<p>Long story short I f<em>&%</em> hate my Accounting classes right now. I am in Intermediate I and Cost Accounting this semester and I think its fair to say I am struggling in both, especially in Cost Accounting which I just flat out don't find interesting. I bombed the first midterm in Cost and I am at that point where I am really starting to think Accounting is not for me. I have always planned on going to law school and I feel like I have screwed my chances of getting into a top law school due to the horrible grades I am going to pull in these classes. I want an honest opinion from other Accounting majors...does it ever get compelling and interesting? I am going to school on the Army's dime so I really have nothing to lose if I go into a more interesting and rewarding field. The major is not turning out to be what I thought and I feel lost about what I should switch into, etc. to improve my grades for law school while still getting an undergrad business degree. Should I just suck it up ?</p>
<p>What are your general interests? Analytical or qualitative?</p>
<p>Intermediate I is a core accounting class. I don’t know many people that absolutely love booking entries, rather the applications of accounting principles and understanding the subject as it blends with finance, SCM, and IT is where accounting is really useful and more dynamic.</p>
<p>I would imagine its like any other major. Med students probably enjoy/find more use from their medical school classes than they did Organic Chem and engineering students probably feel the same of Fluid Mechanics compared to Calc III. </p>
<p><em>DISCLAIMER</em> I’ve yet to take an Accounting class, but I would just imagine the same ideas that apply in the above examples apply to Accounting. Goose would know far better than I and he seems to agree.</p>
<p>I would say I am more of a qualitative kind of person…what drew me into accounting was that several of the niche fields of accounting like forensics and tax seemed interesting. Also I didn’t want to go out and get a poli sci degree and end up stuck if I didn’t actually go to law school, and accounting seemed to be the undergrad professional degree with the most similarities to law(tax law etc.). At this point I am concerned that my ultimate goal of becoming an attorney is being jeopardized by my below average performance in accounting :I got a B in intro to financial and a B in the honors intro to managerial as well as a C in honors calc (I took calc for engineers I do not know why). I am tempted to just make the switch to an easier business specialty and jack up my grades the next 2 years.</p>
<p>You just sound like a lazy kid. Studying isn’t ever really fun.</p>
<p>Dawgie: I want serious answers dude. Try taking 18 credits a semester and being in the Army at the same time, its not that easy. Being a National Guardsman and in ROTC as a scholarship cadet here I basically am balancing a full time job with school and realistically do not have the same amount of time to devote to class as the people who live and breathe accounting and just have to show up to class.</p>
<p>If you are truely performing poorly, I would switch. An accounting degree with a low GPA doesn’t hold more value than a business degree in another specialty IMO. Since you are Army ROTC, worst case scenario you will end up an officer in the Army, with a college degree and no debt. Sounds alright to me.</p>
<p>OP, it’s called trying harder. We all know that time isn’t easy to manage, and it’s something you have to discipline into yourself. I admit that I have horrible time management, but there are plenty of people that I know that are great time managers, and they probably manage just as much or more work than you do in your current state.</p>
<p>I am in no way saying that you’re not smart, not trying, or anything related in that sense. I am simply just saying that if you have a problem with the amount of time you have, then take the time out to manage every single thing that you need to do, even if it’s just making a time schedule of when you need to study, when you have work, or even when you have inspection/PT. It’s not the lack of memory that I’m emphasizing, but rather it is discipline. If you stick to it, then you’ll find that you actually have extra time. ROTC should have taught you that by now.</p>
<p>I say that because I have a friend who’s a junior and an English major. He was director of a dance team, worked nearly full time (30-35hrs/week), and was a full-time student (5 classes, all upper level English courses=non stop reading of 400-500+ pages/week). He still manages to keep over a 3.7 GPA, and, in addition to all of that, has a social life. Also, living in NYC means public transportation, which means that there’s more time down the drain, waiting for the stupid MTA to provide service.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I’m comparing you to another, but it’s just the fact there’s always a way to improve some sort of habit, and your most recent post entails lack of time.</p>
<p>Hence, I agree with Dawgie.</p>
<p>To clarify I am not like failing out or anything, I have a 3.4 right now and I am in the honors college. Even though you have good intentions please don’t try to school me on time management, I put as much time into accounting as possible but it really is the fact that such a time intensive major sucks to try to complete with other obligations. I am up at 5 am and go to sleep at 1am everyday of the week, because of class, studying, Army obligations etc. The purpose of this thread was to try and see the light at the end of the tunnel from other accounting majors who felt that they struggled in their first upper-level accounting courses, particularly Cost Accounting and its relevance to classes later on. I think its just something I have to deal with this semester.</p>
<p>I am trying to help you. What I am saying is, it is what it is. Don’t expect studying to be the most exciting thing in the world and suck it up.</p>
<p>I agree with Dawgie on this one. I have NEVER taken a course and said, “I live studying and doing the homework.” Never! Admittedly, there are some courses and professors that I liked better than others. However, I never liked studying and always disliked homework.</p>
<p>Glad to see some common sense here, considering so many people subscribe to the “if you don’t love what you’re studying you’ll be miserable for life”</p>
<p>There are plenty of classes that I loved doing the studying for, which include:</p>
<p>Economics
Statistics
American Literature
Compostion II
Ethics
Logic
US History I and II</p>
<p>There are parts of accounting that I enjoy studying, mostly the financial analysis aspects, but the reality is that accounting is a dry subject with limited room for creative thinking, dynamic problem solving, and logical reasoning. It is mostly about memorization and to some extent analysis. If you’re looking for something more exciting you’re going to have to give up your desire for security which is likely the reason you chose accounting in the first place.</p>
<p>Note: I have only taken financial and managerial accounting so I can’t comment on the upper division courses.</p>
<p>Thanks for the honesty taxguy & dawgie… I do agree I will probably have to give up security if I decide to pursue a different undergrad degree, even if its still a business degree(finance, logistics, IB) etc. Again though like the thread says I want to know why do people willingly study accounting? Besides a nice paycheck what truly compells them in their work? I do feel that to an extent you need to take pride in your career since it is what you end up doing for a large % of your life.</p>
<p>Folks, I will give you a secret in life that many people don’t know: you will get rich IF you do things that others are not willing to do but are needed. Accounting can be a bit tough and hard, which makes a lot of people not want to do it. However, it is very needed by every business.</p>
<p>That’s only a secret to idiots.</p>
<p>My accounting professor told me, "There are really only two majors at this school (Boston College) that are considered especially difficult: accounting and chemistry (pre-med).</p>
<p>This statement probably explains why motivated accountants and doctors end up making pretty lucrative livings. It’s simple supply and demand.</p>
<p>Janitors do things that are needed but other people are not willing to do. Haven’t seen a lot of them in a Rolls Royce lately. </p>
<p>Accountants as a class (not referring to individual outliers) are not rich by any means. The middle half of accountants make 45-78K according to the BLS, and the median wage is 59K. By comparison, primary care physicians’ median wage is 186K and those practicing in specialty disciplines had a median wage of 340K. There really is no comparison here in regards to lucrative livings.</p>
<p>Notice how I conditioned my statement with “motivated,” which then assumes the accounting major pursues higher management positions.</p>
<p>You can be motivated, but still be stuck in a position lower than management (disregarding or regarding time).</p>