There was a time when the Big 4 used to dominate the top 10 companies in the business category of Universum’s list of the 100 most attractive employers for U.S. college students. But not so much anymore.
In 2017’s ranking, only two Big 4 firms made the top 10 (EY at No. 8 and Deloitte at No. 9), while three of the four did make 2018’s top 10 list (EY at No. 7, Deloitte at No. 8, and PwC at No. 10).
But Universum’s 2019 list of the top 100 companies in the business category only included two Big 4 firms in the top 10 once again:
- J.P. Morgan
- Amazon
- Apple
- Goldman Sachs
- The Walt Disney Company
- Nike
- Deloitte
- Netflix
- EY
Where did PwC and KPMG place? PwC finished just outside of the top 10 at No. 11, while KPMG came in at No. 15 behind Tesla, Morgan Stanley, and Spotify.
Other notables include:
- Treasury Department (No. 81)
- IRS (No. 87)
- Grant Thornton (No. 94)
Universum surveyed 53,237 students, of whom 17,429 are business students, from 218 universities between October 2018 to February 2019 for its ranking of the most attractive employers.
Are PwC and KPMG worried that they didn’t make the top 10? Of course not. Sure, making the top 10 is a nice feather in Deloitte’s and EY’s caps, but PwC’s and KPMG’s college recruiting efforts are just as strong as most of, if not all of, the companies ranked in the top 10. Thousands of college students will continue to knock down their doors to work there.
Some Big 4 firms also placed in the top 100 most attractive employers in categories other than business. Among engineering students, Deloitte was ranked No. 74; computer science students ranked Deloitte No. 42, PwC No. 64, and EY No. 79; Deloitte was ranked No. 79 by students studying natural sciences; and Deloitte placed No. 69 and EY No. 99 by students in humanities/liberal arts/education.
