<p>Anyone want to share their thoughts about the long term viability of each of these two options? He has less than a month to decide between UCB, UCLA, LMU, and USC. USC has the only real accounting program. He would be pre-med at the other three schools. I was thinking of trying to fit in some aptitude assessment testing at the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation that I read about in another post. I know we are behind the eight ball here but unfortunately our family had a tragic medical situation that has prevented me from giving my son any direction/attention the past two years. He is at a public high school and the GC is of no assistance. Thanks in advance for your input.</p>
<p>The D of someone I know is a recent graduate of USC in accounting. Got a job right out of college with one of the Big X accounting firms (I can never remember how many there are nowadays). Had a chance to work overseas in London with her employer. USC accounting degree worked for her!</p>
<p>USC certainly can also do science/med school pre-requisites. If you want a school that has programs in both areas, USC would certainly fit the bill.</p>
<p>As to fitting in some aptitude assessment testing now–why not let Accounting 101 and General or Organic Chemistry help you out there. There’s many a pre-med or accounting student that has taken one of the early lower level classes and decided that perhaps another major is in order. I’d save the aptitude testing until later in his college career. </p>
<p>I’m not sure that high school seniors have the experience and the facts to decide what they want to be when they grow up. Most kids probably only know of a handful of career paths first hand. Maybe he’ll go to college and decide that he wants to become an English professor. So don’t feel like you’ve dropped any balls. </p>
<p>Downside of USC–it’s not as cheap compared to the UCs on your list. </p>
<p>Sorry, don’t know anything about LMU…</p>
<p>Many, many pre-med students change majors by junior year (many before that) so I would choose a school based on its variety of classes and majors. If he was going in as “undecided” which school works best?</p>
<p>Does UCB not stand for Berkeley? I would have thought a degree, even undergrad from the Haas school would be most impressive. They appear to offer sufficent courses for CPA? </p>
<p>[Course</a> Information, Undergraduate Program - Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley](<a href=“Courses - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Courses - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas)</p>
<p>I dont know if one has to apply to Haas inaddition to UCB, but the grades/stats one should need for pre-med should work with Haas. I would contact them to find out, if one can transfer in to Haas after Freshman year.</p>
<p>So many kids change their minds about their majors, or find out that particular courses of study are or are not suited to their talents and interests, that I agree that your S should pick the best school overall and take a broad range of courses his first year. He’ll soon figure out what he enjoys and is good at. But that can be hard to do when the student isn’t even in college yet, and probably has no relevant work experience.</p>
<p>Agree with the other posters, intro accounting and chem/organic will probably help him make this decision (or some other decision 
). I would pick the college that gives him the option to do either one. I don’t think an aptitude test necessarily can finalize whether your S will be happy in either major… it can say whether he has the basic abilities and maybe inclination for either of those careers. But course work (and maybe an internship whichever way he goes) would do the most to help him determine a final direction.</p>
<p>To get into Haas, one can only apply after Soph year, and it’s extremely competitive. But yes, Haas prestige > Marshall.</p>
<p>UCLA offers Biz-Econ with a minor in accounting, which should do well for many employers, and sitting for a CPA. UCLA L&S also offers the flexibility to take pre-med courses. But the major is impacted, does not necessarily take all-comers. (Who knows what the “impact” will be in two more years.)</p>
<p>Assuming that cost is not an issue, attend the one he likes best.</p>
<p>Have major/minor in any combo or go for accounting and complete all Med. School pre-reqs, like many do. You can be any major, Med. Schools do not care. Just maintain high GPA and get decent MCAT score and you are good to go. Most pre-meds including the ones with clear goal of going to Med. School, have combo of major(s).minor(s) as far as I know, including my own D. (minor in Music) who has been accepted to several Med. Schools and will be attending one of htem next year. Most of them are able to complete all requirements of all their major(s)/minor(s) in 4 years, including studying for MCAT and all medically related EC’s (Med. Research lab internships, volunteering…etc.)</p>
<p>^^actually, an undergrad biz school such as USC-Marshall has some very specific (GE) requirements and it is not clear to me that there is even room to complete the premed requirements and still graduate in four years.</p>
<p>It would definitely be a question worth asking 'SC.</p>
<p>As said previously, medical schools do not require a specific major.</p>
<p>So check each school to see if it is possible to major in accounting / business while taking the pre-med course requirements (mainly in terms of schedule space).</p>
