[Anonymous]

Hey everyone. I am an accounting student at George Mason University. I have a question that I need answered.

According to the Virginia Board of Accountancy you need 120 credits, 24 credit hours of accounting courses, 24 credit hours of business courses, and a bachelor’s degree to sit for the CPA exam. You need 150 credits to gain licensure when you pass the CPA.

My plan is to get the 150 credits as a student as soon as possible so I don’t have to go back to school after graduating college. My plan is to stay an additional year as an undergrad and graduate with a bachelor’s in accounting with 150 credits. I am not doing a masters degree because I am an average student at best and I don’t think I can handle the rigor of a masters. I’m sticking to my strengths.

And here is my problem. Which courses at George Mason counts towards the 24 credits accounting and 24 credits business classes?

These are the courses you must take regardless if you are an accounting, finance, management, information systems, or marketing major at George Mason.

ACCT 203 – Survey of Accounting Credits: 3

ACCT 301 – Financial Accounting and Managerial Decision Making Credits: 3

BULE 302 – Legal Environment of Business Credits: 3

FNAN 301 – Financial Management Credits: 3

MGMT 301 – People and Organizations Credits: 3

MIS 102 – Spreadsheet Applications for Business Credits: 1

MIS 301 – Introduction to Business Information Systems Credits: 3

MKTG 301 – Principles of Marketing Credits: 3

OM 210 – Statistical Analysis for Management Credits: 4

OM 301 – Operations Management Credits: 3

SOM 301 – Business Models: A Communication Approach Credits: 3

Satisfies the University General Education writing intensive requirement.

SOM 498 – Capstone Course: Advanced Business Models Credits: 3

Satisfies the University General Education synthesis requirement.

Once you declare your major (in this case accounting) and George Mason’s school of management accepts you. Here are the major courses you must take.

ACCT 311 – Managerial and Cost Accounting Credits: 3

ACCT 331 – Intermediate Financial Accounting I Credits: 3

ACCT 332 – Intermediate Financial Accounting II Credits: 3

ACCT 351 – Taxation and Managerial Decision Making Credits: 3

ACCT 361 – Accounting Information Systems Credits: 3

ACCT 461 – Assurance and Audit Services Credits: 3

Two career advisors at George Mason told me that acct 203 and acct 301 would not count towards the 24 credit hours of accounting courses. But both are not entirely sure. I did not bother to ask them about which courses would count towards the 24 credit hours of business courses. 🙁 I should have though.

I also talked to Nicholas and Krystal who are online help agents on the VBOA website. They could not tell me which courses would count towards the 24 accounting and 24 business courses. They told me I would have to pay $25 for a pre-evaluation. However they did tell me that my plan to obtain 150 credits as an undergrad is allowed. Once I complete the 24 credit hours of accounting and 24 credit hours business classes, and reach 120 credits the remaining 30 to get to 150 credits can be in whatever courses I choose. Krystal also told me I could take the courses needed to meet 150 credits at any time.

So basically I guess it means I could take those courses to meet the 150 credits as electives and take them at the same time along with my accounting major courses. (this is another question I have)

Right now I am guessing that only acct 311, acct 331, acct 332, acct 351, acct 361, and acct 461 would count towards the 24 credit hours. So I would have to take two more accounting courses. Which means 6/30 credits to meet 150 credits must be accounting. 24/30 credits are whatever I choose and can be taken at the same time with my major courses and I can treat them as an elective.

Right now I am guessing that acct 203, acct 301, bule 301, finan 301, mgmt 301, mis 102, mis 301, mktg 301, om 210, and om 301 would all count towards the 24 credit hours for business classes.

Problem is I am not sure if my guesses are correct.

So here are my questions:

Which courses at George Mason counts towards the 24 credits accounting and 24 credits business classes?

Am I correct that 6/30 credits to meet 150 credits must be accounting and the 24/30 credits to meet 150 credits are essentially whatever classes I want?

Does Krystal’s answer mean that I can take those 6/30 extra accounting and 24/30 whatever classes I want at the same time while still completing my accounting major courses?

I am trying to get this sorted out without having to pay the $25 for a pre-evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Good point. My only reason for not double majoring is this. After acct 331. Based on what I have heard from other accounting students, it only gets worse after 331. Worse as in it gets much harder especially in acct 351 and 461. By not double majoring and taking easy elective courses the plan here is that I can complete those assignments super early and just focus on accounting. The fear I have with double majoring is that these other courses for the other SOM majors will require a lot of time and effort which will cut into my accounting class study hours and homework. I want to boost my GPA with electives and by taking easy electives I will have lots of time to study accounting and increase my chances of getting accounting grades that are higher than a B-.

[Anonymous]

Good point. My only reason for not double majoring is this. After acct 331. Based on what I have heard from other accounting students, it only gets worse after 331. Worse as in it gets much harder especially in acct 351 and 461. By not double majoring and taking easy elective courses the plan here is that I can complete those assignments super early and just focus on accounting. The fear I have with double majoring is that these other courses for the other SOM majors will require a lot of time and effort which will cut into my accounting class study hours and homework. I want to boost my GPA with electives and by taking easy electives I will have lots of time to study accounting and increase my chances of getting accounting grades that are higher than a B-.

[AOCI]

933127,

Double majoring is not hard at all. lol. ISOM is one of the easiest SOM major.

I also double majored with accounting and ISOM and they were not hard.

Also, the biggest secret that Mason students don't know is that the CPA firms don't care about your GPA at all.

If you want to get a good grade on your accounting classes, you need to focus on transaction whether than J/E.

Mason accounting tries to teach accounting through J/E but you have to understand transactions to do well on the exams.

I used to tutor Mason students for free and help them ace their tests and exams by helping them to understand

before they memorize J/E. I guess 933127 is your g-number so you must be like freshmen sophomore and you think about CPA credits now? lol.

FAR-82!
REG-82 Again!
BEC-78!
AUD-84!

Done with the exam and LICENSED in VA as of 11/17/2015.

[AOCI]

933127,

Double majoring is not hard at all. lol. ISOM is one of the easiest SOM major.

I also double majored with accounting and ISOM and they were not hard.

Also, the biggest secret that Mason students don't know is that the CPA firms don't care about your GPA at all.

If you want to get a good grade on your accounting classes, you need to focus on transaction whether than J/E.

Mason accounting tries to teach accounting through J/E but you have to understand transactions to do well on the exams.

I used to tutor Mason students for free and help them ace their tests and exams by helping them to understand

before they memorize J/E. I guess 933127 is your g-number so you must be like freshmen sophomore and you think about CPA credits now? lol.

FAR-82!
REG-82 Again!
BEC-78!
AUD-84!

Done with the exam and LICENSED in VA as of 11/17/2015.

[Anonymous]

AOCI,

When it comes to double majoring I'll take your comments into consideration. Just one question I have. How hard are the rest of the core accounting classes after 331 and 332? Classes such as 351, 361, 461.

[Anonymous]

AOCI,

When it comes to double majoring I'll take your comments into consideration. Just one question I have. How hard are the rest of the core accounting classes after 331 and 332? Classes such as 351, 361, 461.

[Author]

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