Accounting program graduates from Wake Forest University and Fairfield University are the most likely to be employed by the Big Four firms, according to new findings from higher education research group OnlineU.
Research was conducted utilizing LinkedIn alumni data from nearly 100 colleges across the United States, analyzing more than 300,000 accounting alumni who graduated over the last decade.
Wake Forest University, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was found to have 26.43% of its accounting graduates working at one of the Big Four firms (with a notable edge for landing a job at Ernst & Young). Fairfield University, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, was close behind with 21.98% of its graduates working at Big Four firms (with Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, virtually tied at 21.95%).
OnlineU's findings notably differed from other annual rankings of
"We found that small, private East Coast colleges tended to have the best results for graduates," wrote Taylor Nichols, a reporter at OnlineU, in the research findings. "These schools may have done well due to strong accounting programs and proximity to the U.S. headquarters of all four firms in New York City."
The colleges and universities with the highest rates of Big Four employment for 2021 include:
- Wake Forest University (26.43%);
- Fairfield University (21.98%);
- Lehigh University (21.95%);
- University of Richmond (19.87%);
- University of Southern California (18.9%);
- Texas A&M University (18.22%);
- Binghamton University (17.96%);
- University of Missouri (17.75%);
- College of William & Mary (17.71%); and,
- University of Wisconsin (17.7%).
For the full report, head to OnlineU's
