Liberal Arts to Accounting

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>I've been reading several threads about similar situations, but some guidance on my particular situation would be appreciated.</p>

<p>I graduated last May with B.A. in Political Science (cum laude, 3.6 GPA). I also minored in Accounting, so I have 18 hours of accounting coursework including Principles of Accounting I, II, Intermediate Financial Accounting I, II, Cost Accounting, and Business Law. I always had an interest in business and economics courses also so I took Micro, Macro, International Trade, Money & Banking, a few others. I did very well in all these courses and, in most cases, enjoyed them more than my major courses. I chose Political Science with an interest in pursuing a law degree after graduation (took the LSAT, etc, etc). Long story short, I simply don't have a strong desire to practice law and feel it would be a waste to spend 3 additional years of school and incur a huge additional debt for something I'm not committed fully to.</p>

<p>I've been considering a Master of Accountancy and had a few concerns. I know I'll have a few other undergrad courses to take before I can apply to most programs (Management, Marketing, Business Statistics, one or two others), and I plan to do that this year. Does it really matter what school you get the Macc from as long as the Big 4 firms recruit there? My goal is to start out working for a Big 4 firm, as I have several friends that were undergrad accounting majors who have had a pretty smooth experience starting out there. Also, I'm wondering whether these firms would look unfavorably upon an undergraduate degree in a completely unrelated field, such as Political Science, during an interview. I've really become serious about pursuing accounting as a career and I hope they won't. Any help would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Thank you in advance.</p>

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<p>What area of the country are you considering for a Macc?</p>

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<p>I’ll be in Colorado (didn’t know how UC Boulder was looked upon; they have a Macc program) when I apply, but have family in the Carolinas and am right now classified as a South Carolina resident because I worked there for over a year after college… I had been told that it doesn’t make as much of a difference to employers such as the Big 4 firms which school you receive the degree from as much as it would for say an MBA or a JD. I’m pretty open to where I would be living and would rather not be around the Southeastern U.S. to be honest.</p>

4

<p>My son was an econ major, now in a MAcc program. He has a Big 4 job lined up and had no problems during the interview season. When he was an undergrad, he couldn’t get an internship because he was not an accounting major. But once he was in the MAcc, his undergrad major was irrelevant. I can’t advise you on prestige as he’s in a pretty good program.</p>

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<p>Frankly, getting a MAcc only has 1 purpose: to get you the 150 hours so you can sit for the CPA. Big 4 honestly doesn’t really care if you just have a Bachleor’s in Accounting or a MAcc, because a MAcc is much more theoretical and is just about as useful as a bachelor’s.</p>

<p>As long as you have a CPA under your belt, you’ll be fine.</p>

6

<p>Thank you UNcreb11 and all responder for this posting. I am also in the similar situation. I have Hotel mgmt undergraduate degree now i am thinking to move into MAcc…</p>