<p>I graduated from my state's flagship university about a year ago with a degree in Poli Sci. I have a decent gpa - 3.5. The plan was to go to law school and I decided to work in a law firm for a year to see how I would like the practice of law. I was accepted to many good schools ranked from the 30-70 range with good scholarship offers. The problem is, I hate the legal profession. During my year off, i got what a bargained for and saw that the legal profession is in a miserable, depressed state and is something I want no part of. So, I decided to not go to law school.</p>
<p>The problem is, here I am with a liberal arts degree and work experience in a field I want no part of. I am seriously considering going back to school and obtaining a BA in Accounting. Ive been looking for jobs and cant find anything with a good opportunity for growth or that isnt in the legal/paralegal field. I took a few classes on business, basic accounting, business law and found that auditing financial statements of companies and assuring their validity to be interesting. But in all honestly, I seek career growth and financial stability. Something that has become abundantly more important to me as I sit here unemployed. Many of my friends in UG that majored in accounting are working in Big 4s or other respected firms in the region and I kind of wish I had done the same.</p>
<p>It would take me 1.5yr to 2 yrs of additional education to do this at about $10/yr cost of attendance (tuition, living (with parent), food, etc). I know I can go for an MBA as well without a business degree. Yet i cant get any good, substantive business related opportunities that will give me leadership experience with my liberal arts major. This is understandable - i have no real world experience reading financial statements or anything else really related to the business field. I am good at research, writing, qualitative thinking, etc., but to be frank, have no real business acumen.</p>
<p>So I guess my question is, should I just bite the bullet and get an accounting degree? How competitive is the field after graduation in terms of obtaining employment in a respected firm? Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Let me clarify my background. Classes ive taken: micro + macro econ, financial accounting, business statistics, and calc I. The accounting class was about 3 years ago and thus, I remember very little from the class. In short, I dont think id have the prereq for a MS in accounting. And I think it might be a better idea to just start fresh and establish a good foundation in the subject matter as well. I was looking at a local program (Towson) that has a second bachelor's option which looks promising. The school seems to have a strong accounting program as well.</p>
<p>I believe that you can get an MS in accounting WITHOUT any previous accouting background. Some schools have two tracks: one without any accounting background and one track for those that previously majored in accounting. See Fairleigh Dickenson et. al.</p>
<p>I looked into the program at towson, and they do have a masters in accounting. However, it requires that i take about 18 courses at the UG level for me to be eligible. Basically, id have to get a BA in accounting. Going to FD wouldn't be an option for me. Circumstances require that i stay in the Baltimore area...whether i go back to school or get a job (with little advancement potential.) Thanks for you help taxguy....ive been reading many of your past posts and found them to be helpful.</p>
<p>it really depends on the state you live in and what its requirements are for becoming a CPA. i suggest you to do a little research on that before you make a decision.</p>
<p>personally, i would go back and get a BA in accounting if i can't just take some accounting courses without any attachment. MS or MBA courses would be too deep and won't help you at all when you first get a job anyways. those are for later periods if you are still interested in business in general. so the best route is to go look at some community colleges and see if they offer you accredited college level accounting courses. you will need 20 semester hours beyond the basic (like six basic hours) to take the CPA exam and 30 to become a CPA (total college level course requirement is 150 hours). there are also work experience requirements, so if you want to become a cpa, go check out your state's rules. </p>
<p>and lastly, i find that accounting to be very similar to law. lots and lots of rules. so if you don't like the law firms, maybe you should research on accounting a bit more before you make the decision.</p>
<p>First off, you don't need the ability to read financial statements to get into an MBA program. In fact, you've taken far more business classes than probably 40% of the MBA students at top schools.</p>
<p>However, the issue is work experience. You would need more experience (3 to 5 years) and it would need to be quality experience (ie show progress and leadership). That being said, it doesn't necessarily have to be business experience.</p>
<p>Jammy, what you said may be true for Towson. It isn't true for all schools. Check out Fairleigh Dickenson as an example. I can't believe that there aren't schools here in Maryland that won't allow you to pursue an MS in accounting unless you have 18+ credits in accounting already. Check out other Maryland schools such as University of Baltimore, Loma Linda etc.</p>
<p>Chester, - Here is what i really dont like about the legal profession. I have great respect for the field, but the fact that the profession is heading towards all these mega merger 1000+ attorney firms, the worship of the almighty profit per partner ratio, the billable hour reqs, the almost nonexistent track to partnership, lack of work/life balance, and the absolutely ludicrous costs of attendance of law schools (which would require me to work in one of the mega firms i mentioned) are some of the main reasons I am deterred by the field. Also, the fact that none of my coworkers could say to me unequivocally that they were happy with their career decision raised a huge red flag. Not one could say that they really enjoyed practicing law. I realize that what i value most is career stability, a good work/life balance, and good opportunity for growth and advancement. And by just doing a simple cost/benefit analysis...seems that a track in accounting would be better for me than law. Ideally, i may want to go to LS later in my career just for personal fulfillment.</p>
<p>Vector- I dont think my end goal is to get an MBA, although it is an option. I was considering trying to get into the business field in terms of obtaining an entry level job. But this is very difficult when employers require that you have a general business, finance, or accounting major. Many dont like the Poli Sci background. Simply put, the jobs that offer positions to liberal arts majors seem to be those with little room for growth and advancement and dont provide much of a chance for "leadership experience" that top MBA programs look for. Accounting on the other hand seems to open up so many doors, to a CPA, to excellent jobs with leadership opportunities, and eventually a chance to go to a top MBA program. So it seems to be that if i were to go back to school, I might as well go for the major that will open up the most doors for me.</p>
<p>Taxguy-most of the schools seems to require the prereqs (anywhere from 13-18 ug courses) plus the masters level courses for their MS in accounting. Therefore a masters would take much longer for me and seems that it isnt required to get an entry level job in an accounting firm. Also, Towson and UB programs are jointly run. UMD is the same prereqs. My circumstances require that i stay around the Baltimore area. At this point im leaning towards Towson. The accounting program there seems to be very good and as an instater, would be affordable. I think I could finish the program in 1.5-2yrs. I would also then meet the 150 credit requirement and be eligible for the CPA credit wise.</p>
<p>JammY, if you put it that way, then maybe accounting is for you. Be warn though, many firms do care about profit and billable hours. Especially the latter; you will be reminded of that constantly in almost every firm.</p>