Hello, this might be a little off topic, but the crowd that patrons this thread are the people I would like to hear advice from.
So please do comment if you can!

I'm a first year student, and recently I've tried my luck applying for internships.
I've had three offers, and now I've cut it down to two options.
I've been offered a place at BDO Binder's audit department and a place at Grant Thornton Consulting as well, and I'm not too sure which to choose.

I would like to built some work experience to give me a better chance of getting an internship placement at an investment bank or a management consultancy firm.
Yes, some might say I'm overly ambitious, but I have to give it my best shot!

So here's the question, which internship experience would be of more value in the eyes of the recruiter in an investment bank/management consultancy firm, an intern experience at BDO Binder audit or Grant Thornton Consulting?

It might matter, it might not. If it matters, it matters very little.
But even if it gives me a slightly better chance (although it may still be unlikely anyway), I am all for it!

Right now I'm leaning towards Grant Thornton Consulting, based on these few points:
-Although BDO's reputation looks better on my resume, but I'm not too sure if it's much of a difference compared to Grant Thornton.
-I'm led to believe that Grant Thornton Consulting has a reasonable global reputation.
-I'm also led to believe that it is quite a bit harder to get an internship placement in advisory/consulting compared to a place in audit.
-I have no plans to have a career in audit at all. Although I've heard that audit experience is very beneficial for a career, but I'll only consider if I have no better option.
-And even if I were to have an urge to taste audit, I can apply for it in 2nd year or 3rd year and I would assume that it won't be too hard to get it. But that's if I want to try audit at all!

I would really appreciate a few pointers from the experienced! Thanks for reading!

audit associates, for Big 4 with degree, u'll get 2450 (on my last knowledge, if it's revised recently, it's probably slight slightly slightly higher)

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to prancingHorse, if you can get into BDO advisory, I think it would be better than going into grant thorton consulting. BDO's advisory (is actually led by an ex-KPMG (which supposedly is also very good), and is supposedly one of the better ones around) (This is in M'sia only. Overseas.. I'm not too sure)

However, I'm not sure how relevant that experience is to management consulting. I do feel that some experience in advisory though should help.

Above is only my opinion btw.

This post has been edited by ThanatosSwiftfire: Oct 23 2008, 08:18 PM

Since you are first year, i don't think it matters which company you intern with.

Just study hard and get a f***ing good grade. Depending on what subjects you took in year 2, you can try your luck applying for internship in IBs

For management consultancy firm wise, sorry to say but they very much look at which university you graduated from. Of course, i mean those firms like McKinsey, BCG.

The bottomline? An excellent academic qualification is the ticket to play.

Hi everyone, need some advise from those who got accepted into KPMG.

I had an interview with them on 14-Oct-2008. The interviewer told me will give me an asnwer within 2 weeks time. I emailed the HR girl who contacted me on the 20-October. No reply. So i called her on the 24-October, she said : oh~ i was about to reply your email, they are still processing it ya..i will give you an outcome SHORTLY.

shortyly until now still no reply. so evryone...good sign or bad sign? BTW the HR girl asked me to arrive 30 mins earlier coz she is going to give me a test but when i reach there, the interviewer told me that I am fresh grad so no need to take any test, so i went straight to the interview. weird?? hmmmm...what shuold i do next??

guys, got some question ere

1. Do we have to keep our ACCA marks (sent by ACCA, wher da marks is in a green box)?
2. any1 ere work in singapore??

the acca marks, yes. I've been asked to show them a few times, to both my prospective employers.

hai, can i know whats the pay for a person who had passed ACCA level 2? can gt job or not?or need to pass level 3 somemore?

Assuming you have no degree: sure you can, but work as an assistant position with around RM1,800 salary (although your responsibilities will be similar to a 1st year associate) - so I recommend that you finish your ACCA first because if working you may not have time to concentrate on your studies.

Yes, please keep them safely. My sis "recycled" hers and couldn't produce it when the interviewer at EY asked for it. Because of that, she was rejected...although later she got into PwC after she got a copy of the transcript from ACCA office.

There's your answer - it matters little. Honestly, I don't think internship even make that big a difference. As long your results are good and your interview was good, they will generally accept. I never did any internships and enjoyed all my summer and winter breaks and yet I'm in a Big4.

Yup, it may be harder to get a placement in the advisory departments, but when you are there, your role would most likely be something administrative, i.e. photocopy, data entry, internal dispatch, etc.

any1 here attended pwc assessment b4? how is it? tough? and do we hv 2 wear long sleeve n tie aka formal?

assessment is what a friend of mine called kacang putih, unless ur english is terrible, and ur elementary mathematics atrocious. (plus an inability to read very very simple pie charts)

Fav assessment question during my time was, "who do you look up to". Always will have either mother, father, siblings or Dr. M. I wonder how the HR people can tahan listening to the same thing every time.

Anyway, all the best for your assessment.

And most importantly, of course must be formal!!

short sleeve considered as formal or not? sori man, im a tshirt n jeans guy...i dun hv any long sleeve formal wear...wil get 1 soon

Long sleeve shirt with matching tie (preferably a safe, neutral colour and not too fancy)....and pants of course with proper office (leather) shoes. No earings, fancy chains or glasses. Neatly combed hair and no funny colour.

in short, nerd look is appropriate ;D

Hey, you can still look fashionable with all those shirts-with-stripes trend that they have now.

But I find the easiest way to find a freshie is where they dress so 'gaya' while the older staff all look sleep-deprived.

hahahah, hey, all it takes is 2 months for me to realize that actually, dressing is not important ><

haha...good summary...

guys..recently i joined my college to go visit the the big four..visiting pwc and kpmg next week..so far dun really think there's much differences between the firms except for their size and office apperearance..which firm would u guys recommend ppl to join?

guys, there's sth i would like to figure it out.

from what i heard, the big4 usually.. or should i say RARELY recruit grads with only OBU degree. is it true?
conclusion, they only look forward to part 3 qualified acca grads.
or do they get the part 3 grads as priority n then only refer back to OBU degree grads?
if in this case, gosh!!
what is the possibility of an OBU degree grad to make it into the big4?

thanks!

bumps..no one to answer my question?