[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, first time poster here.

I am currently enrolled at a top 20 Macc program, beginning in May to become a CPA, and I’m thinking about getting my PHD down the road. I was wondering if anybody could give me some feedback on my path to success.

I have a B.A. in History with three years of finance and tax experience at a financial institution. I went back to a community college to take some accounting courses and got great recommendations which probably made a big difference in getting me into my Macc program.

Here is my situation: Since my undergrad was in History, I have a very small math background in my undergrad (no Calculus or Statistics) and have more of a background in research with seminars and a senior thesis. I do know I need to obtain more mathematics. I have researched the necessary math courses and have found out that I could get a B.S. in Math taking just a couple more math classes beyond what PHD programs look for.

I know I don’t have the ideal profile for what PHD programs are looking for, but I guess I’m wondering if I could actually get into a PHD program without going back to school and taking all of the extra math. Would a strong GMAT help Universities look past that?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[acamp]

From my understanding of business Ph.Ds, they require some pretty heavy handed math; I think it would be tough to get into and succeed without it. (this is coming from someone with very knowledge on business Ph.Ds lol).

. . .

That said, business Ph.D gripe time: I have an interest in teaching, but no interest in pursuing a Ph.D, so with an MBA + CPA + Big4 experience, I can only become a lecturer and not a professor. Where on the other hand, someone with relatively little real world experience can keep charging through school, get the Ph.D and become a professor. Some of my best “professors” were non-Ph.D lecturers!

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[Anonymous]

@acamp Some places you could be a professor without the Ph D – I have looked into the needed items to teach in colleges and found that some colleges just require a Masters for teaching undergrad. The college I'm working at right now has (or at least had) a posting for a part-time accounting professor which required Masters, not Ph D. It wasn't full-time, but I think that's due to the size of the college not the degree level required (there's probably not enough accounting classes to keep a professor full-time).

Sorry I don't have anything to contribute for the OP, but wanted to mention that for acamp.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for your post. It was kind of the answer I was expecting so it just confirms my initial assumptions.

[Author]

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