BA/BS in Accounting Advice please.

[hongnguyen]

I say this with the proviso that programs and classes can and do change: I took a number of accounting courses at UMPI and earned my BA in accounting from that school. There was some writing in my accounting classes, but I don’t think it was too burdensome. There was a lot of “doing accounting” with spreadsheets, computations, filling out tax returns, etc. As I recall, most of the writing was relatively short (1-2 paragraphs) though I remember one exam where I think I had a 2-3 page written response.

This writing was mostly descriptive/explanatory in nature and typically wasn’t exactly an essay.  I transferred in financial accounting and tax I, so I didn’t have questions like this, but the writing might be something like “explain the difference between a tax deduction and a tax credit” or “list the major financial statements and explain the flow of information between these statements”.  The questions seemed much more to be testing your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, by way of explanation, rather than your ability to make an argument about a topic, the way you might find in an English or history class, for instance.

My vote would be for UMPI. I looked at WGU, but the fact that you could only transfer in 2 of the accounting classes was a deal breaker. I had already taken additional accounting classes and didn’t want to lose them. For OP, I understand that isn’t the case. I also liked that this was a B&M school associated with a state university system. I don’t think there is a thing wrong with WGU, considering it for a graduate degree, but there are likely some people who do have judgments about it and my UMPI degree avoids that. 

If you are able to get it so that you only have around 10 classes to complete at UMPI, I think 2 terms is totally realistic. I took more terms than that, but I double majored in business administration (management and leadership concentration) and chose not to maximize my transfer/to take more than the smallest possible number at UMPI. I think it took me 5 terms, including my first term where I really didn’t like my classes and only finished 2.  I did that while working a full time job, wife with full time job, and two young children at home, BTW.

Thank you all for taking the time to inform me of what different career paths entail. 


@freeloader: thank you for sharing your experience at UMPI. After reading your post, UMPI seems like a good option too. I will look more into the degree plan. What would the course’s structure at UMPI be like? I know at WGU you either take the proctored test or write a paper, there’s no group project, and you don’t have to write a response to your classmate. Is it the same at UMPI?

---

@hongnguyen - Chào bạn, Cảm ơn.  Thanks for providing us more details in regards to having a goal of being an Accountant but not a CPA.  What are the regulations/rules of being an accountant in Texas?  Is an Associates enough?  My friend was an accountant, he never had a degree, just a diploma in accounting from a private college, he upgraded to an advanced diploma in accounting from the same college.  After a few years, he decided it wasn't right for him, so he did X years of stock market investing...

@bjcheung77: Xin chào! I don’t think there are any rules for being an accountant in TX. I guess you can still be an accountant with an AS degree, but after searching for accounting jobs, I saw that most companies require you to have a BS degree even just for entry-level positions. The community college near me offers an Accounting program and I can get a certificate within a few months, but there will be no credits for whatever course I take. I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot that is why I would like to get a BS degree.


My kids are still young, they’re both in elementary school. My husband is the one that pushes me to go back to school, so I got his 100% support. There is no backup plan at the moment. To make it simply: I’m not happy with my job now, I make minimum wage so I would like a career change. I’m good at math, I like to solve problems. I have been doing my tax return for the past few years (never took a class, just learned it from my dad-in-law) so an accounting degree seems like a good fit for me. The problem is that I hate writing with passion, as you can see English is my second langue, it’ll be so much easy for me to explain how to fill out your tax return form in person, but if you ask me to write a paper about it then my brain shut down and I cry for days (hope it makes sense to you). And nope, I don’t want to be the Head of the Department or Manager or anything like that, absolutely not, sounds stressful to me, I don’t handle stress very well. Honestly, if a  BA/ BSBA Accounting is enough for me to get a job that makes $25/hour, I’m happy with that (sorry, after 2 kids, I set my expectation very low ).
Hope I have answered all your questions, and from that, you able to help me to lay out the simplest, easiest (jk ) path to get my degree.