[tsokoberst]

A brief background about me is that I recently passed all parts of the Uniform CPA Exams and now reviewing for CMA Exams. I’m having a hard time on finding a job because I’m inexperienced which hinders me from qualifying in most entry-level jobs(which requires at least a year of experience) and I do not also qualify for internships because I’m not anymore a student(not to mention that I have a bad GPA of 2.88 after being evaluated – my school is from different country).

Does earning an Accounting Certificate especially if it is from UCLA(extension) will help me improve my credentials and increase my chance of setting my foot into the accounting profession as the same as what an MBA degree can do( in which I’m lacking the necessary funds to pursue such a degree)? I can see that employers more easily tend to accommodate resumes that has a “USC” or “UCLA” somewhere in the educational backgrounds. I saw that the Accounting Certificate program tuition is just around $10k and will be a cheaper alternative as compared to 6 digits tuition MBA or MAcc programs.

BTW, here is the link to the program I’m talking( https://www.uclaextension.edu/pages/ProgramDetails.aspx?reg=CF028 )

I’ll gladly appreciate any advise that you can give with regards to my case.

"It's not about the hours you put in, It's about what you put in the hours."

F-94,A-93,R-91,B-88 ->HELL!

PH CPA exam -87.57 -> DEEPER HELL!!

[hecubus330]

If enough time has passed from your undergraduate degree, you can always angle it into, “I was younger then and I wasn't serious. I have learned from my mistakes and I take my studies seriously,” or something to that effect.

BEC -69, 69
REG -77 (expired), 79
FAR - ?
AUD - 65, 67

[FlipACoin]

Tsoko….unfortunately GPA really only gets buried by experience. At the end of the day experience rules all….education and certifications only show potential and unfortunately employers feel GPA is a an indicator of how much potential we have. My story is a little different as I came up in Corp Finance but I had an awful GPA coming out. Lucky for me I came out into a booming job market and got some solid experience right away. My GPA was never even discussed. One suggestion: you mentioned you tried harder in your accounting classes, you may want to put your major GPA on your résumé followed by your overall. Some of the best accountants I know are also dumb as rocks in non business areas. Employers dont need you to understand physics in order to be a great accountant, so more than likely they will place a greater importance on GPA in major (assuming its higher). I would sell myself as one of those guys (even if its not true)….

[FlipACoin]

Tsoko….unfortunately GPA really only gets buried by experience. At the end of the day experience rules all….education and certifications only show potential and unfortunately employers feel GPA is a an indicator of how much potential we have. My story is a little different as I came up in Corp Finance but I had an awful GPA coming out. Lucky for me I came out into a booming job market and got some solid experience right away. My GPA was never even discussed. One suggestion: you mentioned you tried harder in your accounting classes, you may want to put your major GPA on your résumé followed by your overall. Some of the best accountants I know are also dumb as rocks in non business areas. Employers dont need you to understand physics in order to be a great accountant, so more than likely they will place a greater importance on GPA in major (assuming its higher). I would sell myself as one of those guys (even if its not true)….

[Anonymous]

$10K for an Accounting Certificate? You gotta be bleeping me.

You can get a Master's at any decent State school, which will provide plenty of networking, for about the same cost.

[Anonymous]

$10K for an Accounting Certificate? You gotta be bleeping me.

You can get a Master's at any decent State school, which will provide plenty of networking, for about the same cost.

[tsokoberst]

@Jeff&@FlipAcoin: Thank you guys, though ultimately I realized because of you that my real problem was not education. It is about setting my foot on the door. If only I can find my very first job. Any idea if the busy season has something to do that I don't get replies from CPA firms that I have submitted my resumes?

@dedigans: Well, that's the pricing in here. 🙁

"It's not about the hours you put in, It's about what you put in the hours."

F-94,A-93,R-91,B-88 ->HELL!

PH CPA exam -87.57 -> DEEPER HELL!!

[tsokoberst]

@Jeff&@FlipAcoin: Thank you guys, though ultimately I realized because of you that my real problem was not education. It is about setting my foot on the door. If only I can find my very first job. Any idea if the busy season has something to do that I don't get replies from CPA firms that I have submitted my resumes?

@dedigans: Well, that's the pricing in here. 🙁

"It's not about the hours you put in, It's about what you put in the hours."

F-94,A-93,R-91,B-88 ->HELL!

PH CPA exam -87.57 -> DEEPER HELL!!

[SonjaBlue]

I would recommend checking out your local head hunting and employment agencies to get a job and get the experience you need. You don't have to get a job at a CPA firm to get your experience signed off; if you go for corporate accounting, you can get your boss with a CPA to sign off on your experience. If you live close enough to UCLA to consider taking courses there, you live close enough to get a job at one of the many L.A. corporations. If you go back to school, you'll be no closer to your goal, just older and probably no more educated (you already passed the exam).

