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Hello everyone, this is my last resort - I hope someone can give me a good input.
I graduated from NEIU in 2007, with B.S in Finance and got a really good head start at a well-known financial institution.
I got recruited by the company, and most of my former coworkers were from Big Ten, regionally respected private schools, UIC...some are even from NU. Despite of the sub-per college name NEIU bares, I managed to work with people who are from much better respected schools.
Then in 2009, the notorious crisis hit, I got laid off along with other 30,000 people. Since then, I took a retail job while I continued my job search and started to prepare for my graduate school application.
Due to my financial situation, I'm really torn right now whether to attend the NEIU MSA program, and save the money and time - Since my bachelor is Finance, I can pretty much finish the whole thing a little over a year. The cost will be anywhere from10K to 15K. I can definitely manage the repayment.
Since my financial situation will not allow me to go any private schools like Loyola or DePaul - my only other choice is UIC. I actually want to attend UIC since I know it has a reputed accounting program.
But I know the cost will be 36K(and up) total. In addition, I will have to attend the full two years at UIC because it seems they won't take any credits from NEIU. The college of business at NEIU isn't a part of "AACBS"....and time is money for me too, since I'm already in my late 30's.
The thing about UIC is obviously its much stronger tie with the local businesses.
At first I thought the college name may not be that much of an issue since MSA is more of a hard skill focused degree - its ultimate goal is to pass the CPA. That's why I chose MSA over MBA. Besides, MBA is worthwhile with more relevant experience.
But now...I'm not sure what to think.
I browsed the site to see if anybody in a similar predicament. I could not help but noticing many people have much negative association with NEIU....some even said NEIU is like "semi-diploma mill". I mean...wow. Getting a finance degree from there was obviously by no means rocket science. But I would not say it was a walk in the park either. I still had to put good amount of work to earn solid marks.
Some students were bright and had the right attitude when it comes to higher learning. I believe those people would have succeeded regardless of the school name. At the same time, I won’t deny some of my classmates made me wonder how she/he could have passed "the college level" in the first place. But then haven't we all known at least one person like that, no matter what school. Sometime I saw the students from DePaul taking a few classes at NEIU just to save money. To be honest, they were no better than the students at NEIU.
My husband's boss is an alumnus from NEIU and makes about 150K. My former coworker who trained me was also from NEIU - she was already seasoned analyst there when I came aboard. She kept getting promoted and is doing just fine. These people both work at the leading companies in their chosen field and they don’t even have a master’s degree.
But now after I read what others had to say about NEIU, I wonder if the perception of this school is really that bad, and I'm doomed without any decent job if I graduated from there.
OR take a high financial risk (and extra time) and go to UIC then at least it might increase my chance of getting hired again. If so, would the risk worth it at all? I know the ultimate choice is up to me, but I would love to hear other's perspective on this. Thanks for reading my long post, and please excuse my typos
First off I would ask if you understand the phrase "once burned ,mtwice shy" -- if you believe that the reason you have not had much luck with job searches is due to the reputation of your alma mater you rightfully should be leary of spending ANY more with any school that has other than a sterling reputation...
I would recommend that anyone contemplating any kind of business oriented Masters think long and hard about the value of such a degree, there are currently fols with MBAs from Northwestern and UofC searching for work...
It would be one thing if you were currently employed in a role where you were doing at least some accounting and MAYBE that employer would promote you if you earned a CPA then it might make sense to consider a MSA as a nice "add on" but given that you are NOT in such a role and frankly don't have much recent experience in any office role. Not good.
It sounds like maybe your wife's boss is the kind of guy that could be a really valuable resource -- I would not expect him to just at the drop of a hat five you a job BUT if you ask him if he has any advice about transitioning back into office type work, given that you have similar educational background, it would be far more valuable than any generic advice...
I think you also know that the key to being "a seasoned analyst" is to work your tail off. I don't doubt that retail with its crummy hours and goofy sandwich of lousy bosses and thoughtless customers makes it easy to get a bad attitude . Get out of that situation and back into any kind of office role that you can use to improve your odds of better work...
