Is it too late to switch to impacted Business major (Junior heading into Senior standing)?

College Majors Business Major
1

Hi all,

I am currently an undergrad at California State University, Sacramento. i am 20 years old, almost 21, and am very worried about the future, and my growing age before i earn a degree heading into the labor market… I am done with the spring semester, and now have 84 units completed. at this campus the minimum is 120 units required.

Yes, I should have thought about this like two years earlier. I am dumb then, and still now. But now I’m really thinking about it. My current major is Sociology, I picked it because well… it’s sociology, and only 43 units. However, I just don’t like Sociology. The classes are too liberal and left wing for my tastes, plus it is not a favorable degree in the job market after graduation.

Now I’m thinking of switching my major , but the problem is it’s an IMPACTED major (business). i’m thinking of accounting. as an impacted major, i have to take 24 units of pre requsities before the 24 units of business core classes, and 24 units of accounting concentration classes. obviously, that would take me , what, another 2-3 plus years to complete it?

if i stick with the sociology major, i would only need 3 more semesters. but im thinking about the future, and i just dont think a BA in sociology will help me find a decent stable well paying career.

for next semester, i am currently signed up to take pre reqs, including the financial accounting introduction course.

i think Sac State is a maximum of 180 units, so taking all of these classes would keep me under that mark, but im worried about time and money, will i be able to receive financial aid (such as pell grant and state university grant)? my cal grant will expire after 4 years. i am an individual coming from a poor family.

i realize my horrible mistake, and now i am focused on making money… though is that advisable, due to the additional time? please , helpful advice needed. (btw, i have consulted advisors before the semester ended, i will check back for the fall)

2

I think you need to talk to people at the college and get clarity on 1) if it is even possible to transfer into the b-school at this late date and 2) if you can transfer, you need to sit with an advisor and plot out the classes you will need to take so you can see how long it will take to finish your degree and determine if financial aid will cover it.

3

What would you recommend if I could switch? Stick it out or just change?

4

You need to figure out the cost and time required for any switch first. And you need to get relevant job information. Did you talk to career placement about opportunities for sociology majors? What type of business major are you considering and did you talk to career placement about job opportunities in that major?

5

Let me try this. At this late stage, there is no optimal solution. There might be second- or third-best solution. This is what I would do.

First, finish your current major. I bet you will have a high degree of freedom in this coming year (your final year as an undergraduate) for taking courses. So you want to do the minimum in your current major and allocates most of your courses in business and particularly in accounting. If possible, take intro financial accounting this fall, intro managerial accounting and possibly intermediate accounting the subsequent spring.

Now you study GMAT and do the test in the fall. Either right after your graduation or working for a few years, try to get into a 1-year accounting master program. This will give you a total of 150 college credit hours (120 undergraduate + 30 master) to sit in the CPA exam. Many (if not most) accounting students eventually shoot for the CPA exam.

If you maximize your business courses (choose those business courses that are particularly useful for waiving the intended master degree requirements) and accounting courses in your senior year, do well on them and GMAT, get into a reasonable master program, and earn your CPA charter, you will have a good foundation to enter the accounting profession. And this will take you two years’ human capital investment down the road.

If you switch to undergraduate accounting major today, you probably need to work very hard to get your bachelor degree in two years because accounting is usually in a business school and you will have many business core requirements in marketing, finance, management, etc. If I were you, I will not spend another two years’ human capital investment and still cannot have the opportunity to sit in the CPA exam.

Again, this is what I would do. You should talk to your academic advisor to figure out your own second- or third-best solution. Wish you luck and be able to not describe yourself “dumb” for the rest of your life.

6

Hey prof2dad,

Thanks for the detailed answer, but here is more specifics that complicate your attempted solution:

First, it would take me three more semesters to finish the sociology degree, due to full classes. So, an extra semester.
Second, I have already signed up to take 15 units of pre requsities classes for the business degree next fall, even though I am still labeled a sociology major. Among them is the financial accounting intro course. There are 24 pre req classes before upper division classes.

Assuming I am truly interested in acccounting classes despite the reputation of the bad accounting professors at my campus, I agree that I will have to undergo the CPA later on

As you pointed out, 150 hours are required…, including approx 24 hours of business courses, and 24 credits of accounting. I could do them as a masters, but I can also do them as an undergrad…

So here’s the thing: Wouldn’t they take the same amount of time? maybe even longer if I take the masters route, since I should have work experience before entering masters program?

