[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is the right area, but I think I’ll get a good response.

I am a junior at UCLA, pursuing their accounting minor with my Business Economics degree. The major + minor knocks out all the requirements for the CPA, but the biggest issue is there is no way I’ll even be close to 225 quarter units. I’ve been thinking about a Masters program, but with price and already having the requirements done, it seems like a waste of money. I don’t know other options except community college, but even then that might not work. When I graduate I’ll have a total of 12 accounting classes.

Has anyone faced this issue? The Big 4 wants your units done before you start. I figured I would need 6- 10 Community College classes. Should I look at places other than Big 4? I am from the northern LA area. USC was an option but their aid is non existent in my experience, and I wouldn’t expect it to be much better for a masters.

[Monkey Wrench]

Most places won't hire you full time if you are not qualified to take the CPA exam, or so extremely close they can trust you will finish it.

[Anonymous]

Bruin alumnus here…you really can rack up a lot of units fairly quickly and cheaply by taking online community college courses. It's what I relied on to get to the 225. I recommend Santa Monica College and Coastline Community College in particular for this purpose. They seem to be the most convenient/have the widest variety of online courses that meet the requirements. For a couple summers, I took online CC classes. I even took a few during the UCLA academic year; as long as you don't need to transfer the credit back to UCLA, UCLA doesn't have a problem with it. There's also less competition for seats during the academic year.

You can also use AP credit to get there. AP units appear in a lump sum on your UCLA transcript, and you can have a counselor (via a “Special Degree Services Request”) prepare an itemized list of the units for the CA board if you want credit for specific courses. You could rack up a lot of useful units here if you took APs like statistics, calculus, or econ, which are all business classes in the eyes of the CA board.

I wouldn't spend time/money on a masters degree because you already have great access to recruiting. And I would avoid UCLA's summer program because of its cost and relatively low unit payoff. Many CCs have classes that last only half a term that would enable you to get classes just as quickly and at a lot lower cost.

When I was recruiting, most firms just wanted to see that you have a solid plan to get to the 225. So I think you'll be fine as long as you can come up with one.

[Anonymous]

@Audit Novice: That is what I'm going to end up doing. I figured I need about 9 or so CC courses (semester wise), so I am going to take 3 online courses at a time over summer and during the quarter. I think that'll get me to 225 pretty easily.

As far as the AP credit, I took AP Calc AB and got a 5, but I ended up retaking Math 31A for some dumb reason…do you think it would double count?

[Anonymous]

I think that it would double count, at least for the units. As long as you have the specific accounting/business/accounting study/ethics locked up, they're just looking for “evidence” of 225 quarter/150 semester units. The UCLA transcript should show units for both (once in the lump sum AP credit and once as an actual class), so you should get unit credit for both from the board.

[Anonymous]

I'm gathering that you are just needing any credits at all, regardless of subject matter etc. – is that right? If so, check into CLEP and DSST tests. If your college will give you credit for them, that's awesome, but if not, then you can transfer them in to my alma mater, TESC, for about $550 ( https://www.tesc.edu/documents/NondegreeServiceApp.pdf ). Each test is $100, and is either 3 or 6 credits – study materials are free if you want to do it with the internet (slower but cheap) or about $30 if you buy the REA study guides which are fantastic and quick. Then you submit two transcripts – one with the quarter credits from your degree and one with semester credits from TESC – and you're done. You should definitely look into it! 🙂

[Anonymous]

Yes I'll just need any credit…..I'll have all the CPA Accoutning/Business units done.

I will definitely look into CLEP, it seems like the quickest way to knock out credit. I am pretty sure my CC accepts CLEP credit, so I should be good to go. How many do people usually take?

[Anonymous]

Any number. I think I took around 15 CLEPs and DSSTs and got another 12 credits from FEMA courses, but the college I went to doesn't currently accept FEMA for credit, so not sure what's up with those. I know people who are taking everything except their major through CLEPs and DSSTs, so for them it's more like 30 of the exams plus around 10 courses in their major (for business majors, a lot of the basic business classes can be completed via DSST, too, so some of them get out with just a couple classes).

[Author]

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