First, thank you for your input.
I do understand my predicament so far well. I have thought about my options long and hard for all these years. I did spend countless agonizing days…days turned into weeks, and weeks turned months and years. This has been absolutely the nightmare. I know I have been out of field too long. No one, but myself knows better than what statement I am in. This is never something like "Gosh, the job market is so lousy, I can't find a job, well then let's get back to school, and things gonna be magically alright!" I have spent countless hours in researching, asking for different perspectives from others and re-evaluated my options and re-evaluted again...if this is really, really the thing I want to do. Having said that, I do understand too far well the extra schooling is no guarantee to secure any job.
I lost my count on how many hundreds places I had applied to. Yes, not only I wasn't as seasoned as my trainer – I perhaps wasn’t as smart and capable as her. She deserves the promotions she's gotten. I admired someone like her. But one thing I can assure is that I worked as hard as I could to my knowledge - I'm a firm believe one should give 100% in all things. When the rumor of layoffs was circulating, I decided to work even harder because if I ended up losing my job (which I did) – I thought at least I would leave the job knowing I did give 100% on my part. So please don't pass that kind of judgment. Retail – again, I understand way far too well that this type of job is virtually useless career wise. I want to get back into the relevant field more than anything - but can't, so now do I do nothing? In fact, some people I knew didn't want to do this kind of work because they thought these types of job were simply beneath them and they chose to embellish the resumes after two years of unemployment - well they at least got job right after that.
How agonizing it is....how many hundreds tailored cover letters, interview practices, resume revisions after revisions....still the search didn't produce anything. And damn it, I know too well that it gets worse day by day.
I wake up everyday and feels perhaps no matter what I do, I would never be able to work in the professional setting ever again.
I do understand all what you said about "you should be in the field in the first place" but the fact is I am not, though I tried, tried and tried. Just because of my current predicament, doing nothing (to at least try to help myself) will definitely not get me anywhere. Grad school certainly isn't for anyone and again, will not assure anyone a new job, a better job, let alone any job. But it will at least open some doors, if the degree is sought carefully. Hope is only thing that gets me going everyday - the hardest thing over the last a few years has been - stay positive and not lose the hope, but sometime, I tell you it's not easy.
You're not working hard (or even smart) enough, resourceful enough, this and that...what can I say…this is internet, so people will assume all sort of things about you. This is why I hesitated initially to post because I predicted responses like that. But nevertheless I appreciate you took time to respond. For that, I thank you.
Hey no problem. I know it is rough out there! I have learned "you always gotta have 'Plan B' " and I am sure that there are lots of folks that are in worse shape.
I really would NOT just enroll at NEIU , as you know the reputation is not enough to really be helpful. if you have both the backgroiund and drive to complete a Masters you really ought to get one that will a be true boost to your career.
Schools like U of Illlinois has a Masters of Taxation that is regarded as among the tops in the country. DePaul has a very solid range of MS programs in Accountacy, Computational Finance and Taxation. They are NOT cheap (about $935 per credit hour...) but the pay off is generally acknowledged to be far greater than schools that do not have as strong a network of local almuni...
Given that there are changes to what coursework is acceptable toward a CPA I would not mess around with trying to skrimp.
If you don't really want to be a CPA maybe you should focus on something like the CFA designation, but the "path" is not all that much easier or as clear. I have worked with people that knocked the exams very quickly but the whole fuzziness about work experience is a turn off...
Honestly, not that getting a graduate degree from NEIU is gonna ruin you but I don't think it is gonna help too much. I say this because Chicago is such a business and finance oriented city that competition is stiff. Then when you have schools like NU and UC churning people out that many stay in Chicago, along with other strong schools like Loyola, DePaul and UIC, competition can be fierce.
If you were going for a job in Milwaukee or a city like Madison that isn't predominantly business and finance oriented, then I would say go for it. But if your end goal is Chicago it might be tougher. NEIU won't kill your career, but imo, I wouldn't get Master's from there.
