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ajk2010
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new york or philly 12 Mar 2009, 19:26
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Hi all,

I'm looking at getting an internship with one of the Big 4 and am hoping that such an internship will lead to a full time offer. My question is simple: should I get an internship in Philadelphia or New York. I would be living closer to Philly but the commute to NYC would only be about an hour and a half, which I'm perfectly fine with doing. Is there a big difference in clients/opportunities as a newb? I feel like more well-known and more interesting companies (to me) are located in New York, which is why I am looking at this city along with Philly. Any help or suggestions as to how to go about picking a starting location would be great. I'm not sure how much weight getting an internship in a particular city will have on where I end up down the road, so you're input would be great. For instance, is it difficult to transfer if I find the city I'm in undesirable? With the opportunities to travel does it even matter where I go? I have to admit I'm not much of a city person at all but it seems like I'm going to have to resign to the fact that I will be working in a city, so I figure why not go all out and work in NY.

I'd be interested to hear your perspective on the two cities as I already know my family's and am still in the process of researching my own opinion.

Thanks,
ajk
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new york or philly 13 Mar 2009, 11:51
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ajk2010
My question is simple: should I get an internship in Philadelphia or New York. I would be living closer to Philly but the commute to NYC would only be about an hour and a half, which I'm perfectly fine with doing. Is there a big difference in clients/opportunities as a newb?
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Hey AJK,

Most notably difference will be starting salary at Big 4 after the graduation. Even though Philly and NYC are two big cities close to one another in the Northeast, standard cost of living in NYC is much greater.

When I was at Big 4, we offered kids out of college about 15 to 20% more to NYC office compared to other cities. (That's anywhere from $55,000 to $65,000 depending on the job area, and it includes $2000 to $3000 signing bonus for undergrads) - Well, this is from past few years. Salary might have decreased due to the economy.

I definitely think NYC has more opportunities vs Philly. I know KPMG has an office in Philly Center City, but all the major accounting firms have office in NYC. More offers are usually made to NYC office.

Feel free to PM with any other questions. :-D
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luisg99
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new york or philly 13 Mar 2009, 15:23
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nink, how hard is it to get into the big 4 in NYC if you graduate from an out of state school but it is aacsb-accredited and you have a top 3.7+ GPA? Do they only hire kids from local schools? Thanks.
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new york or philly 13 Mar 2009, 20:17
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luisg99
nink, how hard is it to get into the big 4 in NYC if you graduate from an out of state school but it is aacsb-accredited and you have a top 3.7+ GPA? Do they only hire kids from local schools? Thanks.
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Each office (region HQ) have specific list of target schools they recruit from. However, that doesn't mean that they only hire from local in-state schools. Also, the recruiting depends on the area of the company (advisory, audit, taxation etc).

On Campus Recruiting is the easiest way to get into Big 4. I would say Big 4 firms give out 60 to 80% of the target job offers to summer interns, and whatever's left over, they make it up in the Fall recruiting.

Higher your GPA, you will have better chance of getting invited to an OCR interview. For OCR recruiting, contact your school career services office. If a Big 4 firm isn't currently visiting your school for OCR, another way is to ask a current employee to submit your resume internally.
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new york or philly 14 Mar 2009, 14:25
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If the company you aren't interested in isn't coming on-campus, try to get the career center to invite them. Offer to try to build the relationship yourself. I was part of an organization that did exactly that in UG, we ended up putting on our own career fair apart from the career center. 2-3 of the Big 4 actually attended our events. Granted, its not the best of times, but that relationship you build may prove to be your best networking opportunity.
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new york or philly 14 Mar 2009, 14:40
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Its more of a geographic problem because Big 4 does recruit and has events and presentations constantly on campus but from what I've heard only for the Ohio offices. My goal is to get into the NYC or Long Island office.