berlinerd - Degree Planning Advice - aiming for CPA

[berlinerd]

Hello, I am berlinerd, I am from Europe originally. I've been in read-only for a while on this forum but finally decided to participate and hopefully contribute. Thank you all for creating this fantastic community!

I currently live in Canada. I have a degree from my home EU country which was enough to check the box for my current finance job because I had enough practical skills. However, in order to proceed with my career, I need to get a US degree - I have good career opportunities at current place provided I get US CPA and maybe posting to the U.S. as a result (which I'd like). 

So I am looking to get a US degree in Accounting, or Accounting and Finance to satisfy CPA exam & license requirements - i.e. to try and get 150 credits at once. It is quite difficult to get a course-by-course degree evaluation of my home country degree (insane amount of bureaucracy) so I really think it is faster to get 150 U.S. credits and be eligible for a CPA exam. That is why I am interested in (if possible) two majors at UMPI - or a major with a few minors (not sure if that increases your total amount of credits?). UMPI seems like a good option which is "reputable" enough for mainstream careers if the employer will consider "reputation" at some point of time.
I would also consider NAU but I am not sure if their Personalized Learning allows more than 120 credits, if their BBA has enough accounting courses and I really need to graduate as soon as possible so 64 credits may not work out (unless you can tackle courses very fast). edited: I found out their BBA is not a CBE

For a second major (if that is possible) I would like to take Criminal Justice because I've experienced enough "life happens" events and what to have a plan B career (forensic accountant, government investigator, police officer, well... military officer too) in case current career path does not work out. But I would look into any other additional major because currently CPA eligibility is my main aim.

I would be glad if you could share your thoughts with me - what are my possible options? I also thought to maybe pursue a Master later, but for now I won't have available budget for Bachelor + Master. 

Your Age: 27

What kind of degree do you want?: Accounting, or Accounting and Finance. Preferably double major with Criminal Justice, but I would also consider any other majors or minors if they increase your total credits.

Current Regional Accredited Credits: no (never studied in the U.S.)

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: 

Sophia Credits: 12-18 (currently working on them).

Ancient Greek Philosophers, 3, 100% or A
English Composition I, 3, 97% or A
Introduction to Ethics, 3 cr, 92% or A
Principles of Finance: 3 cr, 93% or A

currently going through Calculus I (why do I do that to myself) and waiting for Business Law to be approved so that will be +6 credits more I believe. I plan to go through as max as I can on Sophia. Do not have Study.com currently as the monthly spending budget is quite limited.

Budget: as cheap as possible. Price of UMPI/NAU works for me. Pay-per-credit does not work, I won't afford ~$10k for a bachelors (I was contemplating SNHU first but can't afford that). I would put $5000 as maximum budget.

Commitments: work full time with overtime, but I can manage studies if I have a plan to stick to. 

Dedicated time to study: at least two hours daily plus full weekends. Maybe even more during the week. It depends rather on how material is easy to process in my brain.

Timeline: need to finish as soon as possible to progress in career and not be stuck in an immigrant's debt hole (supporting family back home, settling down with higher interest rates because you are new etc.). 

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: I may get some funding from employer in future but do not want to ask for a lot in order not to be too much "owing". 

Thank you very much for reading!

[rachel83az]

You don't need Calculus for any degree you want to get, but if you're almost done then I'd just go ahead and finish it. If you only just started, you might want to drop it and take Algebra instead. Maybe Statistics.

Do not take English Comp II. It's terrible. You will die. (Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but UMPI's version is way faster/easier.)

Do take Human Biology, Human Biology Lab, Environmental Science, and Spanish I. These are what you should focus on next. Unfortunately, an ACTFL exam is not currently a valid way to meet UMPI's foreign language requirements, or else you could possibly take the exam in your native language and be done with it. If you'd rather not take Spanish, you can also contact ACTFL/LTI to find out when the credits will be available again. https://www.actfl.org/about-actfl/contact-us

The CJ major at UMPI requires an internship. I'm not sure how that would work for someone in Canada, but you can hopefully work something out. That'd be something to discuss with UMPI staff once enrolled. You can at least get the Accounting degree easily enough.

There are degree plans at https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:UMPI to help you figure out what else you need to take from Sophia.

[bjcheung77]

@berlinerd, again, Welcome to the board... Awesome write up for the template/addendum... Where in Canada are you now? And which EU country were you from? Did you get any credits at all when you were in the EU? It seems like you're starting from the beginning without any credits except for the completed Sophia.org ones. If that is the case, you've pretty much decided on the following - UMPI BA Accounting & BA CJ double major, you need the graded credits anyways and you want to get up to 150 credits for the CPA! I would create a spreadsheet and follow the degree plans available for both on our WIKI, do all the credits you can with Sophia.org first and then move through the required courses as per the WIKI...

[berlinerd]

@rachel83az, thank you very much for your insights. I did not notice that CJ has a field experience course - thank you, I'll reach out to UMPI and ask before enrolling. I've went through 60% of Calculus already, and I've just noticed a serious spike of difficulty somewhere in the end of derivatives topic. I really want to pass Calculus just as a personal achievement matter, I've already "bitten the bullet" as I progress slowly because of that and pay more but that's OK. I'll take Spanish at Sophia, I like it even though I see it has a few touchstones (+ time) but that's fine.

@bjcheung77 thank you, glad to be here on board finally! I am in Alberta currently and originally from Germany (Berlin). I have a bachelor from Germany and when I've contemplated possibility to transfer credits I understood I do not have much "business" or "accounting" courses and transfer merely for electives/GenEd does not make sense as the procedure of degree evaluation is time-consuming and bring out-of-pocket expenses so I decided I'd rather tackle Sophia or take UMPI courses, because I'm also genuinely interested in studying.

