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 Topic: On landing an internship ( Topic Closed)
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voodoojohn
Newbie
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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Posts: 3
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| Posted: 05 Feb 2009 at 06:36 | IP Logged
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Hello all,
I will be completing my BA in Political Science this June, and after a great deal of deliberation, I have decided to switch gears and immediately pursue a Masters in Taxation instead of going to law school. I will be taking a great deal of supplemental accounting courses along with my taxation coursework, so I am confident that I will be able to pass the CPA exam upon completing my MST.
I was hoping to start on my masters this summer, but the graduate school told me I have to wait until after my BA is officially conferred and processed to register for graduate classes... meaning I won't be able to enroll in the MS Tax program until September. This would be fine, but my goal is to be working full-time for a public accounting firm by the fall of 2011 at the latest, meaning I should ideally have an internship in line for the summer of 2010. Recruitment for summer 2010 internships will begin this October, which is in the middle of my first quarter in the MS Tax program. My question is... will I be at a strong disadvantage in landing an internship if the firms interviewing me have no previous tax/accounting coursework to refer to? What makes one competitive for landing a Big 4 internship (or any internship for that matter)? Any pieces of advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Edited by voodoojohn on 05 Feb 2009 at 06:37
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Big4Guru
Contributor
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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Posts: 82
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| Posted: 05 Feb 2009 at 09:41 | IP Logged
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Hey Voodoojohn,
As surprising as it may seem, a great deal of accounting
experience is not typically required for a public
accounting internship. From my experience working with
Pricewaterhouse (I was an intern there, full-time audit
associate and participated in many recruiting
activities), it is not necessary for candidates to
possess actual accounting experience. For the most part
internships are about learning about the firm, getting
comfortable with the firm's policies and procedures,
observing the staff working and basically just figuring
out if you are cut out for the work. There is very
little actual "accounting" done by interns. When I was
an intern with PwC I had only taken two accounting
classes, and honestly would have done just as well even
without those.
Also, just because you don't have accounting experience,
it does not mean that you don't have many of the other
requirements for a career in public accounting (i.e.
professional judgement, critical thinking, client
interactions, etc.). When interviewing/applying for
internships, my advice would be to stress these
strengths. Best of luck to you.
__________________
The Big 4 Guru is a CPA, career coach and proud Big 4 alumni.
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voodoojohn
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Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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| Posted: 07 Feb 2009 at 21:07 | IP Logged
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Great. I also found out that in my metro area, the firms do not start recruiting for summer internships until the spring, so I will have a quarter of graduate accounting/tax work come recruiting time.
Another question I had was, when applying for the internship... how will the firms decide whether to offer me an interview or not? With so little graduate coursework, will they mainly be looking at my undergraduate GPA? If so, that's a bit discouraging because my undergrad GPA is less than spectacular.
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dlwtistyle
Regular
Joined: 23 May 2008
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Posts: 186
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| Posted: 08 Feb 2009 at 01:29 | IP Logged
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i've been in the same situation.
although i passed the exam, i can't find anything to save my life, and i think it has something to do w/ my gpa.
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Big4Guru
Contributor
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
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Posts: 82
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| Posted: 08 Feb 2009 at 10:02 | IP Logged
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I actually just wrote a post about this on my blog.
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