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The PSU v. USC is a tough choice, mainly because accounting hiring and reputation is regional in nature. So if you want to work on the west coast, your chances are lower at PSU v. USC or any decent west coast accounting program.
However, your chances at getting a high quality job in business or accounting in general will be better at PSU. The reason is you are already situated and are succeeding there. You already have friends, relationships with faculty, and know the layout of the land. The next year, you'll likely get invited into the accounting honor society, join important business organization and get leadership positions, etc. At USC, you are starting from stratch and don't even know if you can get into the business school.
At PSU, you are already on a path on getting a Big 4 job, but you'll have to work real hard to do it at USC. The only problem is your offers will be in Pittsburgh, Philly, NYC, and maybe DC. You have an outside, but difficult, shot at getting a west coast offer if you continue to get top grades. In the East, PSU is a major accounting program with a good reputation. In the west, they'll lump it in with OK schools like Oregon, Arizona St., various UC's or Cal States, etc., but you don't have the alumni network or on campus recruiting to help you. If you stayed at PSU, I'd probably go out of my way to get a decent offer in NYC or so quickly to know I have something, then focus my search to West Coast places. I know when the tech industry is hot, San Jose Big 4 offices will look nation wide, as they have a hard time to get top regional students to relocate there.
It's a tough choice and there isn't an easy answer. And I didn't even get into the cost and financial aid issue.
Econ is not a business subject and is typically not in the business college - it looks like at PSU they have their main econ department in the college of liberal arts (which is good, as it appears that Smeal @ PSU forbids a double major within two business programs)
My university was structured a little bit different - but in my last two years of school I was working 20-30 hrs per week for an options/derivatives company, taking 20+ credit hour course loads and still having a social life
It was a lot of work and quite frankley if I tried to do it today it would probably put me on my butt - however, it's definitely something that can be done
Here is a representation of a path for accounting at PSU - this is a bit dated, but probably still accurate enough for discussion
It looks like picking up a minor in econ wouldn't be that difficult if you have some flexibility and work with your advisors ...... a major may be more difficult
In the accounting degree path you have to take basic Micro/Macro - it looks like a different course than the economics path .... work with your advisors and see if they are the same and if you take the ones that are most advanced if they will fit the requirement for both (this is what I did at my university - I also had community college coursework in econ completed in HS that I was able to use to argue my way into the path)
In the accounting degree you need to take a 2 course sequence in one of a variety of subjects .... if you take your sequence in econ you can pick up a 300 level and a 400 level class to meet your accounting requirement
so to complete the minor it looks like from just completing your accounting degree you can check off a general studies macro & micro class, a 300 level general class and a 400 level class
that would leave you to squeeze in a 300 level and a 400 level class which would fit right into the electives portion of the accounting framework (or maybe even general education - not sure how PSU draws that distinction)
so it could be done without any additional course load to pick up a minor
the downside with that is that there is opportunity cost .... however, with finance, operations, law, writing, IS, stats, supply chains, marketing and what looks like a business seminar type class already built into your curriculum you are still getting a very broad taste of the business world even if you do want to at a minimum pick up a minor
to pick up a major it's more work and more sacrifice - but it can be done
Basically, do what interests you ......... econ will not hurt you in many accounting environments and can be seen as attractive - especially if you are looking to get into consulting, etc
Wow, lots of really thoughtful and great answers! Thanks so much to each and every individual who put time and effort giving me tips/advices. As far as working region preference goes, I honestly don't have a priority location that I MUST work at. I've come to love the east coast even more so than west coast -- I honestly hated Seattle life, way too calm and relaxed for me. The only place I would really look into is San Fran or LA if I were to come back to the west coast for a job. But, really, I'll go wherever I land my first job.
As for academics, I'm definitely thinking twice about double majoring since it might really burn me out. I'm thinking about going just for an econ minor, which is totally do-able for me. I'm definitely going to stay here because I've come to love this school so much. I'm actually meeting up with my adviser tomorrow after classes to discuss majors, scheduling, etc. So, i'll make sure I talk about all the possibilities of minoring and such. The only question I have is: how different is Supply Chain MGMT from Regular Statistics? It's one of my prerequisite classes I need to get before the end of next academic year and I'm not sure which one to take. I might actually audit the Supply Chain class to get an idea of it. I'm currently in a different intro Stat class and I dislike it so much; it's perhaps the dullest class I've had yet and I seriously regret just not taking Business Calculus. I hope Supply Chain is a little better because straight up Stat is just awful - i'd rather watch paint dry on a wall.
In addition to my econ minor, I'm also thinking about picking up another minor in Information Sciences and Technology because I want to get more experience using computers. Is this a good idea? For some weird reason, getting an IST major OR minor requires an additional fee (I honestly don't know why we have to pay this on top of our tuition), so I don't even know if it's worth picking up a minor or just kind of dabbling in the IST/comp sci classes to get basics down. I guess it's probably best to just talk with my adviser with these types of questions.
