CPA & Athletics

College Majors Business Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone, first off this is my first post to this site. I’m hoping it will be helpful as I plan to become active on the boards.</p>

<p>My question is; How possible is it for a College-Athlete to become a CPA?</p>

<p>Here is my situation.</p>

<p>I’m currently in my 3rd semester of college majoring in Accounting. I did not declare my major until the begining of this semester. I am also a member of the baseball team at my school (we are not NCAA we are NAIA). Currently during this semester I am in Accounting 1 and I absolutly love it! It is my favorite subject and my best subject ever taken in school. I literally had not missed a single question on any homework assignment or test until mid October. My goal in College is to graduate from my undergrad school with a Bachelors in Accounting with all of the requirements to take the CPA exam. Due to my familys economic situation it just isn’t very possible for me to go to grad school. Now that you know that, let me tell you about my school. My school is a very small school (620 students), therefore, classes are not offered every semester like at universities. For example, at my school ACC 1 is only in the Fall and 2 is only in the Spring. Get what I’m saying? With that being said, I cant take a load of Accounting classes in the Fall when I’m in the offseason and then take chump classes in the Spring during baseball. Most of the members of my team are PE majors and Sports & Fitness Management majors which are cake classes as we all know. I do not want someone to make the decision for me I’m just looking for adivice. During my baseball season in the Spring we play a 50+ game schedule, and thus we are gone ALOT. Sometimes we go two weeks and never attend a class.</p>

<p>So, is it possible for me to continue playing and learn all of the content that I need to to pass the CPA exam?</p>

<p>What would you do?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>Mandatory caveat that when it comes to becoming a CPA, you should never take any advice from anyone unless a) it is in writing and b) it comes directly from your own state’s Board of Accountancy. Because you cannot be a CPA unless they say you can, no matter what anyone else may say.</p>

<p>Do you live in a state with a 150 hour requirement? If not, will you finish soon enough to be grandfathered in? If so, what’s your plan for getting the extra hours? Does your state require a major in accounting, or just a certain number of hours? If just a certain number of hours, can you pick some of them up as a non-degree student at a different school over the summer? What other specific courses does your state require, and will you be able to get them?</p>

<p>Once you’re eligible to sit for the exam, you get study materials (software or an in person course) and you learn whatever you didn’t get in college. Passing the exam is not predicated on having learned the material the first time, or having taken certain classes.</p>

<p>From a practical perspective, if you want to do tax, the only time to get job experience (internship or volunteer through VITA) is January through April.</p>

<p>In most schools, Intermediate is the “weeder” accounting class. I liked Intermediate, but not everyone does.</p>