[M]

Hi guys, I need some important career advice for a friend. Many of you are experienced individuals here. Therefore, I hope you guys could give the best advice/suggestion.

My friend has done Bachelors in Biology from a university in Pennsylvania. However, he did not want to continue with bio anymore and decided to switch over to the Business side. He wants to become a CPA. He has 2 options to choose from so far.

Option 1: He could go back to undergrad and get his Bachelors degree in Accounting and do a couple of Accounting internships before graduating and then start the CPA journey. He will graduate in December 2020!

Option 2: He could do masters in Finance and graduate in May 2020. However, he does not have any internship experience in Finance/Accounting. He has only worked 2 jobs in Biology. Will he have less internship opportunities with a master degree? Basically, would it be difficult for him to get an internship before May 2020 with a master since most of the companies requirement is to be an undergrad student? Also, would he have less job opportunities as well?

Also, I don’t think he will be qualified for the CPA exam with a masters in Finance because for Pennsylvania it says a person needs “24 semester credits which credits shall be in accounting and auditing, business law, finance, microeconomics, macroeconomics or tax subjects of a content satisfactory to the board, not necessarily as a part of your undergraduate work. “

[ahugemistake]

>Also, I don't think he will be qualified for the CPA exam with a masters in Finance because for Pennsylvania

so I think this will rule out option 2 if he wants to go the CPA route? I would go the Undergrad route and make sure the school is recruited by Big 4 or regional firms so he can get started on the internships ASAP. Once he passes the exam, that's better than have a MS in my opinion.

FAR: 78*, 75
REG: 76*, 85
BEC: 79*, 76
AUD: 79*, 93

All scores expired, let's try this again.

FAR - 78*
AUD - 66, 79
REG - 73, 76
BEC - 79

[Jimmy Dugan]

Why not just get a masters in accounting instead? Many, many programs have no prerequisites (so the undergrad major doesn't matter) and he can get all of the hours needed to sit for the exam. If the goal is to become a CPA, a Masters in Accounting makes way more sense than either 1 or 2

AUD - 95
BEC - 87
FAR - 84
REG - 90

You're killing me Smalls

 

[M]

@jimmy dugan because they were asking him to take a bunch of prereqs where he looked into.

[Recked]

Jumping into a Masters of accounting without the basic accounting classes seems like a stretch, even if the school does not require the pre-req's.
I'm always leary about telling someone to take on more school debt, but if he really wants to be a CPA then it seems to make more sense to go back to school and get the BA, then the 1 year Masters to qualify for the CPA 150 hour requirement.
But… what if he decides the CPA is not for him?
I'd suggest attempting to get some real world experience in accounting, even if its just at H&R block, to see if this is a career he can really see himself doing.

Memento Mori - Kingston NY CPA & EA (SUNY Albany 2002)

FAR-93 11/9/17 (10wks, 250 hrs, Roger 1800+ MCQs, Gleim TB 600+MCQs, SIMs)
AUD-88 12/7/17 (3 wks, 85 hrs, Roger 1000 MCQs no SIMs hail mary)
REG-96 1/18/18 (6 wks, 110 hrs, 1400 MCQs, no SIMs)
BEC-91 2/16/18 (4wks, 90 hrs, 1240 MCQs)

[Puppykoala]

Your friend has similar situation as mine when I decided to jump into accounting and get a CPA. I had ZERO experience nor knowledge in accounting as my undergrad was language study and master was international relations. I took 2 classes from graduate school but barely learned anything. Not willing to spend too much for school and put myself in deep debt, I found an extension program from UC San Diego where I paid $700 for each class. I ended up taking 9 total which qualified me to sit for the exam. The classes, granted not as quality as a 4-year undergrad education, satified all my needs while kept my head over the water financially. I was also working full time at the time. So it was definitly a huge committment. I basically was living like a hermit (still am until I finished the other 3 exams).

If he can find a similar program in Pen, it might be a good alternative option. And as @Recked mentioned, he won't be investing too much up front if he finds out he no likey.

Shoot for the stars!

FAR 88 04/19

REG 95 07/19

BEC 91 11/19

AUD 88 12/19

[WEEE2CPAYE]

the first thing he should do is look at his states Sitting and Licensing requirements when it comes to educational credits.

FAR: pass

AUD: pass (1 re-take, thanks govt shut-down!)

BEC: pass

REG: pass

 

[Author]

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