I’m a freshman in college leaning heavily toward declaring a major in accounting because a) I’m an extremely risk-averse person and b) my school, McCombs at UT Austin, has the #1 accounting program in the country. Also, UT’s iMPA program would allow me to get both my BBA & MPA (and maybe even my CPA if I put in the work) in 5 years, which would be huge for me both from a time & financial standpoint.
Supply chain management is the only other business degree that interests me, and it interests me a lot more than accounting (although I’m not one of those people who finds accounting to be blow-your-brains-out work). I just find the field much more stimulating and eventful. But the main reason I’ve begun having second thoughts about accounting is the pay, which is an important consideration for me. The starting salary for a supply chain major with an MBA is in the six figures – that’s almost double what an iMPA graduate would make in public accounting.
If you want to make any worthwhile money in supply chain, you need an MBA. I’d much rather get an iMPA and not have to worry about the GMAT, tuition, and spending a whole extra year of my life in school. But I also don’t want to be condemned to making mediocre money (in comparison) for the rest of my life.
So how does accounting compare to supply chain in terms of earning potential, and what path should I take?