[junilerick]

Hey Everyone,

So a little background about myself – I’m a 27 year old finance graduate from CSUF going through a quarter life crisis and desperately trying to improve my career situation. I’ve only been working for about 2 years (graduated late between coming from overseas, switching majors, and taking a year off) and have been stuck in an unrelated “account manager” job with zero prospects and little pay. I can only blame myself for not interning/networking and for accepting the very first job offered. I’ve matured a lot living in the real world, and am coming to the conclusion that if I don’t want to be waiting for social security checks to buy groceries at 70, I either need to go back to school or get lucky landing a new gig.

I’ve been applying like a mad man for about a month but not much worthwhile has been coming back. I’ve been noticing that for the jobs I’m interested in (real estate, finance, and accounting primarily), accounting is king in getting your foot in the door. At the very least, most accounting backgrounds will have decent job security and pay. So lately I’ve been looking into how to change careers and from what I’ve been reading, Macc is the way to go.

Where I currently live with family, I can reasonably attend CSUF, UCI, CSULB, and Chapman while working full, maybe half time. CSUF, in particular, would probably only cost me around $10K. However, and correct me if I’m wrong, it seems except for USC no other school in California carries the same prestige of a top program or the best recruiting. USC is very expensive both in tuition and living, since I would likely have to move out of family home to near LA, not to mention the difficulty of getting in.

Given the above, my questions are as follows:

Does a Macc provide any job prospects if I don’t get recruited and takes me a while to complete the CPA?

While CSUF may have a respectable accounting program, I hear the recruiting is pretty lackluster and has a fairly unimpressive exam pass rate (43.8% for first-time testing events in 2015). Do I really want to be going here to save a few bucks (well.. more like 35K)?

…or should I seriously consider an out of state program that is highly ranked and recruited, yet still lower in cost and maybe difficultly in getting in than USC? I’ve been considering A&M, AZ State, BYU, IU, UW, to name a few.

Will I have trouble getting into Big 4 if I graduate around 29 with an undergrad GPA of 3.36 (my business GPA is good, but really bombed my first year when in CS)? If yes, should I just go to CSUF?

If so, are there many other solid career paths?What concentration would you recommend purely in terms of job outlook/compensation?

Any concentrations that would prepare me for real estate, both professionally and in personal investing?

Thank you!

[Track55]

One thing you may not know about CSULB is the Master's in accounting is brand new. They only have full-day classes Friday and Saturday. I don't know if an employer would let you miss every Friday for a year.

AUD - 74, 99 !!
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Studying for Ethics exam

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[tuanxn]

Hi junilerick,

I'm currently at CSUF for their MST program and I would say their recruiting is far from lackluster. It is a target school and as you mentioned, the accounting program is well respected. I wouldn't rate a program based on their pass rate. I know a lot of people on these boards that received top notch grades and still failed the exam the first pass through. The exam isn't correlated to intelligence, but rather discipline and consistency.

May I ask why you chose finance over accounting for your undergrad? Only reason I ask is because although finance and accounting are similar, they are still very different and you may not enjoy a career in accounting (regardless of how much it pays).

In the end, I chose CSUF because it had a great program, strong recruiting, and I didn't want to pay five times as much to attend USC. If you're a hardworking student that's involved with campus organizations (Beta Alpha Psi) and take the effort to network, there's no reason you shouldn't be afforded great career opportunities.

[junilerick]

Track55 – thanks, didn't realize that. Though it's probably CSUF or out of state for me.

[junilerick]

Hey tuanxn,

I originally chose Finance because I thought Accounting would make for a very boring career, but I've always been good with numbers and enjoyed working alone on projects, so maybe it's a perfect fit in reality. It's also very applicable to things I do have a passion for like real estate.

Also, I think I need to be more realistic and choose a career that has higher median pay and good job security. For me, working a low pay dead end job that doesn't really build towards anything is the worst possible feeling, so I want to build some strong transferable skills that will serve me well anywhere.

I'm a little worried about networking as it's definitely not one of my strong suits – any suggestions?

Do you have a general idea of CSUF's job placement %?

[tuanxn]

I can't speak for everyone on this forum, but I personally don't feel like accounting is a number-based career. Although our work involves number crunching and making sure things balance, I think a larger part is devoted to ensuring transactions are properly classified and using your own proper judgment when there isn't guidance otherwise.

I've yet to work in public accounting, but when I was in private industry; I was very involved with others when working on projects. I wouldn't write off accounting as a profession where you're alone in your cubicle all day.

Networking is something that is a learned trait and comes naturally with time. As long as you already have a professional demeanor, just keep going to professional events. Check out the local IMA, IIA, or CalCPA events.

Sorry, I can't find the job placement rates for CSUF, but I'm sure you can find more information by speaking to someone in Mihaylo. Better yet, find an old professor you're close to and discuss your options with him/her.

[Author]

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