Further, I come from a poor family and receive financial aid. If I complete the sociology BA, then am I correct to assume that I will have to take out loans for a masters program? So shouldn’t I do them while as an undergrad while I am still eligble for more appropriate forms of aid?

EDIT: Also, I understand decent grades especially in intermediate accounting, and internships are significant. Can I still do an internship as an undergrad pushing past 4th year? If I stay a while longer? What about if I take the masters route?

7

happy1,

Like I said, I’m thinking of accounting. As for sociology, I talked with the department chair, and all he told me was “with a sociology degree can get you any job”. Obviously that was not what I was hoping for, I pressed the chair further into decent paying career, and he provided one example of someone working successfully as a management level position in walmart. Not what I was looking for either…

8

Thanks for your input guys… I think what I’m most concerned with is wasting any more additional time on a degree that I think is rather useless (quite late, though…). Also, if the goal is the CPA for accounting, then I don’t need a masters program if I fulfuill the required hours as an undergrad, right? (to prof2dad)

Also waiting for more answers on this thread

9

I teach at a business school, but I am not an accounting professor. So take what I said and am going to say with a grain of salt. Also, you really need to have a long conversation with an accounting academic advisor.

Now, let me share what I have; though probably not super educated. From what I see, accounting professionals are really smart people. They understand very well about how the basic principle of supply and demand will affects their long-term well-being. So they now mostly requires 150 credit hours for the CPA exam to manage the supply of CPAs. If you think about it, 150 credit hours simply means they expect a 1-year master degree. When the new norm is to have a master degree, if you do not do a master degree, then you are not conformed to the norm. As a current sociology major, you should know what that means for your long-term upside potential in this business, right?

You still need 36 credit hours for graduation, about 2 courses more than the usual load. I understand that the difficulty is largely about the courses that you want to take are full. So one thing you can do is to negotiate with your department via your student service staff. Usually, student service staff has more sympathy for the so-called “graduating seniors.” At least in my school when a situation like yours occurs, the school is often willing to allow for using some other courses in lieu of the required ones.

I believe most of our accounting master students do not have prior working experience. A master in accounting is quite different from an MBA in terms of working experience expectation.

10

I am a CPA and my S recently became a CPA. In terms of accounting, there are students in my S’s year who got hired by the Big 4 without a MS in Accounting. Some people get to the 150 credits in 4 years using AP credits (yes, they count) and often a few summer courses and my S has a friend who took one extra semester of undergrad coursework to get to the 150 credits. All are at his Big 4 firm. My S needed close to 30 credits to get to the 150 mark so he went the MS in Accounting route. So while @prof2dad is correct in saying that more and more CPAs are getting a MS in Accounting, the Big 4 firms currently do not expect or require that new employees go the MS route as long as they have the requisite college credits (the term often used is “CPA eligible” meaning that the new employees must meet the education requirements to get a CPA before they are hire-able - note that these requirements vary a bit from state to state). But I agree as time goes on CPAs holding a MS will be more and more common and it is would never hurt to have that degree.

Without an accounting undergrad degree a MS in Accounting typically takes 2 years, with an accounting undergrad major a MS in Accounting degree typically takes 1 year. One must look at what each grad program offers (some MS in Accounting programs are only for students with an undergrad in accounting (ex. Notre Dame MSA), some are geared for students with no undergrad in accounting (ex. Rutgers MBA in Professional Acct), and some take students with and without undergrad accounting majors and they follow different tracks (ex. Fordham)).

The most meaningful internships in accounting typically take place the year before one is eligible to work at a CPA firm (ex. for my S it was the summer between his undergrad and grad program).

Agree that you really need to meet with an advisor in the accounting program. Some of the accounting courses must be taken sequentially so you to understand if and/or how quickly you can get the program done if you change majors at this late point.

11

As I mentioned in the other forum, I’d stay the course - graduate with a Soc degree, get a job then think about going back for an MBA at Sac or Davis.

12

@NCalRent , I replied to your comment in the other thread, but I’ll respond differently here.

That was my initial plan after realizing my situation, but then I realize I can also stay in school a while longer and get a more technical degree that can help me in the job market as well. Also, the problem I have with your suggestion is that since I would have a bachelors degree, then I would not be eligible to receive the better forms of financial aid (i.e. not loans). If I am correct, then I can still receive pell grants while as an undergrad, if I don’t go overboard on the units.

