through the school website because they set it up to screen out everyone who isn’t in the 5 year program graduating within a window set by the employer. They also recruit interns in the Spring for the busy season a year later. See when your school has recruiting season. If you need to wait till Spring of 2011 to start the internship process and that internship will be in the Spring of 2012…you had better not be graduating before then. </p>
<p>You can avoid the whole on-campus process and just apply directly through the websites of the Big Four. Some of them and other big firms had everyone do this in addition to applying through the school, others just expected you to submit a resume through the career center and if they selected you for on-campus interviewing THEN you’d do the online forms. On all of these online applications you have the usual info plus there was always a box which asks if you will be CPA eligible when you’d start working full-time.</p>
<p>Note: I think it’s a lot easier to take the path of least resistance and go through the MS route. Also, to the poster above, 10,000 is not a lot to pay for a Masters degree. Other people who would have to spend 30k+ and a year of their life probably shouldn’t get one if they’ve already got the 150 hours. But if you are going to be in school anyway it should matter a lot less.</p>
<p>jonahrubin, I agree, $10,000 isn’t a lot to pay, especially for a master’s program. I just wouldn’t think to spend that $10,000 for a MACC if you’ve already got the 150 credit hours AND already passed the CPA and recieved licensure. Otherwise, $10,000 for a MACC program is awesome and probably hard to beat.</p>
<p>I just looked a bit more into this and while the tuition difference is only ~$10,000, I would actually incur about $20,000 more in debt if I did the Master’s program. I’m going to incur about $15,000 of debt if I just do a fifth year of undergrad; I’ll incur ~$35,000 worth of debt if I do the M.Acc. </p>
<p>I’m pretty debt adverse and a $20,000 difference seems pretty significant to me. I would really much rather graduate with 5 years of undergrad, work full time for a local/regional CPA firm back in my hometown (if I can’t get a Big 4 gig), and pass the CPA exam… Then, I guess see how my career goes from there and transfer up to the Big 4 if that would be desirable then… And then if my lack of a MAcc is a deterrent for the Big 4 (or other employers), I could get it by attending a local university part-time for cheap and not having to incur any debt…</p>
<p>Does that sound like a decent plan? I’m just so confused…</p>