I am sorry if I am as usual asking the same question once again - but I've tried searching on the forum through posts and I did not understand, do double majors (not double degree) increase your total credit amount of your Bachelor at UMPI? Could you please let me know what you think - if I take Accounting & CJ double major, will I have 150+ credits? Or second major will go into "electives" of the first major? Even if I still will be limited to 90 credit transfer to 150-credits-degree that's still okay, I am happy to study at UMPI for a few semesters because I'll at least have a defined and good-looking aim to achieve.

p.s. I would also contemplate actual double degree study, I think it still may make sense financially (it will be higher on budget but I'll leverage debt resources, that's a good aim). I've seen a post where a person was awarded two degrees simultaneously but I did not quite understand how did that work out. If you could please share your insights how that worked I would be very grateful.

[rachel83az]

Yes, if you double major/minor at UMPI, you will have more credits. If you need at least 150, you might have to take an extra class or two because it's theoretically possible you only wind up with 144 or 147 credits after all requirements have been met.

At UMPI, you cannot do double degrees simultaneously. Example: you decide you want the BA Accounting and BABA Management. You would need to finish one degree first, graduate, and then come back and finish the second's requirements. This is NOT the same as being able to double major and complete the BA CJ and BA Accounting at the same time. Double majors may be done simultaneously. Double degrees not.

TESU is the school that allows students to double-degree and graduate with both at the same time. But they are more expensive than UMPI and I don't think they fit your needs.

[Kab]

Hallo!

1) If you want the 150 for the CPA and want to avoid trouble with a double major use World Education Services (WES) and get the degree you have in germany evaluated. Send the transcript to UMPI. They should add the unused credits in the transcript and VOILÀ you have 120 from UMPI plus whatever from Germany (in theory 90 credits) in a transcript and should be over 150. In case you find it problematic to get two majors or too expensive.

2) for CPA make sure you do not need or you have (but since you are in Canada...) a Social Security Number, SSN. Some, most. states ask for it.

3) If you want to do the Criminal Justice at UMPI be aware that has a practicum. Organize and find a place for it, preparation is key.

[davewill]

I actually think that TESU could be a good choice for this. Not only can you get their BSBA Accounting, but you can earn the extra accounting credits (the extra 30 credits have to be in accounting) via alternative sources (like Sophia), send them in before you graduate, and have your full 150 credits neatly on the TESU transcript.

You would need to figure out which state you would be seeking your license from, and make sure that they will accept alt credit on a college transcript for the extra coursework, but we've had people here do that multiple times.

As far as working in forensic accounting, rather then seeking a CJ degree, I'd probably look to include relevant forensic accounting coursework in your degree plan.

[dfrecore]

You do not need to have your degree evaluated course-by-course, because it's a full degree - so whether you decide on TESU or UMPI, you will only need courses in the major, and won't need to worry about the Gen Eds.

I would apply at both and get your degree evaluated by WES or whoever (whichever company both schools will accept), and then you can plan out your degree.

UMPI will allow you to take all of your Accounting courses there for a grade, so it's probably the better option for the CPA route; some states/areas are finicky about credits in the major and want to see grades. I think you can also take all of the Accounting and Finance courses from Study.com and get them on your transcript at UMPI, even if you end up not needing them for the major. That way, you'll have the 120cr for a 1st degree, and then all of the credits for your 2nd degree, which will be well over 150cr.

[LevelUP]

I've went through 60% of Calculus already, and I've just noticed a serious spike of difficulty somewhere in the end of derivatives topic. I really want to pass Calculus just as a personal achievement matter, I've already "bitten the bullet" as I progress slowly because of that and pay more but that's OK. I'll take Spanish at Sophia, I like it even though I see it has a few touchstones (+ time) but that's fine.

Normally we say to finish your degree requirements first, then do electives or other courses so you have the highest probability of finishing in case life gets in the way.

I am sorry if I am as usual asking the same question once again - but I've tried searching on the forum through posts and I did not understand, do double majors (not double degree) increase your total credit amount of your Bachelor at UMPI?

Keep in mind you can transfer more than 90 credits to UMPI.  For example, if you transfer in 120 credits, and do 30 credits at UMPI, then you have 150 total credits on your transcript.  Same for TESU and some other colleges.

If you do 2 majors, make sure everything adds up to 150 including your transfer credit.

Also, make sure you meet CPA licensing requirements.

[berlinerd]

Thank you all for your thoughts and insights! There is a lot of new information which I did not know. Besides all, I'll surely look into WES evaluation if that will work for transfer - I previously thought it was going to be a mess but looks like I overestimated the seriousness of the procedure.

I'll go for sure with two majors for now and will think into it further how could I structure it efficiently - you all've made me confident that's going to work (even if I won't find out how to do a CJ field experience... I'll take another major then if that would be a dealbreaker).

I am aiming for Illinois CPA, because is one of the few states which do not require U.S. SSN at all, and their website is actually very good and informative (in contrast to a few other states). I've wrote their Board an email in past and they told they accept online courses. I asked: will 100% online degree from SNHU be eligible for CPA exam & license (I considered SNHU at that point of time) and they answered - yes, they accept both in-person and online courses subject to general requirements of 120/150 exam/license credits and necessary amount of business core/accounting courses + audit, ethics etc.

I don't know if they have any specific requirements about ACE credit, I thought (why? don't know, maybe I've seen Reddit posts about that...) they would have no problems with that but I'll surely check and maybe I'll eventually try to make sure I have at least 10 accounting courses and 6 business courses being taken at UMPI, which I think is possible? I'll see though.

I'll be updating there as I go through if there will be any interesting information which may be useful for others on similar path! Thank you all once again for huge amount of help!