Why am I getting rejected from accounting internships with a high GPA?
Highly qualified candidates with top GPAs and prior experience are frequently ghosted or rejected by firms due to opaque ATS screeners and unpredictable hiring filters. This leaves applicants guessing whether their resumes even reach recruiters and struggling to secure interviews despite mass applications.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Redacting personal info and sharing the resume for layout feedback
- 2Applying to all major and local boutique firms
- 3Networking extensively and attending in-office recruiting events
- 4Reaching out to recruiters from nearby target schools
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I got rejected from every other top 10 firm and got easily accepted into Big 4”source ↗
“Actually kinda surprised at this one. I’m an incoming junior and have a 4.05/4.0 GPA, an audit internship under my belt already, am involved on campus, currently have a research position, studied abroad, and am part of my schools honors college and business honors program. I was applying to Summer 2027 audit positions. I didn’t even get an interview at GT.”source ↗
“I'm just so confused whether this actually gets through ATS screeners and reaches a recruiter's eyes as I've applied for hundreds of internships and gotten almost nothing.”source ↗
“I got interviews with two Big 4 firms during college, but I got rejected from many middle market firms.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why am I getting rejected for jobs for being overqualified?
- 17Why do employers ghost you after a job interview?
- 3Why am I getting rejected from every accounting job I apply to?
- 4How to stop getting irrelevant job offers from recruiters
- 3Why am I not getting any job interviews after hundreds of applications?
- 15How to get a technical tax accounting internship as a rising junior