Originally Posted by Unregistered

First of all, the chances of getting into Shell/Exxon is very very slim unless you are a top scorer in uni and can outshine a lot of other ivy leauers, dean's list, FCH etc. during AC. They seldom hire fresh executives w/o going through the super hard MAP.

Secondly your starting pay and bonus market intel on Shell/Exxon is not accurate. More importantly, Shell/Exxon MAP progress so fast there is no way a typical big4 auditor can even match half the pay of a Shell/Exxon MAP graduate after 5 years. A typical big4 auditor draws 5k on a 14 month package after 5 years while a Shell/Exxon MAP draws 9-10k on a 20 month annual package for the same time. My good friend is Exxon MAP so I know how fast their pay can increase (~20% every 6 months during the MAP duration)

I suggest if you are just average student, it is better to make decision based on big4 accounting/auditing career vs fresh executive in other smaller O&G players. That way you have a more realistic apple to apple comparison.