State School: Acoounting or Finance?

Hello fellow monkeys, I have a serious dilemma that I sure you guys will give me some good advice about and steer me in the right direction.

I am currently attending a state school and my area of study is Accounting. I will begin taking my upper level classes this summer so technically it is still early enough for me to change majors. Now the dilemma that I'm having is I never really wanted to major in Accounting, my first love is Finance. However I have been told that because I am not attending a top 50 university that the best route for me would be to get my BA in Accounting because a Finance degree from a tier 2 school is useless.

Now my question for you guys is would you still pursue the Accounting degree even if you plan on getting an MBA in the near future? I know the MBA will trump my BA degree once I get so I'm keeping my grades up with hopes of getting into a good B-school.

Since the BA in Accounting won't hold much weight after B-school should I just go with my preference and get an undergrad in Finance or be safe and get the Accounting degree....

 

So what makes an accounting degree from a tier 2 school useful that makes a finance degree not useful? Go with whatever will get you the higher GPA in - that's what helps you get job/internship opportunities. For the most part, most of the jobs that will recruit on campus that you want will overlap between the two anyway- unless you want to go into Audit/Tax (then pick accounting). What career are you interested in?

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

Hi OttoReadmore, thanks for responding. I'm actually interested in the commercial real estate field.....looking to land an analyst position after completing my BA. But to be honest, the finance field is so broad that I'm still looking into other areas that may spark my interest.

You're right when you say what makes the accounting degree so different if it's from a tier 2 school. I have always questioned that myself but I always get the "accounting is more stable" or "you will end up in some sales job with the finance degree" type answers. I have never had anyone give me any concrete reasons why. I have a mentor who was VP of Risk Management at Bank United in Miami and he also suggested I do Accounting which is probably the main reason why I went this route. He is very successful and makes over a million a year so I took his advice. Now that I am about to really get into the meat of my courses I'm starting to have second thoughts.

 

You can get an analyst slot with an accounting degree and some finance classes. You can get an analyst slot with a finance degree. This is pretty much the same for any finance position - with an accounting background and some finance classes you should be able to get interviews. The only thing is if you want an Audit or Tax position- then go with an accounting degree.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

Honestly finance is what I'm interested in .... I think if I was at a top school it would be a no brainer. But on the other hand I must admit that my current school does have a pretty solid reputation in the South Florida area. I guess my problem is that I have listened to so many people tell me that finance is not the route to go.....now I'm trying to convince myself to follow my heart. Having a CPA would provide me with a solid job and salary but I don't want to be miserable either.

 

Do finance if thats what you love. If possible why not double major in accounting and finance. Some good advice in general: don't behave in accordance to what others think/say. You can't live your life for others. Your success depends on you. The idea that a degree is useless because its from a "2nd tier" school is complete nonsense.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I never really gave the idea of doing a double major serious thought but that is an option that I will explore. I have a few more weeks to make up my mind and it's really starting to stress me. As you can see I'm up at 3 am responding to this forum lol

 
Best Response

I'll throw in my 2 cents since I am from a 2nd tier state school (not sure if I would even consider mine 2nd tier)....

Personally, I would say double major. If this is not possible, major/minor. If that's not possible,I would consider the following...

Does your school have alumni that are currently doing what you want to do? If yes -> possibly finance. Reach out to them for a chat.

If not -> Accounting.

From my experience, those with accounting degrees have the option to go big 4, earn a decent salary, get a solid firm on your resume, then move on after a couple years to better options. OR you could most likely have the same options as the finance majors (the experience at my school, at least).

Those who majored in finance end up working insurance and sales gigs. Some managed to get F500 jobs, but this was due to networking, my school received very little recruiting from F500 companies. With the exception of a few, these students are typically not happy after graduation.

Something else to consider, I don't know your current situation, but if I could go back in time, I would transfer to a target school. When I say target, I mean a top 30 school, not necessarily ivy/standford/MIT.

 

the more non-target your school is, the more likely you should do accounting over finance. Accounting is a safe major that firms recruit for regardless of school whereas finance, to get into real finance, the prestige aspect is key (although not the end all be all). Pretty simple actually. if you're very interested in finance I would minor/take finance classes if you can't minor and try to network into finance jobs, with the acct degree as a safety.

Array
 

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate all the input. Ceeg and BobTheBaker are reiterating what I've been told by several others. Accounting is always the safe route and when it comes to finance it has a lot to do with your school.

Will getting a MSF or MBA help me land a good finance gig? I know at the end of the day a lot comes down to networking also.... I just don't want to be one of those stuck doing sales or insurance like Ceeg stated above.

 

Yes - a good MSF or MBA will help you transition into the finance field. Your "second tier" school won't be an issue with the MBA track as long as you can check off all of the other boxes. Don't know a lot about the MSF route, but if you could get into MIT/Vandy/etc (top programs), then that is definitely an option.

Pick which one you like and go for it. Accounting is 100% safer and the public accounting route is a good one for right out of undergrad. You can easily make the move from Big 4 - MBA - Banking if that is what you want. Another nice caveat is that you'll have your CPA to fall back on if you ever need work later in life. For now though, double major as everyone has said. You will need 150 to get your CPA license if you go the CPA route anyway. Then just recruit for Finance roles and Accounting roles. You can try for the finance gigs you want and have accounting to fall back on if you need to. If you do the accounting path - go Big 4 or the next three (BDO/RSM/GT). You can specialize in real estate as well.

TLDR - Double Major - Recruit for both - take the best option

 

Mbassocate22 thanks again for the great advice. A double major is something that I never gave any serious thought but you guys have definitely opened my eyes to going that route. I never thought that I would have so many questions and be so uncertain as a junior in college, I thought I would have it all figured out by now. SMH

 

If you can do it, I'd go this route. The accounting background makes the Finance classes pretty easy in my experience. When I was doing it, the finance classes were more so for my enjoyment and interest rather than just a major. At the end of the day, it seems like the consensus is that the finance programs at most non-targets are lacking somewhat, and I would agree with this based on my experience.

Having a solid accounting baseline really made the Finance major a piece of cake to get - I just subbed in most of my elective classes for Finance ones, and there's a lot of crossover so it doesn't make it much more difficult. You will probably have to put in a little more work for the finance classes than you would for a random elective, but if you actually like finance this won't be a big deal.

 

If your school isn't a target, you need to do things outside of traditional recruiting to land a job. How does a sociology degree from Harvard better prepare someone for investment banking than a finance degree from Blue Mountain State? There are hundreds of threads here that will help you recruit coming from a non-target.

If you want to do accounting, you have to major in accounting. Otherwise, start networking and major in whatever will interest you the most and result in the best grades.

 

Unless you're going to do the CPA then I would go for account. In the event that you need to do the CPA, then twofold noteworthy in both. You ought to have the capacity to since you require 150 credits to sit for the exam in any case.

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