My plan for a while has been to puruse a Finance major with a Leadership Minor. But I was recently messing around with the degree planner thing on my college’s website and put in an accounting and finance double major. I noticed that at my college, it is only a 5 class difference between the two majors. I’m thinking about either dropping my leadership minor and doing this double major instead (able to graduate in 3 years still) or taking 3.5 years to do both majors and the minor. Either option is affordable. For additional context, the 3 or 3.5 year is possible because I will be bringing in tons of AP/CLEP/DSST for gen eds, all of which my college take and I would be only taking max 16 credits per sem to get my degree done in this time.
I was thinking the double major might be good because I know Finance majors are one of the few where undergrad prestige matters. I am going to a top 30 “new ivy,” but it is not yet at least a major feeder for things like IB. From what I understand, Accounting is way less prestige oriented and might make it possible for me more easily build my skills and work my way up in the finance world. It’s like good job security in case Finance does not work out right away. Also, there is a chance I pursue law school after undergrad, so the double major might make me look more competitive for that possibly.
But anyway, i’d love your opinion on this. Should I stick with my original plan (finance major+leadership minor), do finance+accounting double major, or something else? Please let me know if you have questions or I can clarify anything. Thank you so much!
You need to evaluate the number of credits required to qualify to take the CPA exam to see if your plan is viable.
And you do NOT need a double major or a minor. Excelling in one discipline is fantastic. If you want to increase your options, minoring in something less closely related (finance and applied math? finance and urban planning? Finance and sustainability?) is going to give you much more flexibility than just adding accounting- especially if you aren’t going to be on track to become a CPA.
Law school won’t care. Tattoo that on your forehead. Your grades and LSAT scores with a smattering of your work experience after undergrad, relevant EC’s (working with people who have been unlawfully evicted from their apartments is relevant; Morris Dancing is not) are what is going to matter. You can major in ethnomusicology and end up the same law school as the finance major.
I’ll look into if my plan would work for CPA, but i’m assuming it would or no one would take the Accounting major. And I know law schools don’t really care, but I was just wondering about this mainly in the event I don’t go to law school. My biggest fear is not being able to land a good job with a Finance major from my college since prestige matters so much in that field. But it’s probably a 50/50 chance at this point for me on going to law school or not. Thank you so much for the advice!
Most people take the accounting major over four years. You are talking about using AP credits which is going to change the math… you need to ask your advisor how many credits you are going to need to qualify to sit for the exam…
Accounting is very useful in any kind of business, including finance. It’s how the “story” of the business is related in numbers. Whether you major or minor in it or not, having a good understanding of it will be very useful.
For sure. My college requires most accounting classes for finance majors as well (why there is so much overlap between the 2 majors) so I am glad that I will be learning a lot about it no matter which plan I go with.
The accounting profession is a great profession especially if you are a CPA. Being a CPA, there are unlimited opportunities and there are lots of flexibilities in a career. To qualify to take the CPA exam, you will need an extra year of units/credits outside the normal 4 years degree. For example, in a semester system, you’ll need 150 units vs. a normal 4 year 120 units or in a quarter system, you’ll need 225 quarter units vs. 180 quarter units. You can fulfill the additional year of unit requirements with AP college credits, community college classes or other college or extension classes. Within the 150 semester/225 quarter units, there are specific accounting courses you would need to take to qualify for the CPA exam. You can check with your State Board of Accountancy for the accounting course or even other course requirements. After you attained the CPA license, you can still go to law school or go to a top tier MBA program to get into investment banking, consulting, etc. A JD/CPA or MBA/CPA combination can lead you to an outstanding career.
Thanks for all this. The 150 units is no problem since I have taken and passed 25 CLEP exams which are at least 3 credits each. I’m more worried about getting the amount of Accounting specific credits I need since it seems the accounting degree at my school does not have quite enough. Right now, i’m leaning towards the double major. After college, i’m going to try and get a Finance job, and if it does not work out, i’ll go back to school for a semester to get the remaining accounting credits I need.
The double major could be a great idea if you’re up for the workload. Accounting adds job security and can complement finance well, especially if you plan on law school later. If the leadership minor is important, though, sticking with your original plan might be better. Both options have their perks!