[Study Monk]

So I think I am going to get a Masters of Science in Accounting to qualify for the new educational requirements in California

So my options are to get accepted to Golden Gate University which is WASC certified and get enrolled as soon as January and pay $27,000. Or to wait until July, study for the GMAT, and hopefully get accepted to Cal State East Bay or Sacramento for schools accredited by AACSB and range between $22,000 and $25,000.

Keep in mind I am unemployed and it looks like I can get out sooner at Golden Gate University and the excess money from earlier employment might make up much of the difference in the excess costs of the programs. I will also be living in the Bay Area and it appears that local firms recruit from GGU.

So my ultimate question is how important is AACSB accreditation?

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[jaredo155]

I can't speak to the accreditation of the specific schools you mentioned, but the WASC is a regional accreditation (which regional is better than national). AACSB is a international accreditation which for US universities is awarded in addition to their regional accreditation. Which means that the two schools that are AACSB accredited would also have some other regional accreditation as well. AACSB is the highest standard of business school accreditation, so it would be higher than the WASC. However just because Golden Gate doesn't have the AACSB doesn't mean they aren't as good a school, there are a number of factors and reasons that play in to why schools choose certain accreditations over others. Getting and maintaining accreditation for instance is a relatively expensive process, so if Golden Gate was trying to save money they may have figured that since the regional accreditation was required and AACSB is always in addition to whatever other accreditation you have it wasn't worth the extra cost to achieve. Sorry for the long post, but my point is if a school has regional or AACSB accreditation then it most likely isn't going to be a bad school, and from there you will have to dig a little deeper to see which is actually better. For what it is worth a lot of people on here have commented saying positive things about Golden Gate, I personally have no idea though.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[jaredo155]

I can't speak to the accreditation of the specific schools you mentioned, but the WASC is a regional accreditation (which regional is better than national). AACSB is a international accreditation which for US universities is awarded in addition to their regional accreditation. Which means that the two schools that are AACSB accredited would also have some other regional accreditation as well. AACSB is the highest standard of business school accreditation, so it would be higher than the WASC. However just because Golden Gate doesn't have the AACSB doesn't mean they aren't as good a school, there are a number of factors and reasons that play in to why schools choose certain accreditations over others. Getting and maintaining accreditation for instance is a relatively expensive process, so if Golden Gate was trying to save money they may have figured that since the regional accreditation was required and AACSB is always in addition to whatever other accreditation you have it wasn't worth the extra cost to achieve. Sorry for the long post, but my point is if a school has regional or AACSB accreditation then it most likely isn't going to be a bad school, and from there you will have to dig a little deeper to see which is actually better. For what it is worth a lot of people on here have commented saying positive things about Golden Gate, I personally have no idea though.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[Liss, Master of Coin]

When I was researching schools to attend for my MBA, I looked up Harvard and found a school with the same accreditation.

I just looked up Stanford (which is the most prestigious CA university I could think of) on wikipedia. Apparently it's “accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.” So my guess is if WASC is good enough for Stanford, it must be pretty good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University#Academics

CPA (MA, Non-Reporting)

The difference in winning & losing is most often, not quitting - Walt Disney

B - 33, 71, 79!
A - 32, 61, 70, 83!
R - 33, 58, 73, 69, 81!
F - 47, 78! 🙂
After 3 long years, I'm finally DONE!
I could not have done it without NINJA MCQs.

Used: Roger for his Videos, WTB, and NINJA Audio, Notes and Test Bank.

[Liss, Master of Coin]

When I was researching schools to attend for my MBA, I looked up Harvard and found a school with the same accreditation.

I just looked up Stanford (which is the most prestigious CA university I could think of) on wikipedia. Apparently it's “accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.” So my guess is if WASC is good enough for Stanford, it must be pretty good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University#Academics

CPA (MA, Non-Reporting)

The difference in winning & losing is most often, not quitting - Walt Disney

B - 33, 71, 79!
A - 32, 61, 70, 83!
R - 33, 58, 73, 69, 81!
F - 47, 78! 🙂
After 3 long years, I'm finally DONE!
I could not have done it without NINJA MCQs.

Used: Roger for his Videos, WTB, and NINJA Audio, Notes and Test Bank.

[tough_kitty]

@liss: I like the way you think 🙂

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[tough_kitty]

@liss: I like the way you think 🙂

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[Study Monk]

thanks guys!

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

thanks guys!

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[acamp]

You may have already done this, but have you found out what recruiting is like at either school? Specifically the number of Big4 and number of firms overall that come to campus? See if they can provide prior flyers from their Meet the Firms (or similar) events so you can see exactly what firms are on there.

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[acamp]

You may have already done this, but have you found out what recruiting is like at either school? Specifically the number of Big4 and number of firms overall that come to campus? See if they can provide prior flyers from their Meet the Firms (or similar) events so you can see exactly what firms are on there.

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[Study Monk]

@acamp

The recruiting out of Golden Gate University seems to be good, but some people are implying that its mainly for their tax program. However it looks like they have private accounting postings as well. The school has a job posting site for its graduates.

Sacramento is an hour out from the bay area so it would probably not be as good for my area as far as recruiting.

Cal State East Bay has a AACSB accredited program with a meet the firms, but there program is much more restricted than GGU. 60 percent of the program would be taking my undergrad classes over again.

Not going to commute to San Jose for their tax program…

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

@acamp

The recruiting out of Golden Gate University seems to be good, but some people are implying that its mainly for their tax program. However it looks like they have private accounting postings as well. The school has a job posting site for its graduates.

Sacramento is an hour out from the bay area so it would probably not be as good for my area as far as recruiting.

Cal State East Bay has a AACSB accredited program with a meet the firms, but there program is much more restricted than GGU. 60 percent of the program would be taking my undergrad classes over again.

Not going to commute to San Jose for their tax program…

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[jaredo155]

Just to clarify my statements because I feel like there may have been some confusion, Cal State and all of it's extensions are accredited by both AACSB (international) and WASC (regional). While Golden Gate is accredited only by WASC (regional). All universities in the US have to be accredited by either a regional or national accrediting body, the AACSB is in addition to that accreditation not in place of. In order of prestige it goes AACSB, regional, then national. As one previous post mentioned Harvard and Stanford are both WASC accredited, but they are also both AACSB accredited while Golden Gate is not. Don't get me wrong I am not saying either school is better or worse I have no idea, but based purely on accreditation AACSB is better than WASC by itself.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[jaredo155]

Just to clarify my statements because I feel like there may have been some confusion, Cal State and all of it's extensions are accredited by both AACSB (international) and WASC (regional). While Golden Gate is accredited only by WASC (regional). All universities in the US have to be accredited by either a regional or national accrediting body, the AACSB is in addition to that accreditation not in place of. In order of prestige it goes AACSB, regional, then national. As one previous post mentioned Harvard and Stanford are both WASC accredited, but they are also both AACSB accredited while Golden Gate is not. Don't get me wrong I am not saying either school is better or worse I have no idea, but based purely on accreditation AACSB is better than WASC by itself.

AUD - 2/2013 - Passed!
BEC - 5/2013 - Passed!
FAR - 8/2013 - Passed!
REG - 11/2013 - Passed!
"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

[Study Monk]

I think i am going to hold out for Harvard! 🙂

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Author]

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