economics at a liberal arts school USELESS for business career?

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>i got into the women's college of my dreams and decided on an economics degree after sitting in on one of the classes (and learning how versatile the degree was). </p>

<p>well now i had a change of heart. i really want to get into the more technical aspects of business. in particular, pass my CPA exam and be a manager at an accounting firm or have an executive position. i'm afraid that my school emphasizes the "social" part of social science too much and not enough on practical and technical aspects. plus, there are no accounting/business technical courses offered at my school. what should i do?</p>

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<p>You can get a masters of accounting, many of the programs are designed for people who haven’t taken more than a couple of accounting courses (UNC is an example)</p>

<p>Requirements are usually: Macro/micro econ and Statistics</p>

<p>Some programs might say they require accounting classes but will let you in with none, you just have to take the classes at the school over the summer (USC [Cal])</p>

<p>Depending on your state the masters may or may not satisfy all CPA requirements but it should at least get at least 80% out of the way.</p>

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<p>All states require that you have taken a certain number of credits in certain subjects in order to take the CPA exam. Each state has their own requirements. Most states now require 150 credit hours which basically equates to 5 years. In NY, a professional accounting program must register with the state education department and be approved in order for its students to be qualified to take the CPA exam.</p>

<p>You should check what your state requires and take as many of the courses required that your school offers. Then you will most likely have to get a graduate degree.</p>

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<p>I second the advice to get your ugrad degree where you are now and then get a masters in accounting after you graduate. Find out the minimum requirements to sit for the CPA exam in your state, paying close attention to whether community college courses count; usually, the state board of accounting says which accreditation agencies must accredit the particular school, and usually cc credit counts. [CPA</a> Exam | NASBA](<a href=“http://nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/]CPA”>CPA Exam | NASBA)</p>

<p>Check out the minimum entry requirements for masters in accounting programs at schools in which you are interested after you graduate. Sometime the requirements can include a lot of classes, for instance intro financial and managerial accounting, cost accounting, intermediate accounting I, some math or technology classes, tax, micro and macro econ, etc. Take as many classes as you can before the summer before starting the masters program, as this will help you avoid taking a boatload of classes, say in summer school right after graduation, before you enter the masters program.</p>

<p>Once you find out the required masters program entrance courses, see which ones are offered at your current college or local cc. Try to take some in summer or whenever, maybe online if the school is not near you, and see if the cc credit will transfer to your current college. Transfer as many of these as your school will accept toward your degree requirements so that you do not have to take them after graduating from your liberal arts school and so that they help with your current degree.</p>

<p>—In my state, for example, the 150 credits required to sit for the CPA exam must be earned at schools accredited by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges, and our community college is accredited by them.</p>

<p>—In my state, the MSA program one of the top schools requires that these classes be taken before starting the program.
Financial Accounting I and II [BUS-A201 and BUS-A311]
Managerial Accounting [BUS-A202 and BUS-A325]
Auditing [BUS-A424 (Note: BUS-A312 is a prerequisite for BUS-A424)]
Tax [BUS-A329]
Finance [BUS-F300 or BUS-F370]
Business Law [BUS-L201]
Business Information Systems [BUS-K201]</p>

<p>—And in my state, the community college system offers the following classes for transfer credit to the MSA program: Financial Accounting I; Managerial Accounting; Business Law.</p>

<p>So, with this info you could take Financial Accounting I; Managerial Accounting; Business Law at a community college and then take some of the remaining courses in summer at a state school where you live, as 300-level classes are not available in community colleges in my state. After you take intro financial and managerial accounting your first summer, you should be able to qualify to take whatever upper level courses your particular MSA program requires before you start with the program. Again, also try to apply some of these courses to the credits required to graduate from where you are now.</p>

<p>It is likely that your prospective masters programs in accounting won’t require as many prerequisite classes for entry into the program as in the example I used, so you may be able to do the prerequisites with much less effort than in the example.</p>

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<p>By the time you take all those prereqs, you’re probably close to exam-qualified. No particular point to a MAcc, although if you know you love tax, an MTax might be helpful.</p>