<p>Hello, I’m currently a sophomore in Ohio State University’s business program and I’m still searching for the right major/ job for me. I’m mainly concerned that I’m going to get stuck with a job that is nothing but redundant paper/computer work every day for the rest of my career. If anyone could suggest some jobs that perhaps they’ve had and truly enjoyed, please share. And also, what’s a good major to obtain this job? Thanks</p>
<p>If you become a CPA, there are many options, many of which involve “fun.” </p>
<p>These websites may help you: </p>
<p>[Start</a> Here, Go Places.](<a href=“http://www.startheregoplaces.com%5DStart”>http://www.startheregoplaces.com)
[Real-Life</a> CPAs](<a href=“http://www.startheregoplaces.com/why-accounting/real-life-cpas/]Real-Life”>http://www.startheregoplaces.com/why-accounting/real-life-cpas/)</p>
<p>No, don’t touch accounting.</p>
<p>I’ve read your posts dawgie, and see that you work for Deloitte, so you probably were an accounting major. </p>
<p>What do you suggest if you could re-do everything?</p>
<p>Why not touch accounting dawgie? It is the field that I have narrowed down my personality type to (Finance is 2nd & MIS is 3rd in line) and my only hope to be reach success the fastest way (in next 3 years). Elaborate on your post, please, so I am not risking my career. After all, your profession is what determines your life style at least in this county.</p>
<p>Yes Dawgie, please elaborate, we can all learn from you</p>
<p>I’ve made too many mistakes in my life education and career wise. I actually thought for a second that going to top 50 usnews and businessweek ranked undergrad business school was actually impressive. Sure it got me into Big 4, but honestly it’s not that difficult to get in with a little work and initiative.</p>
<p>I sat back and looked at it, and I certainly do not wanna stay in public accounting. I also sure as hell do not want to go into industry accounting because that is strictly handling boring ass operations/accounting function for a corporation. None of which really takes amazing skills. I personally don’t want to be in a profession where I am that expendable and easily replaced. Not to mention bored out of my mind.</p>
<p>So how do I fix my mistake? Well the goal is to go to a top MBA school, can it be done with Big 4 experience? Yes sure, I’ve seen multiple resume books and I’ve seen a number make it with Big 4 and CPA (I will be obtaining my CFA as well, I’m already scheduled for December) Now why top MBA school? Well because it sets me far apart from the competition and will allow me to venture off into more challenging and interesting jobs. So why do I say accounting is a mistake? Sure I saw Big 4 accountants with CPA get into Top MBA, but I would have rather have a quantitative background instead and make more money entry level. Quantitative backgrounds are also more demanded and respected than back office accountants.</p>
<p>PachB, and if I could re-do everything, I would have just started out in HS and actually did something to get into a Top university so I can do whatever I want. Unfortunately I was misguided and didn’t do anything in HS, hence the 1.7 GPA. When I wanted to change it was too late, but I did end up with a 3.6 in College with 4-5 internships. </p>
<p>I kinda regret my path as it is not 100% optimal for my goals, but I’m not going to make false claims saying that an accounting background is worthless for your career. That is simply not true.</p>
<p>Ben Debacco?</p>
<p>Accounting never should have even been brought up. It is nothing but redundant paper work and number crunching. Some people enjoy it, I don’t think the poster would.</p>
<p>Dawgie what school did you go to?</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing, Dawgie. I respect all of your travails and the strides you’ve been able to make in the field so far, but I’m sure it has to have yielded at least some satisfaction.</p>
<p>I want to address some things you said in your post: </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I want to know what you make of [these</a> profiles of CPAs](<a href=“http://www.startheregoplaces.com/why-accounting/real-life-cpas/]these”>http://www.startheregoplaces.com/why-accounting/real-life-cpas/) in both public and industry accounting. From what they write in their profiles, all of them seem to be enjoy their job and they all invalidate the “number-crunching” stereotype that is commonly associated with the Accounting field. </p>
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</p>
<p>At the Big 4 Deloitte where you worked didn’t you make great entry level money? I only presume this because everyone is saying that Big 4’s make GREAT entry level money, but I’m not sure if it’s true. From your story it seems that it’s not. What is your idea of great entry level money? Do you mind sharing what you’re shooting for with that MBA?</p>
<p>Oliver Twist, the major consensus in all business schools is that Accounting is the “least fun” of the lot. It’s honestly not for everyone. And that’s why it’s usually never the most popular major in any business school. Usually marketing and management are considered more fun/easy and hence much more popular with business students. </p>
