u/Gloomy_Editor

For context, I'm an accounting major on the CPA track who will be graduating this December with my 150 credits. I completed two internships only with KPMG: the Embark Scholars Internship in 2025 and the Advisory consulting in Non-Financial Risk this summer. I realized during the second internship that advisory wasn't really what I wanted. I originally wanted to pursue forensic accounting, and I'd much rather do traditional accounting such as tax or audit work.

I also didn't receive a full-time offer from KPMG. From talking to other interns, it seems like return offers have been pretty competitive this year, even for some people who received good feedback.

I'm now considering applying for entry-level Audit Assurance or Tax positions at PwC and EY.

For anyone who has been in a similar situation: Did you intern at one Big 4 but ultimately apply to another Big 4 for your full-time role? How did recruiters view the fact that you had interned elsewhere? What were some questions you came across during the interviews?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who successfully made that transition.

For context, I'm an accounting major on the CPA track who will be graduating this December with my 150 credits. I completed two internships only with KPMG: the Embark Scholars Internship in 2026 and the Advisory consulting in Non-Financial Risk this summer. I realized during the second internship that advisory wasn't really what I wanted. I originally wanted to pursue forensic accounting, and I'd much rather do traditional accounting such as tax or audit work.

I also didn't receive a full-time offer from KPMG. From talking to other interns, it seems like return offers have been pretty competitive this year, even for some people who received good feedback.

I'm now considering applying for entry-level Audit Assurance or Tax positions at PwC and EY.

For anyone who has been in a similar situation: Did you intern at one Big 4 but ultimately apply to another Big 4 for your full-time role? How did recruiters view the fact that you had interned elsewhere? What were some questions you came across during the interviews?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from people who successfully made that transition.

I’m finishing up a Big 4 internship, and today was probably one of the most stressful days I’ve had professionally.

The internship has been difficult for me. I struggled with feeling like I was not performing well, especially after receiving feedback that made me worry about whether I would receive a return offer. I became extremely anxious about making any additional mistakes because I felt like every small thing would confirm the concerns in my evaluation.

Today, I overslept and was late. Instead of handling the situation professionally and simply acknowledging that I was running behind, I panicked because I was afraid of the consequences. I ended up creating a much more complicated situation than the original problem by lying about a severe incident that didn't even occur. Looking back, I realize that my fear of disappointing people caused me to make a decision that did not reflect how I want to handle situations professionally.

The situation escalated, and afterward I spent the entire day feeling anxious and regretful about how I handled it. It made me realize that avoiding an uncomfortable conversation can sometimes create a much bigger problem.

I don't even want to get into the specifics of what happened because... it's so humiliating.

Has anyone else experienced a moment early in their career where stress caused them to handle a situation poorly?

I recently received my internship feedback from my engagement manager, and honestly I'm pretty confused and frustrated by some of the comments. I understand feedback is part of the internship experience, and I’m not saying I have nothing to improve on. But some of the feedback feels like it is describing a completely different situation than what actually happened.

One of the comments said that I "struggled with time management and meeting clear deadlines for her Capstone project deliverables, pushing back when asked to finalize her presentation material edits on schedule."

This one really confused me because I don't understand where this came from.

For our capstone project, my partner and I were working on the presentation together. About a week before our final presentation, the associates reviewing our deck gave us feedback that the slides needed to be reformatted into a more KPMG-style deck and that the slides felt repetitive because they relied too much on the same formatting structure.

Obviously, making those changes took time because it wasn't just changing a few words. We had to restructure slides, change layouts, and make sure the entire presentation flowed better. However, we completed the edits just in time and was prepared for the presenting aspect of the presentation.

At no point did I push back when asked to finalize materials. My partner and I worked on the edits together and made the requested changes. The frustrating part is that the review timeline kept shifting because the associates had their own client responsibilities, so our revisions ended up happening closer to the presentation deadline.

Another comment said I "need to focus on proactively seeking guidance when expectations, best practices, or deliverables are unclear. Instead of waiting for team members to offer help, she should take the initiative to consult resources or leadership to ensure well-reasoned decisions."

Again, I’m confused because I have always tried to ask questions and get guidance. In my previous review, I was actually told that I should do more research before asking questions because I was asking too many questions too early.

So now I’m confused because I feel like I’m receiving conflicting feedback. Am I supposed to ask more questions or fewer questions?

Also, the person who gave me this review was not directly involved in the capstone process. She was very busy with her client engagement, and there were times where we didn’t communicate for a week or two. She only really saw the process near the end when my partner and I were practicing our presentation over Zoom.

So I’m struggling to understand how some of these conclusions were made when she wasn’t really observing the day-to-day work on the project.

What confuses me even more is that the same review says one of my strengths is that I'm "naturally curious and consistently asks thoughtful questions that lead to productive discussions and successful research assignments." Which seems contradictory to saying I need to improve seeking guidance.

There was also a comment about: "refraining from phone use and photography during leadership events." I honestly don't even remember a leadership event where this happened, and I don't use my phone during work. So that comment really caught me off guard.

I’m not trying to say I’m perfect or that I don’t have things to improve. There are other constructive feedbacks that my EG provided that I agree that I need to improve on such area (verbal and written communication, punctuality) I know consulting requires being more proactive and thinking differently. But I’m trying to understand whether this is normal consulting feedback where expectations are just very different from what interns think, or whether this feedback sounds disconnected from the actual situation.

Has anyone else experienced feedback that felt like it didn't fully match what happened?