However, it really depends on your experience to, as a lot of time what you have done (most of the time) proceeds where and what you studied.
Thank you again very much for your input - sometime a total stranger can push your back and give you a different perspective. It's not always easy to take even a "constructive criticism" when one is so down - but you gave me exactly what I needed, for that, I'm eternally thankful for your advice.
My mind is made up - Actually I was accepted to NEIU MSA program recently. Was I relieved? No doubt! But I have to say that I wasn't all that ecstatic about it.
My first GMAT score wasn't what I wished for, so I may have been seeking for an excuse not working on it again (shame on me). But I have to do what I have to.
I know about the CFA designation too - at my former work place, there were quite a few analysts who were pursuing that designation. Naturally, I thought about pursuing the credential too, but I quickly realized that one has to be darn sure that he/she wants to stay in the field of financial analysis or portfolio management, etc. I was more interested in credit analysis, financial planning/tax planning or things in these lines. As far as the credit analysis, I noticed many firms want people with CPA and such...that is the reason I decided to pursue for a CPA path rather than CFA (granted, I'm aware that one doesn't need to go through a MSA program in order to become a CPA). For CFA, one needs to be in the more specific field, while CPA seems to be more versatile – one can do tax planning, audit, financial analysis and others…and you don’t necessary have to be in financial services field.
All in all, I'm glad I had some courage to post my concerns -I got some of very valuable inputs...from you and Chicagoist 123.
Thank you all...that's all I can say!
Sincerely,
Me
Don't waste your money on the more expensive colleges. If you get your CPA NO ONE will care what school you went to. I actually did a graduate school research paper on it and there are numerous articles on the internet about it. What college you attended has no affect on your success. Students from better colleges make more because the better colleges accept better students who would be successful no matter where they attended. For example, U of I generally accepts students in the top %10 of their class, where as lesser colleges accept those who couldn't get in to the better colleges. Once you start with a company you think they are going to give you raises or promotions based on where you went to college? Of course not, it will be based on your performance.
Don't waste your money on the more expensive colleges. If you get your CPA NO ONE will care what school you went to. I actually did a graduate school research paper on it and there are numerous articles on the internet about it. What college you attended has no affect on your success. Students from better colleges make more because the better colleges accept better students who would be successful no matter where they attended. For example, U of I generally accepts students in the top %10 of their class, where as lesser colleges accept those who couldn't get in to the better colleges. Once you start with a company you think they are going to give you raises or promotions based on where you went to college? Of course not, it will be based on your performance.
Totally true, but a lot of times the name of the school is what gets your foot in the door. If this person were currently employed, I don't think it would be such a risk, but the point is that they are not.
Totally true, but a lot of times the name of the school is what gets your foot in the door. If this person were currently employed, I don't think it would be such a risk, but the point is that they are not.
It really doesn't. Maybe on a few select examples. Take big 4 accounting firms for example. They recruit everywhere. Even so, it's not going to be worth the tradeoff for all the extra money she will have to pay. Remember, all it takes is one job offer. You will be paid based on your market value and what value you can add to the company. Kids who start out at a big 4 accounting firm from U of I will make the same as from NIU.
THis was part of what my research paper was based on. IF your going to grad school it should be an easy read. Google this, read it, and tell me what you think:
ESTIMATING THE PAYOEF TO ATTENDING A MORE
SELECTIVE COLLEGE: AN APPLICATION OF
SELECTION ON OBSERVABLES AND UNOBSERVABLES
STACY BERG DALE AND AI.AN B. KRUEGER
"Students who attended more selective colleges
do not earn more than other students who were accepted
and rejected by comparable schools but attended less
selective colleges."
"The C student from Princeton earns more than the A
student from Podunk not mainly because he has the prestige of a
Princeton degree;, but merely because be is abler. The golden
touch is possessed not by the Ivy League College, but by its
students."
Last edited by jman07; 12-12-2012 at 09:39 PM..
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