Even Robert Half Agency should be able to help you out in your employment search. Consider temp or contractor work to get some experience that leads to the next good job of your dreams.

P.S. Don't list your GPA on your resume. Most employers don't care about it. My GPA is decent and I had an interviewer ask me if I thought listing it was a good idea. She pointed out that her GPA was 2.0 and she thought I was vain or conceited for putting it down. I haven't listed it since.

FAR 02/26/13 78 [05/25/12 67]
AUD 07/07/12 85
REG 05/28/13 80 [08/25/12 72]
BEC 11/26/12 81

[SonjaBlue]

I would recommend checking out your local head hunting and employment agencies to get a job and get the experience you need. You don't have to get a job at a CPA firm to get your experience signed off; if you go for corporate accounting, you can get your boss with a CPA to sign off on your experience. If you live close enough to UCLA to consider taking courses there, you live close enough to get a job at one of the many L.A. corporations. If you go back to school, you'll be no closer to your goal, just older and probably no more educated (you already passed the exam).

Even Robert Half Agency should be able to help you out in your employment search. Consider temp or contractor work to get some experience that leads to the next good job of your dreams.

P.S. Don't list your GPA on your resume. Most employers don't care about it. My GPA is decent and I had an interviewer ask me if I thought listing it was a good idea. She pointed out that her GPA was 2.0 and she thought I was vain or conceited for putting it down. I haven't listed it since.

FAR 02/26/13 78 [05/25/12 67]
AUD 07/07/12 85
REG 05/28/13 80 [08/25/12 72]
BEC 11/26/12 81

[Partially Deaf]

I know a few people who have gotten that accounting certificate. Don't get it, people use it so they can sit for the CPA exam; if you already passed the exam then it's not really worth sitting through those classes again. Let's be real, the knowledge wouldn't really further your education with that certificate, since you should have taken all those classes already.

If you want a job, sign up for a temp agency and just do temp jobs for a while. You will get experience, and in the meantime if you find a company that likes you, they will later give you a full time position.

MBA Candidate - UCLA Anderson School of Management

REG 89 - 4/9/2012
BEC 88 - 5/29/2012
AUD 93 - 8/20/2012
FAR 83 - 2/4/2013
-All passed on the first attempt!

CFA Level 1 - Passed on first attempt in June 2014

[Partially Deaf]

I know a few people who have gotten that accounting certificate. Don't get it, people use it so they can sit for the CPA exam; if you already passed the exam then it's not really worth sitting through those classes again. Let's be real, the knowledge wouldn't really further your education with that certificate, since you should have taken all those classes already.

If you want a job, sign up for a temp agency and just do temp jobs for a while. You will get experience, and in the meantime if you find a company that likes you, they will later give you a full time position.

MBA Candidate - UCLA Anderson School of Management

REG 89 - 4/9/2012
BEC 88 - 5/29/2012
AUD 93 - 8/20/2012
FAR 83 - 2/4/2013
-All passed on the first attempt!

CFA Level 1 - Passed on first attempt in June 2014

[FlipACoin]

Tsoko…I can't speak to the public accounting side as that is not really my thing. From what I understand they have a “season” where they interview recent graduates with no experience, which could be coming up in the May/June time, although that's just a guess. Sonja & Partially both have great points. As a person who has passed the CPA exams I am sure you can get some experience as a temp doing accounting. It might be very basic boring stuff (spreadsheets, data entry…maybe some preset templatized journal entries) but it will get you some experience and the opportunity to gain references, which will do wonders for you right now. You also may want to check out job fairs, especially if you present well in person….

[FlipACoin]

Tsoko…I can't speak to the public accounting side as that is not really my thing. From what I understand they have a “season” where they interview recent graduates with no experience, which could be coming up in the May/June time, although that's just a guess. Sonja & Partially both have great points. As a person who has passed the CPA exams I am sure you can get some experience as a temp doing accounting. It might be very basic boring stuff (spreadsheets, data entry…maybe some preset templatized journal entries) but it will get you some experience and the opportunity to gain references, which will do wonders for you right now. You also may want to check out job fairs, especially if you present well in person….

[tsokoberst]

I'll take you advice Flip, hopefully I'll receive back calls from headhunter. For now all I can do is hope for the best and make use of my extra time to review for cma. See you on the cma thread! 🙂

"It's not about the hours you put in, It's about what you put in the hours."

F-94,A-93,R-91,B-88 ->HELL!

PH CPA exam -87.57 -> DEEPER HELL!!

[tsokoberst]

I'll take you advice Flip, hopefully I'll receive back calls from headhunter. For now all I can do is hope for the best and make use of my extra time to review for cma. See you on the cma thread! 🙂

"It's not about the hours you put in, It's about what you put in the hours."

F-94,A-93,R-91,B-88 ->HELL!

PH CPA exam -87.57 -> DEEPER HELL!!

[Author]

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