Again, thanks for all the help. Feel free to respond with more feedback if you wish.
If you were set on wanting to settle in LA, the University of Spoiled Children is a good choice.
Otherwise, Penn State is also a solid school. I'd chose the program that will incur you the least amount of college debt. As for double majoring, its not worth it unless you want to pursue graduate studies in economics and become an economist. From your post it seems you are keen to just be an accountant. I'd stick with a single major. employers are looking for college degrees, not dual majors.
Well I have very minimal experience but how are recruiters at the schools. My cousin explained that at UCLA the big accounting firms recruit very heavily and in fact he just got recruited and is going to be a paid intern this summer and then will be full time next year when he finishes his bachelor's. If your goal is big accounting then I'd look at which recruits more, its no joke when he's already been offered 70k plus sign-on bonus with only a bachelor's. If they recruit from USC like they do UCLA that would be where I'd go.
They probably majored in Econ, I know UCLA has an econ program with emphasis in accounting.
I knew several UCLA alumni at my former workplace [a Big 4.] They were all CPA-exam eligible upon graduation so UCLA does offer the required accounting/business coursework to take the exam. I think all of the UC grads I knew there did their undergrad in econ, although some who were going into tax got a graduate degree in taxation somewhere else.
If you were set on wanting to settle in LA, the University of Spoiled Children is a good choice.
Otherwise, Penn State is also a solid school. I'd chose the program that will incur you the least amount of college debt. As for double majoring, its not worth it unless you want to pursue graduate studies in economics and become an economist. From your post it seems you are keen to just be an accountant. I'd stick with a single major. employers are looking for college degrees, not dual majors.
I'd say stay at Penn State (sheez, I wonder what that must be like these months?). Finish up and keep your GPA high and don't dabble in the weird double major concoctions - they're not as advantageous as they are packaged to be. Isn't there a tier of firms that is still national and behind the Big 4, that would still have an LA office, as a back-up? I think so. Also, whose to say that you couldn't get into one of the Big 4 firms in SoCal with a high GPA from Penn State? People recognize it as a good school. Another thing you could do is work for the Big 4 in Philly or NYC for a year or two, and then ask for a transfer to their LA office. Another thing is that, after starting to work in SoCal, you could do an MBA at night at USC and I believe the format for a previous business degree is shorter than those with an unrelated undergraduate degree. That would definitely "seal the deal" for the LA area, if you decide that's what you want. Yes, a USC degree helps a lot if you spend your career lifetime in LA, but other people have done just fine there with out of town degrees. Look at the countless movie stars (most of the famous ones today) who dropped out of college or finished a degree in whatever from some obscure university and became movie stars in LALALand. JUST KIDDING on the last sentence.
Last edited by robertpolyglot; 03-03-2012 at 05:59 PM..
They probably majored in Econ, I know UCLA has an econ program with emphasis in accounting.
I knew several UCLA alumni at my former workplace [a Big 4.] They were all CPA-exam eligible upon graduation so UCLA does offer the required accounting/business coursework to take the exam. I think all of the UC grads I knew there did their undergrad in econ, although some who were going into tax got a graduate degree in taxation somewhere else.
Isn't that crazy? The only school in the UC system that offers an actual business administration degree for undergraduates in UC Berkeley. I don't know why that is. I know that UCLA, once upon a time, offered a business degree. I don't know when that stopped. But it's crazy, if UCLA and UCSB offer an economics degree that you can stack up with accounting courses, why not just have an undergraduate business program? The UC system has such as "chip" about being "ivory tower"....but mysteriously, Berkeley's Haas school still offers a BBA or BSBA (whatever they call it). Berkeley is just plain weird, anyway.
I think it might be because accounting in particular is seen as somewhat lightweight. One of my profs used to like to say that accounting was like "the stepchild of the professions" because it required no advanced degree---there is no accounting equivalent of law school or medical school. Sure there are graduate programs but they aren't required by any means to get into the profession.
I think it might be because accounting in particular is seen as somewhat lightweight. One of my profs used to like to say that accounting was like "the stepchild of the professions" because it required no advanced degree---there is no accounting equivalent of law school or medical school. Sure there are graduate programs but they aren't required by any means to get into the profession.
Right...that it is considered too vocational...and the mission of the UCs is to prepare people for "research and graduate study," whereas the CSUs are almost blatantly vocational, in some cases.
Now that I think about it, the same exists in the Ivy League. None of them offer an undergraduate business degree, except Penn's Wharton school. And the Ivy League MBA programs typically do not admit a lot of business undergrads...but economics majors seem to be ok. And, after reading "The Gospel According to Harvard Business School," sitting on a relative's shelf, I knew an Ivy League MBA was NOT for me.
Last edited by robertpolyglot; 03-03-2012 at 08:20 PM..
Reason: added last sentence
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