[Anonymous]

hey guys, so i finished my first semester of my ms accounting program and i found out i am going to be put on academic probation because my GPA is under a 3.0. no excuses all my fault i could have studied harder, but i was putting more effort in my cpa tests since i want to finish that asap. i am pretty upset, but the fact that i passed one section and will be ready to take another in about a month makes me feel better (it wasnt like i was being lazy all semester). i sort of just underestimated my masters program and thought i would end up being ok.

so i am not really scared about the upcoming spring semester to improve my gpa because i know i can easily increase my gpa (i barely missed the 3.0 minimum). my only question is whether this will show up on my record that i was on academic probation at some point in my career. i know in undergrad, i had a 2.4 gpa after my first freshman year semester, but no firms brought it up when i interviewed my junior/senior year. instead they were just impressed with the significant improvement i showed year after year.

can anyone offer any opinions or anything? my offer says that i just need a 3.0 upon graduation, which i need in order to get the ms certification anyways.

[Anonymous]

One of my jobs as a student was in the online classes department, and that job included receiving and compiling the “applications” from prospective online faculty. Given that this was academia, transcripts were a required part of every application. So, with that back-drop, I reviewed a LOT of transcripts and never once saw one that indicated the student had ever been on academic probation, so I don't think it is something that would show up on transcripts. However, many schools divide the transcript by semester, so someone who was curious could determine what your GPA was for this semester and make assumptions regarding things like academic probation.

As to whether that would be a big deal or not, I would think that the overall GPA would matter more than for a specific semester, but I'm assuming you're talking Big 4 or large regional firms, and I don't have any direct experience with those so can't say for certain.

[Anonymous]

hey thanks for the response, definitely makes me feel somewhat better…

yes im talking about Big 4 and the offer letter clearly states must have a 3.0 upon graduation. i guess im just disappointed with myself cause its been so long since i let myself get bad grades, especially in a masters program where people say even B's are looked down upon and C's are unacceptable. i guess my plan now is to just pass REG next month and take a small break from CPA studying so i can focus on getting that gpa higher

[Anonymous]

I would agree with that plan. All A's next semester should make up for B's (and 1 C I assume?) this semester, so I'd give the CPA exams a break for a few months and focus on the Master's grades.

[knicks92]

dont think you have anything to worry about, just make sure you get the masters.

ts not like people will ask you for your masters gpa down the road. they will just see that you have it and see the big 4 experience u have on your resume and will be impressed. plus your employer said you just need a 3.0 by completion of the masters, so who cares if you did not get it halfway through. of course everyone wants to beat the cpa as quick as possible but try putting more effort into classes to avoid a stupid reason of losing your job.

although these big 4 firms have crazy funds, they do not want to waste the tremendous resources they put into new incoming associates/interns. unless u tremendously screw up, like failing next semester again or take part in some huge cheating scandal(just making up some crazy examples), they wont care and will be ready for you once your start date arrives

Tough times don't last. Tough people do.

B: 88
A: 77
R: 89
F:

[Author]

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