I am a graduate student and have always wanted to work for the big 4 but our school doesn't have good tie ups with them and they don't come to our school, so i had to apply online. I got a call from the recruiter within a week of applying. She asked me very basic questions about my background, when could i start working and if i would require sponsorship. She got back to me in 2 days and set up a technical phone screening with the director of the team. The phone screen was pretty straightforward where he just wanted to find out if I had any work experience similar to the job profile, fortunately i did. Normally the technical phone screens are pretty forward. You should read the job description and try matching your profile with that and make sure you emphasize on the parts of your resume that stand out for that role. I was selected for the in person interview where I had 4 rounds of 30 minutes each . 1ST ROUND was with the director : Basic questions about my background. Then he gave me a schema and asked me few complex queries. I did not do well here. I couldn't understand the requirement well and panicked. I thought i had messed it up. I told myself to go with an open mind for the remaining interviews and try cracking them. 2ND ROUND with senior manager : This was a very conversational interview where we were discussing about the vision of the project and about "R". Interviewer was great and was just trying to find out if you know what you are speaking about. 3RD ROUND with manager : This was a more technical round which lasted only 20 minutes as i answered the technical questions asked on T-SQL. He seemed convinced and started talking about my interests and other stuff. 4TH ROUND with the architect: Technical round where he gave me a schema and asked me few complex queries on group by , distinct , between , like , in . Got a mail from the HR that they liked me and wanted to extend an offer but the entire process took 4 months after the final interview.