<p>Those CPA profiles you looked up are of people who STAYED in Accounting because they ENJOY what they do hence they pursued a CPA certification, so of course they will say Accounting is enjoyable and great, etc. If you looked up similar profiles of people in other professions, they will all say positive things OBVIOUSLY.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that RELATIVE to the other business professions, Accounting IS more paper-work, number crunching, etc. and it’s the truth.</p>
<p>Now to answer the threadmaker’s question, take the intro. business classes that you will be required to take anyway, and figure out which business major works for you, clicks for you, matches your characteristics, matches what you want in a job, etc.</p>
<p>You will only experience success in a field if you are passionate about that particular field!</p>
<p>“going to top 50 usnews and businessweek ranked undergrad business school was actually impressive.” My B-school is ranked at #6 overall, #1 in Accounting & #3 in Finance (McCombs) according to U.S News. If that’s not impressive in the long run, then please tell me so I can stop cheering. </p>
<p>“the goal is to go to a top MBA school” I have been told that a few times before but for accounting, a CPA was recommend more than an MBA. However, I am still planning on the MBA in the long run since its famous for polishing your degree & opening new doors. </p>
<p>“I would have rather have a quantitative background instead and make more money entry level.” I agree but for those who are not too math savvy and not willing to take those advance math courses will have a hard time (like me). From all the information I garnered so far and from the experiences and the story telling of my introductory accounting teacher, accounting involves simple but sharp mathematical skills. I will be starting my 2nd year at my B-school and I am willing to pursue either Finance or MIS, if not accounting. Off course, MBA is the long run plan to boost your career but starting salaries don’t vary much for most of the undergrad business fields, at least at my B-School. Here are the BBA salary statistics for McCombs: [Statistics</a> - Employers - McCombs Career Services - The McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/career/employers/stats.asp]Statistics”>http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/career/employers/stats.asp)</p>
<p>From the statistics, it looks like starting salaries for students who choose “Engineering Route to Business” or the ones who graduate with honors are way higher than other fields. Now most people are not going to make honors and the majority is going just for business (as it also shows by the statistics that very few people pursue the ERB route). Lately, there has been a high demand for MIS graduates and likewise, the starting salaries are a bit higher for MIS graduates too (personally think demand will reach supply pretty soon in 3 years). For many others like me who entered the business school just for business and not for engineering or physics, their options start them off with 50k on average after graduation. To gain that quantitative knowledge, are you better off majoring in Finance or MIS because those two are the only ones that I can think of that will give quantitative knowledge (I still am a little confused how accounting wouldn’t give you quantitative knowledge and there isn’t anything amazing to get the boring work done.) Would an entry level financial analyst be more difficult to replace than an accountant for a recruiter? I’ve heard from my accounting teacher that accountants are the first people who are fired in times of crisis …I think I find a correlation here somewhere …not exactly sure where. </p>
<p>I am now thinking about a major in Finance or MIS with an MBA in technology management or some other field later down the road after couple years of experience (3-5 …cant wait much longer for that 6-figure). </p>
<p>As far as my high school career goes, I keep it above a 3.0 but nothing amazing enough to get me into where I am now. This is the beginning of my struggle and I bet, after your experiences, you agree with me that the struggle better be right. I’d love to listen to your (& others’) experiences and life after graduation, and will not be offended by anything after all its all a matter of opinion. </p>
<p>Also, some information to aid you if you plan on giving a personal advice: I hold a 3.9 with 32 credits & top-level recommendations with 1 internship so far.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Nxt, I just said my school was in top 50, it’s in the lower digits but that’s not the point. Anyways the point is, it’s not mind blowing to have an accounting degree regardless of school. I’m not knocking on your school. In fact, it’s a great school.</p>
<p>For accounting and only accounting, a CPA is definitely more useful for your career progression. MBA would be in the long run like you mentioned.</p>
<p>I mentioned entry level salaries and whatnot in my post, but my main concern is finding a challenging and interesting job for myself. There is not much quantitative knowledge in accounting, Finance is your best bet i guess. An entry level Financial Analyst at a Fortune 500 company is typically a hybrid role of accounting g/l functions and some analysis of numbers. Both have pretty good job security because they are necessary for the operations of the corporation. The company can’t function without accounting.</p>
