Category Archives: April

Academics, April, Internships

Internship: True or False

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Internship_BabyLet’s all be real for a quick second. As third and fourth-year MPAs, we hear all kinds of rumors and gossip about internship experiences. We never know who is exaggerating and who is telling the cold, hard truth. Well I cannot speak for everyone in what I am about to say, but I am going to go through some things I heard before my internship and tell you whether my experience has proven to live up to these stories or not.

1. You are going to have 80 hour work weeks consistently and pretty much not have a life outside of the office.
FALSE. There 25 other tax interns in the office I am in (PwC Dallas) and I have yet to hear of someone putting in more than 60 hours. And this is our busy season. As an intern, you may or may not be hitting overtime, but even if you are, keep in mind that you are compensated for that ($$$). Yes, you may have a weekend where they will ask you to stay, but this is not usually every weekend.

2. You are competing with other interns and therefore the other interns will not help you since you are the competition.
FALSE. You are going to become really close with your intern group. In fact, I recommend considering this as a factor when making your decision on where to sign for your internship. I originally tried to go to a smaller office in Denver because I thought I wanted to be in an environment where I was the only intern. NO. That would have absolutely sucked. I have become extremely close to the interns here. We bond over our random work assignments that none of us have a clue on sometimes and we also help each other ALL THE TIME. In fact, I would say they are the first people I go to if I need to know how to do something. I am not exaggerating when I say that I am friends with each of the 20 interns in my office. I know all of there names, groups they are in, and where they sit.

3. You will be taken out to lunch and dinners a lot.
TRUE. So very very amazingly true. There is no limit to the amount of food that is available during your internship. The other day, we had Pokey O’s brought into the office which is this great place that makes homemade ice cream sandwiches. It was AWESOME.

4. You are not going to have a desk.
FALSE. You will have a desk. You may have a conference room if not a desk but guess what? Conference rooms are even better because they have the best view. So come on people, why keep spreading the rumor about not having a desk?! Do you think they are gonna put their interns on the floor or in a corner?? Because nobody puts baby in a corner.

5. You will be meeting tons of people, clients and coworkers.
FALSE. Actually, this one is perhaps the most surprising. You would think that you would be interacting with lots of people everyday to complete your work but actually most of the work is independent work. Someone will show you how to do the task you are given and then you are left to finish it on your own. I kind of wish there was a day where they literally took you around to meet everyone. I have taken it upon myself to meet different people in the office. In fact, word of advice here, when I need help on assignments, instead of going to the same person every time, I jump around to different people just to have an excuse to meet them.

6. There are happy hours every week.
TRUE. (kind of). There is not always a paid happy hour every week but I can promise you that the intern group will plan to go out every Friday and Saturday. Because, hey, we are all in it together, right? RIGHT! So make it a point on your internship to be the one who creates happy hours for the group or to organize a lunch. Trust me, everyone will love you for it.

Academics, April

Are You On The Bitcoin Bandwagon?

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Bitcoin is the world’s new, mysterious virtual currency. I first learned about Bitcoins in an article assigned to my tax research class regarding IRS’s treatment of them for tax purposes. Bitcoins have become increasingly popular since they were first created in 2009 by an anonymous person. Created by users, Bitcoins serve as a reward to users that solve complex mathematical problems in code, also known as mining. So users mine Bitcoins, similar to the way a person would earn money. Interestingly, I have a friend who actually mined a lot of Bitcoins and then turned around and sold them on the market at a pretty high profit. This was interesting to me because as college students we are always looking for a way to make some quick money to pay for our weekends out in the greatest city ever (ATX). Well if you know how to mine data, maybe Bitcoins are of interest to you!

Lots of questions arise from Bitcoins, though. How should our government classify bitcoins? Are they a currency or are they an investment in property? If they are a currency then the IRS can tax them as ordinary income but if they are an investment then they will be taxed as capital assets. So what does classify a currency? Most importantly, it has to be backed by a government, which Bitcoin is adamant about not doing. Bitcoin wants to remain independent of banks and governments. Bitcoin wants to avoid all ties to make the use of Bitcoins simple, inexpensive, and universal. So where is Bitcoin headed in the future? Lots of businesses are now accepting Bitcoins as payment. How would you like to pay your tuition using Bitcoins? Well if you attend The University of Nicosia in Cypress you can pay for books, living, and school using them!

For all of the college students out there interested in unique ventures, keep an eye on Bitcoin! You may find that it is a good investment.

April, Recruiting

Recruiting: Semester Wrap-Up

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Dwight_MemCan it really be the end of the semester already?! Time flies when you are having fun and that is exactly what the recruiting semester as an MPA is, FUN! As the semester comes to a close, I realize I have had such a great experience recruiting and have learned so much more about all of the firms. I have been taken to all sorts of different restaurants, venues, etc. around Austin that I have never been to, all due to recruiting events.

I last left off talking about interview week. Well after interview week, you get your callbacks inviting you either for an office visit or maybe just inviting you to recruiting events. Each firm has a different process as far as when they schedule your office visits. They are really good at communicating this with you and are always available for any questions you may have. After you get the callbacks, you start getting invited to one event per firm per week until your finals period. Be prepared to be busy!! I suggest keeping all of your options open, recruiting with as many companies as you can, but be careful to not bite off more than you can chew. School is just as important as finding the perfect job (since you need to graduate to even start your job!) so really think about your schedule before moving forward with recruiting. Once you start attending recruiting events, you sort of find your niche. You will be recruiting with the same group of students usually for each firm and you will start seeing the same recruiters at each event every week, which helps you make new friends both with recruiters and students. Then after all of the events, you will have your office visits! If all goes well, after your office visits you may receive an internship offer. The decision is never easy, but as long as you go with your gut you will end up where you are suppose to be!

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading my recruiting process as much as I have enjoyed going through it. Third year MPAs usually do one of three things during the summer after their third year: industry internship, summer school, or study abroad (sometimes study abroad and summer school together). I will be doing a full semester of classes this summer. I hope that everyone had a great semester and that your summer is filled with good times!! Oh, and good luck on finals! 🙂

Academics, April, Student Life

Study Group to Roommates: My MPA Family

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One of my favorite aspects of MPA thus far is the family you form within it. Only three months into my first semester of MPA and I already have made friends I know will last a lifetime. I met these people in my MPA classes at the beginning of this semester. I think we came together naturally because we all had the same classes and we all shared the same look of fear on our faces during the first few weeks. We started out by forming a study group on Facebook. We made reservations at PCL for study rooms (Great tool, you should utilize this!!), then went over our homework and studied together. It was all pretty formal at first because we did not know each other very well, but then we became good friends as we bonded over stress and hard work. Sometimes, we would have (and still do!) miniature freak-outs before each test and then once the tests were over we’d celebrate together. We also created a group text for when we need to ask quick questions of each other about homework or any course material. The four of us have planned to live together next year as well.

Our study group doing tax forms!

The point is, you will meet a lot of people in MPA and you will make a lot of new friends. The best friends you make are ones that will be with you through tough times and we all know MPA can be a tough program. You will need people who understand your situation, so who better to be a friend to you than someone who is in the very same situation?! And having study groups in this program is a MUST. I cannot stress enough how much it has helped me. I have NEVER in my past years here at UT had a study group. I just did work independently and asked questions from my classmates here and there. So go out and make new friends because you will be so happy you did! MPA just makes the process of making these friends that much easier!