13

@happy1 I talked to a business advisor before the spring semester ended, we went over it briefly. He said that it would take me another 2-3 years. Now how do you think about ncalrent’s suggestion that I stick with the soc degree and get an MBA? though like I said my problem is about financial aid after bachelors degree. I understand that an MS in accounting is getting more common, however like you said , some employers don’t even require it. Wheras my line of thinking is sociology can get me an entry level job, but nothing technical. if I want to do something with the sociology degree or another field, I would have to undergo a masters program. So my analysis is if i get an accounting degree with an additional 2-3 years, wouldn’t that be about the same amount of time as undergoing a masters program?

this is assuming i am interested in accounting. I still have got to take the two intro accounting courses. and im not sure if i said it already, but accounting professsors at my school have bad ratings.

I agree with the suggestion to sit down with an accounting/business advisor. though I can’t do that now, since the semester is over and they don’t work during the summer. and yes, i know it is late , but i’m thinking about the present and the future now.

14

@prof2dad as of now, i only need 7 more classes of sociology in order to graduate. it is only 43 units. though my planned coursework for the fall is doing the prerequisites at California State University, Sacramento. the pre reqss is 24 units. i have scheduled 15 for the fall. also i plan to take one pre req during the summer at a coummunity college. do you recommend that, since I have to finish the pre reqs for enrolling in the upper division courses? the only pre req i can’t get done is the managerial accounting class, comes after financial.

also, if i haven’t taken any business and accounting courses, then if i undergo a MS in accounting program at a school allowing for those without prior coursework, i STILL have to take the required classes in order to catch up, right? and how would you respond to happy1’s comments regarding for the need for a masters?

and again, I agree with your suggestion to meet with an accounting/business advisor, though they are not in session during the summer. so i am stuck asking informed individuals. thank you

15

I would agree that if an undergrad accounting degree will take another 2-3 years then you can certainly finish off your undergraduate degree and get a MS in Accounting. You will have to take the GMATs and then seek out and apply to programs that accept students without an accounting major (If you go that route it would be wise to research programs over the summer and study for the GMATs). If you can get a MS degree for the same “price” then it is a nice extra credential to have. Again talk to your advisors and work out the most direct and affordable path if you choose to go the accounting route. Good luck.

16

Based on your recent posts, I sense that you are open to an MBA degree down the road. It is actually a sensible solution for you. An MBA degree is a more general degree than a master in accounting. It takes students from all sorts of undergraduate majors. I actually has an MBA before my PhD degree; my undergraduate degree is in engineering.

Now suppose that you want to do an MBA eventually. The most logical thing right now to is to get your undergraduate degree asap; taking courses from community college is a also good idea. Then find you a job. Save a few dollars; few MBAs provide meaningful scholarship and aids; MBA is usually a cash for for a business school. Do some meaningful community activities before you apply. Try to get a VERY good GMAT score, and you really need it because your undergraduate institution does not have a big name.

If you are interested in an accounting professional life, see whether you can find an MBA program that will give you enough degree of freedom taking enough accounting classes. You may be still able to sit in the CPA exam after the MBA.

Now, I have to be honest with you. The value of an MBA today can be somewhat different from when I got it 25 years ago. At big-name MBAs, the value is still great. However, its value can be hit or miss once you come down to non-top-25 programs. I even heard a dean at a top 25-50 MBA once told me that MBA is a dying degree. Note that I disagree with his assessment. But this says something about the reality that an MBA may or may not be useful.

17

If you work for a bit you will hopefully get a better sense of if you want to pursue a masters in accounting or in another disipline such as finance, IT etc. While top MBA programs often require 2-5 years of meaningful work experience, there are MBA programs (and certainly accounting programs) you could get into right after your undergrad if you choose that route and if it is affordable. Some people also go for a Masters part-time at night while they are working so that is another option.

18

@prof2dad as you said yourself “few mbas provide scholarships or aid”. not sure if i already mentioned it, but i am poor and require appropriate forms of aid (i.e. not loans). if i finish bachelors then the aid is cut off heading into postgrad, right?

19

@happy1 if i was more well off financially, this decision wouldm’t be as difficult. but as i have mentioned, i require aid to back schooling. so like i said, if i finish the bachelors, then grad school will be cut off from most aid. so overall my line of thinking is how much aid can i use while as an undergrad? so later on i can not undergo a masters program, or if i do, the required classes will be fewer (since i took them as undergrad)

20

It is still summer time, and I have not taken introductory accounting classes like I said. and i still have to speak to the accounting/business advisors. Appreciate the insight, thank you all.