re: LSUCIA program

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What I'm wondering is which internships are considered "better" than others and what my expectations should be? Currently and accounting major with basically no related accounting work experience and a 3.3 GPA. Any advice will help. TIA.

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LSUCIA alum here...

The best internship for you depends on your goals and preferences. If you want to stay local and work a low stress job for a smaller company, then go after a local company/firm. If you have your eye on a specific industry, then pursue a company in that industry or a public accounting firm located where that industry is strong (e.g Oil/Gas in Houston).

Overall, the Big 4 firms (EY, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC) are seen as the top of the Accounting world and they will provide the most long term opportunities for you. Students with the highest ambitions go after the Big 4 internships, and if you receive a Big 4 internship offer, you're essentially getting a full time offer as well.

With all that said, any internship is good and pretty much a requirement nowadays when looking for full time work after graduation. Also, interning for a private company can still set you up for a Big 4 full time offer so don't think it's Big 4 or bust. I'm an example of this.

The internship draft is tricky. It's hard for me to advise on the best strategy for dropping your resume. I signed up for the max number of internships and only received one interview, but my GPA was only a 3.1 at the time. Obviously, don't sign up for something you're not interested in, but the "Big 4 or Bust" attitude is a bit absurd. You need an internship so drop your resume for all that interest you. Also, the best thing you can do is attend all of the networking events and make a good impression with practitioners/ recruiters prior to the draft.

As far as locations go, pick places you truly could see yourself living permanently, at least for a few years after graduating. There's nothing worse than an intern not accepting his full time offer or requesting an offer from a different city upon completion of the internship.

Hope this all helps.