<p>my son got his BS in 3 yrs at state school, high GPA, did an one internship, took and passed CPA exam and is now finishing his 1 yr MS in taxation at good business program that is strongly recruited, he received offers from 3 of the 4 big four. Most if not all of his classmate have job offers. Many of his undergrad class 2012 friends went straight to work got jobs but not all at big 4 or high salaries. Audit salaries tended to be lower than tax.</p>
<p>I was wondering what kind of gap those regional accounting firm are require or expect…
I heard that big 4 likes to have 3.5+ for their entry level position, but what about other respected firm??is 3.2 econ major with some accounting and finance classes enough in terms of gap??
Thank you</p>
<p>Go to a top tier masters of accounting program and you’ll be set. At the program I’ll be attending, over 90% of the class gets a job afterward; 70+% of the class gets placed into the Big 4; a few others get into advisory roles at the Big 4 (which are even better than audit/tax) or other large national firms like GT/BDO, etc.; another group gets into F100 companies for finance/accounting positions; 1 or 2 (if it’s a good year/with networking and luck) get into investment banking; and the rest walk away with at least a regional firm offer in hand, which is better than nothing. </p>
<p>There are rankings for top masters programs, but I believe it’s best to stick with schools that you’d normally think of as being strong business schools/prestigious universities. Schools like UT-Austin (best Accounting program in the nation), Michigan, USC, UNC-Chapel Hill, UIUC, UVa, Notre Dame, etc. that have very good networks, not just in accounting but other areas of business will serve you well, and aren’t even THAT hard to get into compared to those schools’ MBA programs (they’re getting tougher and tougher to get into though). You’ll get a top notch education, will likely walk away with at least a big 4 offer, and you’ll have access to a great alumni network when you change careers later on in life, which is absolutely invaluable and makes their price tags worth it IMO.</p>
<p>^^^ Ditto, couldn’t agree more, exactly how it worked for my son</p>