u/Taste-Equal

I'm currently in my third year of college at Fordham University, graduating in 2028, with around a 3.5 GPA. I've been trying to land a Summer 2027 internship in transaction advisory, financial due diligence, or valuation, but I'm starting to get pretty discouraged and could really use some advice.

For some background, my first year of college I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do. It wasn't until my second year that I started getting interested in finance, switched my major to business, and began taking accounting and finance-related classes. I ended up really enjoying the material and started looking into different careers within finance.

Eventually, I learned about investment banking, which initially caught my attention. I joined finance and investment banking clubs at my school, but quickly realized how far behind I was compared to other students. A lot of them were already networking, preparing for technical interviews, and applying to internships while I was still figuring everything out.

Since I didn't have any relevant experience at the time, I started reaching out to search funds hoping to get my foot in the door somewhere. One of the people I connected with ended up referring me to an accounting/finance internship at an HVAC company. I took the opportunity and honestly learned a lot. It was pretty hands-on, and I got experience working with financial reports, invoices, and other accounting-related tasks.

I also completed Wall Street Prep's financial modeling course to improve my technical skills and get a better understanding of financial modeling and valuation.

As I've learned more about different careers in finance, I've become particularly interested in Big Four TAS, especially financial due diligence and valuation. I like the idea of analyzing companies, understanding their financial performance, working on transactions, and gaining exposure to M&A.

My long-term goal would ideally be to use that experience to eventually lateral into investment banking after a year or two. I understand that's not guaranteed, and I'm not expecting it to be an easy transition, but from what I've researched, TAS/FDD and valuation seem like some of the more relevant paths.

The issue is that I've been having a pretty difficult time getting anywhere with recruiting.

I applied to EY for a deals/valuation-related internship and PwC for a similar position. I completed both online assessments but ended up getting rejected a couple of days later without even receiving an interview.

Initially, I thought my resume might have been the issue. I had a friend who's currently an analyst at a boutique investment bank look it over, and he said it looked pretty good to him. Obviously, that doesn't mean it's perfect, but now I'm not really sure what the problem is.

I also wasn't doing much networking for these positions because, from what I understood, Big Four recruiting isn't nearly as networking-heavy as investment banking. I figured applying online with relevant internship experience and a decent GPA would at least give me a shot at an interview.

Now I'm wondering whether that was a mistake.

I've recently applied to KPMG's valuation-related internship and have been looking into other advisory firms, but I'm starting to worry that I might already be too late for Summer 2027 recruiting.

For anyone currently working in Big Four Deals, TAS, FDD, or Valuation, I have a few questions:

• How competitive are these internships compared to traditional audit or tax internships?
• Is a 3.5 GPA and an accounting/finance internship enough to be considered competitive, or am I lacking the experience these teams typically look for?
• How important is networking for TAS/FDD and valuation recruiting? Should I be reaching out to analysts and associates at these firms?
• Are there other firms outside the Big Four that offer similar transaction advisory or valuation experience that I should be applying to?
• For those who have made the transition from TAS/FDD or valuation into investment banking, how difficult was it, and which experience helped you the most?

I'm not expecting to land some prestigious position right away. I just want to get into a role where I can develop relevant skills, work on transactions, and hopefully build a solid career in finance.

I feel like I've been doing what I can to catch up, but I honestly don't know if I'm approaching recruiting the right way.

Any advice would be appreciated, especially from people who got into Big Four advisory without having a traditional finance internship beforehand.