I am currently attending North Carolina State Univerisrty. I have 90 credit hours toward my science degree, I am also minor in accounting. However I am very unhappy with this major. Looking back on my life I realize I have no idea what I wanted to major in. I am also the first in my family to attend college, so it was rough. Over the years, I realize I should have major in economics, finance, math or accounting. My goal now in life is to become a financial analyst or data analyst. Also, my gpa is a C average become I work full time while in school, which I am working on improving. My questions is should I transfer colleges to major in one of the following degree above? Or graduate and maybe got a masters degree in one of the following above? I can’t change my major become most programs want you to have a 3.2 in order change major at NCSU.
Thanks,
How close are you to graduating with your current major and minor?
How difficult would it be for you to make your current minor in accounting into a major instead? if you just drop your current major, how many semesters woould it take to finish off the accounting major?
if you graduate with your current major and minor, how many credits would you need to pick up afte graduation to earn the equivalent of an acounting major?
What do the people in the career office tell you about job placement for people who have minored rather than majored in acounting?
You should do your own research but I think it would be very difficult to transfer to any school if you only need one more year to graduate. Most colleges require you attend for 2 years to get a degree. I would finish at NCSU, work on improving your GPA, and take as many courses as possible in your areas of interest.
Have you looked at the Ag business major at NCSU?
If you actually look up job ads for data analyst and financial analyst online (on websites like indeed.com and many others), you will discover that they do not require a major in those topics. They are looking for a “quantitative” background – the core courses in math and related subjects that underlie many different types of majors. Many engineers get jobs as analysts, as do people in a variety of majors. Ads will often say things like “bachelor’s degree in quantitative field like math, statistics, accounting, finance, engineering, computer science, science…” Depending on the curriculum for your major and minor, you likely have already had a lot of quantitative courses and could take some more.
You should stay at NCSU and start looking for internships in analysis and risk. Also looking at graduate degrees is a good plan in addition to doing internships, and a better option than transferring. You will lose so much time transferring that in the same time it would take to finish a bachelor’s somewhere else, you could finish a master’s degree if you just continue and wrap up your degree at NCSU. Talk to an advisor about your course selections from here on. There might be some other major/minor combinations or electives available to help you bolster your quantitative skills. The name of your major is less important than having quantitative courses and internships. Volunteer in this area if you have to so you can start getting experience.
Also know that many analyst and risk types of jobs simply require passing a series of exams that you study for on your own – they do not require a major in the subject to take the exams. Look into options relating to insurance (actuary), financial planning (CFP), stocks (broker) and other areas. Other types of related jobs just require mastering some skills, usually related to software, programming and computational modeling (look at free online courses for ideas). Go to your career services center or look online to get more information and take some career aptitude tests to be sure you’re headed in the right direction, and to get some more ideas of the many possibilities.
Transferring credits can be a real pain to do (I know; I’ve argued with deans and advisers several times when I moved and transferred colleges). If it were me I’d cut back on my work hours and focus on graduating and getting your GPA up as much as possible. You’ll be going two big steps back if you transfer.
Graduate with whatever degree you can get (any science is not bad) and then get a graduate degree in accounting or take the CPA exam. How many credits do you need, 120? You are almost there (if you have the right ones).
Thanks everyone…
Finish up with your science degree. Bird in the hand - an a very versatile bird it is. You will have plenty of time to take accounting courses.