My dilemma. What would you advise me to do?

You've got a good opportunity with PwC that so many graduates from university don't get. My brother is doing his Chartered Accountancy exams at the moment with KPMG, with whom he joined straight from university. (He had a choice between PwC and KPMG but he chose KPMG as they offered him a place on condition of him gaining a 2:2 in his degree, whereas PwC asked for a 2:1) However, he was really lucky and so many of his friends who'd also applied to PwC and KPMG didn't even get in because the competition from university graduates is so immense!

Reply 8

Unless you're that keen on, as docus says, studying something for studying's sake, definitely take PwC. You're saving yourself a couple of years, will be able to enjoy City life at the best time to enjoy it (assuming this is in London), and you can always go back to uni at any later date (if you're in your early 20s you can usually class as a normal undergrad, not adult learner). Also, with more and more graduates every year, who knows how competitive it'll be to get into a Big 4 as a graduate in 3/4 years time.

Reply 9

Jump

18

Jools

Also, with more and more graduates every year, who knows how competitive it'll be to get into a Big 4 as a graduate in 3/4 years time.

In my opinion there won't be much difference between working for say Baker Tilly or PWC as you aren't going to move up the hierachy that quickly especially without a decent degree behind you.

Slightly different situation but my family own thier own business so I could work with them on completion of my A levels and earn fantastic money for an 18-21 year old but I'd rather go to uni and study something I'm passionate about, enjoy student life while at an age similar to most the other undergrads and leave with a qualification I am proud of aswell.

Reply 10

jumpunderaboat

In my opinion there won't be much difference between working for say Baker Tilly or PWC as you aren't going to move up the hierachy that quickly especially without a decent degree behind you.

I think the difference between the Big 4 and Baker Tilly, Grant Thornton etc is like the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 investment banks, the former are slightly harder to get into, and have a slightly higher overall calibre of employers, though it's not that noticeable. All the top accountancy firms are very similar in the first few years, and pay you a lot less than they could (£20k for PwC in London?), because once you've got the qualification many are enticed elsewhere.

jumpunderaboat

I'd rather go to uni and study something I'm passionate about, enjoy student life while at an age similar to most the other undergrads and leave with a qualification I am proud of aswell.

Yeah same for me, I'm a careerist not an academic, but would still have spent 3/4 years studying at university and would not have thought about going straight into a job after A-Levels. But the fact that the threadstarter's considering it means they may not be so keen on uni, which isn't exactly for everyone.

Reply 11

crana9

Jools

(if you're in your early 20s you can usually class as a normal undergrad, not adult learner).

Mature students are classed as students over the age of 21. It doesn't really make a difference though - they're still "normal undergrads" for most things apart from, for example, financial assessment.

Reply 12

crana9

Mature students are classed as students over the age of 21. It doesn't really make a difference though - they're still "normal undergrads" for most things apart from, for example, financial assessment.

Right. I knew "mature" meant starting "over 21". Just at my uni college there's been 21, 22 year old freshers (multiple gap years etc) and never thought of them as in any way different.

Reply 13

Apotheke

Yeah I agree with the going to uni thing.

Well sounds like you are business orientated to have studied accounting A level. Now I assume you are talking about LSE to read BA politics in which case I would urge you to take it (if you think you will remain interested in the subject and can get at least a 2:2) which would open so many doors to you

If you know you want to do a job just for the money then I would perhaps go for the training scheme. But I'm not sure if this is really valued by employers...

And it was mentioned earlier but I'll re-iterate it. YOu are unlikely to know what you want to do at this stage of your life so I would recommend you leave your options open.

Reply 14

rah2

6

Apotheke

If you know you want to do a job just for the money then I would perhaps go for the training scheme. But I'm not sure if this is really valued by employers...

a scheme with the top graduate employer/top professional services firm in the country?? like duh :rolleyes:

mate go with the job, once you have the accountancy qualification your lack of degree really won't matter, its not like you will even particularly need the skills from the degree for the job.

as fun as uni is, the debt you'll get into doing a non-vocational subject isnt really worth it, this is from someone studying a politics degree.

Reply 15

d00m3d

OP

Wow, ppl, thanks for all the points of view, I really need many now!

The PWC office is in London and the offer I got from York uni...I am really confused now. As far as the career prospects goes, the contract they have sent me from PwC states clearly that if one passes his exams there is no limit to how high in the firm they can go (i asked if there was a catch and obviously the interviewer said that no, there wasn't. I also spoke to s'o who was on the programme and is now studying for the professional exams). Basically the initial contract is for 2 yrs - if you pass all your exams to get the CAT (Certified Accounting Technician) Programme, you are automatically considered for promotion and do automatically become as important as the graduates who join the firm, or should I say at the same level - salaries, duties, responsibilities, etc.

I have really been putting a serious thought into this recently. I got four more weeks to decide.

I hope you all don't spare me any comments.

XxX

Reply 16

d00m3d

Wow, ppl, thanks for all the points of view, I really need many now!

The PWC office is in London and the offer I got from York uni...I am really confused now. As far as the career prospects goes, the contract they have sent me from PwC states clearly that if one passes his exams there is no limit to how high in the firm they can go (i asked if there was a catch and obviously the interviewer said that no, there wasn't. I also spoke to s'o who was on the programme and is now studying for the professional exams). Basically the initial contract is for 2 yrs - if you pass all your exams to get the CAT (Certified Accounting Technician) Programme, you are automatically considered for promotion and do automatically become as important as the graduates who join the firm, or should I say at the same level - salaries, duties, responsibilities, etc.

I have really been putting a serious thought into this recently. I got four more weeks to decide.

I hope you all don't spare me any comments.

XxX

By "top 3 university" I assumed you meant LSE. 2 of my friends dropped out of Politics @ York because they found it too boring. Go for PwC - you 'save' yourself a year of your life careerwise, will gain the character development etc you get from uni by living in central London, and if it goes well you'll be an excellent example of how higher education is far from necessary to be successful.

Reply 17

SinghFello

PwC sounds like a great opportunity. But you need to make sure you wont hit a glass celing in the early days. A relative of mine became an Accounting Technician straight after he left school. He passed he exams without any problems, but found it very difficult to move into charterd accountancy. But from what I know, he didnt train in the big 4 firms. Im sure if you're ambitious enough, you will be able to move up the ranks, but you need to make sure you wont get stopped by not having the "typical" qualifications.
Nearly all chartered accountants have got to that position by following the path of a degree. And I would imagine 90%+ of PcW C. Accountant trainees will have a degree of some sort from a top 10 university. This leaves you in a disadvataged position if you chose to leave PcW, as nearly every other person of your calibre will have something that you dont have; a degree.

Reply 18

d00m3d

OP

SinghFello

This leaves you in a disadvataged position if you chose to leave PcW, as nearly every other person of your calibre will have something that you dont have; a degree.

Yes this seems to bother me quite a little bit.

Jools

By a top 3 university I thought...

Yes, I have applied to LSE as well, only for IR. The Govt (as it is called at LSE) dep is not as good as the one in York. The IR dep is obviously top class, however the Government dep hasn't done as good as it could have in terms of research and teaching quality.

Reply 19

MRLX69