<p>Some advice, keep your GPA (Not the main factor but definitely helps) as high as possible just to help you out with MBA admissions and secure your entry level position. I made a sorry ass mistake and slacked off my senior year after knowing I had a offer lined up. You might wan to consider minoring in Math.</p>
<p>I just read somewhere that the top 3 majors for guaranteed job placement right out of college are accounting, engineering and nursing.</p>
<p>Throughout my 30 year business career I have worked with many accounting firms. (I think it used to be the “big 8”.) The accountants who make it out of the “pencil pushing” assignments and are promoted to manager/director are the ones with a more balanced education. Why not add something like management, communications, marketing or economics to your portfolio. Or go with the new trend…add something technical like engineering!</p>
<p>I would rather analyze data and make predictions & create new models for the company rather than do an audit and check to see everything is okay in the financial statements. I guess Finance is for me but I leaned more towards accounting after reading all these posts on this website, especially the one posted by tax guy. I was influenced and never really realized that accounting was the language of business and the job security accounting offers. However now, after reading your post about how boring accounting could be if one is not very enthusiastic about it, Finance seems as another option. I haven’t yet heard of a Finance and MIS combination but I think accounting would be more suitable as a minor than MIS. The reason I keep mentioning MIS is because technology is becoming more and more valuable in almost every field of business. Also, how valuable will a minor be if it drops your overall GPA 2-3 points (for example from a 3.8 to a 3.5 or a 3.5 to a 3.2)?</p>
<p>Nxt do you really want to make that decision based off OTHER’s opinions?</p>
<p>First taxguy, who obviously feels passionate about his field, says accounting is great and you hop on the bandwagon. Now Dawgie, someone who has decided accounting is not for them, has made a post saying HE feels like accounting is boring and you are that quick to say it isn’t for you.</p>
<p>If I told you that Hospitality Management was the best business because I was making $75k as a hotel manager 2 years out of college and it is has such great job security because everyone needs hotels, would you change your major to HM? You given off the idea that there is a good chance you would.</p>
<p>That’s too significant of a drop in GPA, if you really think that’s going to be the case then I would not advise it. </p>
<p>Nxt, actually you have the wrong impression and knowledge about auditing. It’s sad because Auditing is probably the most dynamic and fun part of accounting. Here’s a list of some reasons but not all.</p>
<ol>
<li> Awesome culture, all young people you can relate to that just graduated.</li>
<li> Working in a team setting, get to joke around while working. (Develop good team work)</li>
<li> Get to talk to clients and actually develop some client service skills instead of sitting in a cube all day (Some people hate it 
)</li>
<li> Get to go to different clients and get exposed to new industry practices, accounting systems, and environments. (Get used to picking up new things really fast)</li>
<li> Get to create different and creative ways to test certain balances.</li>
<li> There are always new interns and first years to prank and haze every year.</li>
</ol>
<p>I’d take this over a boring industry position any day. All said and done, it’s not the easiest job, but certainly not the most difficult job. A good combination of soft skills and technical skills though.</p>
<p>plscata, it’s not pathetic to hear it from people that actually worked in the industry. I hope he finds my posts and experiences useful. He is forming his own opinions based on taxguy and my experiences. There is nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>It’s certainly helpful, and would make me feel more comfortable with my deciscion, however I would much rather make my assumptions based off my own experience. Whether that be from classes or an internship. The only opinions I would take into consideration for something as important my major would be people who know me personally. You made your point that it wasn’t FOR YOU. I’ve read opinion after opinion on these forums, some saying they love public accounting, some (like yourself) wanting to put in their dues and leave. However, everyone is a stranger and I have no clue if their personality comes anywhere close to mine. A great friend of mine who is very much like myself works in the Big 4, so when he reassured me I would enjoy it, I felt comfortable. That’s because he wasn’t some random guy in front of a computer who I know nothing about. </p>
<p>I guess that you are right though. I guess certain people can be influenced easily while others are more hard-headed.</p>