Need Advice RE: Accounting Degree Choices

Meerkat.com

Hi there!

I'm hoping I can get some advice from current students/alumni of CIT & UCC accounting & people working in accountancy.

Let me give you some background first: I am a 21 year old former UCC student from Cork. I completed 2 years of a 4.5 year Nursing degree in UCC before deciding that this was not the career path I wanted to follow. I am intending to reapply to the CAO 2015 in the next few weeks and am certain that I want to apply for an accounting degree. I have always been interested in business and accounting, I set up and sold my first business by the age of 16 and got a B1 in higher level in both in the LC so I'm confident in pursuing this career path. I have 480 points to play around with and I will only be applying to courses in Cork for financial reasons.

I have a few questions that I hope you knowledgeable people of boards.ie can answer for me to help me make a decision

1) Could a current student/alumni of CIT tell me about their experience in BBus Common Entry or BBus Accounting. Would you recommend the course, lecturer quality, class size etc etc...

2) Could a current student/alumni of UCC tell me about their experience in BComm or B.Sc Accounting. Would you recommend the course, lecturer quality, class size etc etc...

3) I've been told (mainly from people in Uni's) that a degree from an IT is not as valued as a degree from a Uni and that I will be at a major disadvantage when I go to seek employment. Is this true in your experience? Have you ever been discriminated against because you went to an IT?

4) What are my prospects in securing a summer internship/training contract/employment with a big four or top ten firm (EY,PwC, Deloitte, KPMG etc) with a degree from an IT? Do they favour Uni graduates or will your interview and exam results count for everything?

I'm personally leaning toward the CIT degree for numerous reason however I need some advice on these issues before I make my final decision.

Thank you so much for your advice, it's very much appreciated!

marizpan

In my experience and the experience of colleagues, many of the big4 firms prefer university degrees.

You would get better advise if you told us your end goal. Your career ambitions etc. you may not wish to work for a big4 at all!

GR3YFOXXX

UCC all the way. I work in the advisory department of a big 4 firm, we have quite a few UCC grads. We also have one or two people with degrees from an IT, but none of these people actually trained with the firm.

s15r330

Almost finished my accounting degree in an IT and will be taking up a graduate training position with Deloitte after the Summer.

prettyrestless

I did Accounting in UCC. It's actually quite a well-rounded degree. Obviously, it is accounting focused but you get to choose a certain amount of subjects so you can tailor it to your requirements.

Class sizes can be from 60 (just accounting degree), 120 (accounting and finance degrees) or several hundred (combined with Commerce), it all just depends on the subject.

It provides full CAP1 exemptions (if you choose certain subjects) which is very appealing to Big 4 if you are applying to them.

It's worth noting that as part of the degree you do a six month internship in third year. If you get an internship with one of the Big 4 and perform well, they will often offer you a training contract once you complete your degree which obviously takes the pressure off applying for the milkrounds in final year.

Meerkat.com

Thanks for all the advice so far, it's very helpful to get other opinions! In reference to the above comment from marzipan, I suppose my end goal is to secure a training contract and complete CAP1/CAP2/FAE but ultimately I just want to be employable, it's not my intention to spend another 4 years in college and end up jobless