<p>I’m an accounting major. It is tough but not intellectual or thoughtful, that is why.</p>
<p>That said, I don’t care if others look down on what I chose. Don’t care, have the money, patience to deliver babies, lawyers have to read a lot, and so accounting is a ok.</p>
<p>MR. Payne wrote : “Accounting isn’t an incredibly high IQ profession. That’s essentially what your classmates are saying”</p>
<p>OMG…If you say that accounting is not itellectual, then I can say and prove that the only one intellectual profession is an inventor,in particular engineers, scientists and so on. Only those who invent something new - have a high level of IQ. All the other majors and professions are based on what have been invented earlier. People in all the other fields may have a broad knowledge in something, BUT broad KNOWLEDGE DOESN"T MEAN A HIGH IQ 
According to this, all majors sucks LOL :)</p>
<p>Dawgie, Taxguy, and All,</p>
<p>Do business students have advantages in pursuing law degrees and eventually getting jobs to work for the IRS or SEC? It appears that accounting/tax is a very speciallized field and is not something a student with a humanity major can just pick up and master in law school. I believe that there are too many lawyers. However, I don’t believe that we have enough good lawyers with in-depth background in accounting and tax. I’ve also heard about the increased demand for accountants due to globalization. You may know better if that has any truth to it. </p>
<p>Economics may be a good major for someone in an elite school or someone who is aiming for medical or law school. However, I do not think that it would be a good major if neither pursuits are successful.</p>
<p>Dawgie, Taxguy, and All,</p>
<p>Do business students have advantages in pursuing law degrees and eventually getting jobs to work for the IRS or SEC? It appears that accounting/tax is a very speciallized field and is not something a student with a humanity major can just pick up and master in law school. I believe that there are too many lawyers. However, I don’t believe that we have enough good lawyers with in-depth background in accounting and tax. I’ve also heard about the increased demand for accountants due to globalization. You may know better if that has any truth to it. </p>
<p>Economics may be a good major for someone in an elite school or someone who is aiming for medical or law school. However, I do not think that it would be a good major if neither pursuits are successful.</p>
<p>
Shouldn’t you be asking what I mean by “incredibly high IQ”? I can safely say there are quite a few professions that have a higher average IQ than those who call themselves accountants. That’s simply a statistical observation because the neccessarily large size of the accounting profession means it can’t have a super high IQ.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that’s a controversial statement.</p>
<p>
No, it’s quite possibly to not actually create new knowledge yet have a high IQ. Simply comprehending PhD theoretical physics requires an IQ probably 2.5 standard deviations above the mean. Pretty rare intellect, that’s just for comprehension.</p>
<p>Waiting for the inevitable Feynman reference.</p>
<p>Uggh, I am studying for my Intermediate Financial Accounting II midterm right now and it is horrible (bonds (relatively easy) and leases (kill me now)). My professor says pensions are even worse (is this even possible?).</p>
<p>Anyone who says accounting is easy has not dealt with leases while simultaneously cramming for a cost accounting test on variances.</p>
<p>I know I am not really contributing to the thread, I just need to vent about the toughness of Intermediate Financial Accounting II.</p>
<p>Compared to what goes on in some upper level math and engineering classes, pensions and leases are pretty simple…</p>
<p>^^^ True, but most of you would get owned on the CPA/CFA exam.</p>
<p>I think nearly every field has their own intricacies and challenges that would not be easy for most outsiders to conquer. Whether you choose to get involved in that field and learn those intricacies is based on personal aptitude/affinity, and does not make any one field more challenging than any other for everyone. You should make decision that are right for you and not for anyone else, (unless you have a spouse or children, who you need to consider as well.) If you want to do accounting go for it, besides many accountants in positions beyond entry-level will tell you that accounting is largely “law” anyways. Going to large school because you “have the intelligence” to do so, would be a mistake. </p>
<p>I’ve received a lot of discouraging thoughts from well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning people in my life about my decision to pursue becoming an actuary. But my spouse’s is the only opinion, that I have to weigh nearly as heavily as my own, and he understands my desire/decision, so all those other opinions are just that - opinions.</p>
<p>@Dawgie, great, but at least you can translate a background in engineering to changing the world.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most people lack the ability to succeed in any of their respective majors.</p>
<p>I have not had trouble with upper level math and physics courses. I put more effort into my 300 level accounting classes right now than I did for my 300 level physics class last semester.</p>
<p>Dawgie, implying that engineering and math students would get owned by the CPA exam is comical. Are you sure you want to open up that can of worms? Is that supposed to make engineers and mathematicians feel inferior because they wouldn’t pass the CPA exam? Accounting majors would get owned by calc I and this is one of the most basic courses for engineering and math majors. Engineering majors that can’t hack it switch to accounting, not the other way around. </p>
<p>Keep trying.</p>
<p>Y’all are silly.</p>
<p>Why would an engineer want to be an accountant? They are apples and oranges.</p>
<p>ME 76, you lack reading comprehension and you are obviously insecure. Actually, if you read my last post, then you would realize that I’m implying that it doesn’t matter what major you are. That doesn’t make you automatically more intelligent or a harder working than another student in another major. There are plenty of average students in every major. Keep trying buddy, you are automatically assuming that if someone majors in X, they automatically suck at math? </p>
<p>I can already tell you are a mediocre individual, I find it funny that you think because you major in engineering or math that all of a sudden the CPA is a joke and you would do well. Read my other post, I said most of you would get owned by CFA or CPA, and yes this is probably true because most of you are mediocre. </p>
<p>Like tort said, you are comparing apples to oranges. Until then, I’ll enjoy my marketability and resume that says CPA and CFA Level 2 candidate on it + Big 4 experience while you pretend you are automatically more intelligent than people because you decided to enroll in a engineering program. Haha?</p>
<p>lol@Dawgie</p>
<p>I had a coworker once tell me his life dream was to be mediocre. I thought he was pulling my leg. Then he went about describing his notional mediocre life in intimate detail. I was changed forever that day…</p>
<p>I agree though. Most people are mediocre. People strive for mediocrity all of the time and even miss that mark. They become exceptional because of their incompetence. </p>
<p>I’m not calling anyone here incompetent though. I don’t know you.</p>
<p>Oh I know you aren’t calling anyone incompetent, but I am calling ME 76 incompetent by making such a ■■■■■■■■ claim that engineering + math = automatically smarter than major X, just because that person chose another career path.</p>
<p>I for one wouldn’t have to deal with Calc I or II, given that I got a sufficient score on the Calc BC test in high school to get credit for it…(and at a school with was at the time the #1 electrical engineering department in the country so it’s not like there’s LOTS of extra turbo megahard colleges which don’t accept AP credit for Calculus). </p>
<p>That said, I wouldn’t disagree that many engineering classes are very difficult. However that’s just the nature of the beast. They could make accounting classes substantially harder, require most people to study 8 hours a day to get by with C averages. Maybe engineers learn more because they are forced to put more time and energy into their educations. I dunno. Does that make you necessarily smarter? I think not. Maybe your engineering program would wash out half the people in my accounting program if they switched…but not the better ones. The CPA will wash those people out too…</p>
<p>Re: Mediocrity…</p>
<p>That most people are mediocre is a tautology…if the median member of the population could do multi-variable calculus with the ease I zip up my pants, he’d still be mediocre…</p>
<p>Can’t argue with that! He used a big word. ;)</p>