<p>Thank you for all the great replies! The Leventhal School of Accounting at USC has a curriculum starting freshman year that makes it impossible to combine pre-med unless you go a 5th year (which isn’t going to happen at their prices!). UCB Haas and UCLA biz-econ with minor in accounting are incredibly impacted/hard to get into which concerns me. I think the bottom line problem is the kids today work so hard to create the perfect package to get admitted to college that they never stop long enough to reflect on what they really want to do in life. There is no down time. A school he was waitlisted at offers the opportunity to combine Econ/accounting with pre-med in four years but unfortunately is so small they took no one from their waitlist last year. I just don’t want him to graduate from let’s say UCB with a degree in molecular toxicology or cog sci, not get into med school, and not be employable.</p>
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<p>It’s not like he’s graduating in Renaissance Italian literature! (just kidding–no offense meant to those who did graduate in said field…)</p>
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<p>In UCB’s [career</a> survey](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm]career”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm), graduates in [Molecular</a> Toxicology, Nutritional Science-Dietetics, Nutritional Science-Physiology & Metabolism, and Nutritional Science-Toxicology](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/NutSci.stm]Molecular”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/NutSci.stm) had a decent job placement rate, but very low average pay. The average pay is lower than that of humanities majors like [English[/url</a>], [url=<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Hist.stm]History[/url”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Hist.stm]History[/url</a>], and [url=<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/HistArt.stm]History”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/HistArt.stm]History</a> of Art](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/English.stm]English[/url”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/English.stm). [Cognitive</a> Science](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CogSci.stm]Cognitive”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/CogSci.stm) graduates did somewhat better.</p>
<p>2down, 2togo, virtually all states require 150 hours for CPA, so getting Accounting done in less than 5 years is tough. The good news is that the final year, the kids generally get internships that pay more than minimum wage.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus’s cite to UCB’s career survey should be comforting…these kids are employable after graduation, although I am going to guess that some of the pre med undergrads are going to try again to get into med school (if they didn’t get in the first time) or are working to make themselves more attractive med school candidates and then apply.</p>
<p>According to something that I read, nation wide med school acceptances run in the low 40+%, but the figures that I’ve seen for California medical schools are less than 5%.</p>
<p>Most states require a 150 hour degree to grant the CPA license, so accounting is no longer a 4 year program. I didn’t ‘find’ accounting until my Soph year, which prompted me to switch colleges and majors (was engineering). What interests him in accounting and/or medicine? Does he crave math or biology? Does he think about calculating the incremental cost or profit of things, then he’s a born accountant! I do know health care professionals that have received their MBA after their MD, however not many business people that get their MD in their 30s/40s. (my crazy neighbor is one - was with a Big X firm and now going to med school…)</p>
<p>“actually, an undergrad biz school such as USC-Marshall has some very specific (GE) requirements and it is not clear to me that there is even room to complete the premed requirements and still graduate in four years.”</p>
<p>-I went to biz myslef all the way thru MBA, while working full time and taking care of a family. No, it took longer than 4 years, but I have completed 3 degrees in about 7 years (CC, BS, MBA), while changing several jobs also (all full time). Biz classes are much much easier than pre-req’s for Med. School, and at MBA level they are even easier than in UG. I always took some summer classes though, studying by the swimming pool, was fun. I had good enough GPA to graduate Magna Cum Loude. My D. did not take single summer class (Zoology major/Music minor). I am not sure about her friend with triple un-related majors and another with Art minor, I understand that Art is extremely time consuming, they can easily spend about 40 hrs/week in studio.
Everything is possible if you have your mind set up on certain goal.</p>
<p>regardless of your decision, I firmly believe every student should at a minimum take 1 or 2 accounting courses and learn how to read and analyze the financial statements of a corporation. It’s one thing to set yourself up to make a decent living whatever career path you choose, quite another to maintain and grow wealth in an educated fashion. That said, the two career paths could not be more different–it should be an easy choice based on preference.</p>
<p>If this was my kid I’d suggest they go to a school that enables both paths for as long as possible (assuming it is financially feasible)</p>