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Old 01-23-2013, 01:09 PM
 
Location: Wilkinsburg
1,657 posts, read 2,679,995 times
Reputation: 994

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Copanut View Post
Just a side note. My wife is a nurse that went to a teaching hospital, meaning the first day she was there they were treated like servants. Her total tuition back in the 70's equaled the ONE class she took from CMU to get her MBA.

But, as Greg Marmalard once said, That will look good on your permanent record card.
My point was that a CMU MBA is expensive, but it is also likely to land you a position for which the compensation is high enough to make the degree worthwhile. But those jobs are generally demanding positions in banking, consulting, and management that require a lot of hours. If you don't want to work a lot of hours, then you can get a job in corporate finance or something, but you're not going to make the kind of money you need to justify the cost of the degree and an MBA is not really an exclusive ticket for those types of jobs.
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Old 01-23-2013, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,606 posts, read 77,315,783 times
Reputation: 19071
Quote:
Originally Posted by bradjl2009 View Post
I may have mentioned it here but I did apply and get an interview for a temporary job this winter with PwC and their Wealth Management Tax Services but unfortunately I didn't get it. From what some of my friends has said, a lot of the Big Four want you to even have the 150 before they even hire you now so you can just take the test and quickly get certified instead of it taking a few years because of classes while working then taking the test. However, I've heard it's a lot easier to get a job as an internal accountant for a company or work for a bank with just a Bachelor's in accounting (and supposedly they pay more and it's a little less stressful) Do you think your friend would have any Pittsburgh PwC connections (My cousin used to live in New Jersey and I went there a lot, so I know that area isn't for me)? While I didn't get the job, I still do like PwC and the people I have met who work there and think it would be a good company to work for.

Up until 2 years ago, you could still get a CPA in PA with only 120 credits but now you need the 150. The part that bothers me about it is while they raised the number of total credits you need, the number of those that have to be from accounting were left the same which I think is completely stupid(I'll graduate with enough accounting credits they require). Essentially if I wanted to, I could take rock climbing and yoga classes at CCAC to get to the 150 credits which shows how stupid it is to change the total number of credits needed while leaving the amount needed in accounting and business the same.
I'm sorry to hear you weren't selected for the Wealth Management position with PwC, but that's no reason why you shouldn't try applying again in the future. I know as recently as 2009 the "Big Four" extended job offers to friends of mine who only had 120 credits. Granted a lot can change in four years, especially considering the different economic climate we're in today. I would presume it would be easy to obtain a position as an internal accountant or internal auditor for a company, although I couldn't guarantee the position would be "low stress".

I wouldn't recommend a career in banking. My most recent position was extremely stressful as I assumed multiple roles (without additional pay), and we were only paid in the low-$20,000 range annually. Even if you were a sales commission all-star you'd be looking at $30,000 annually. When questioning why I'd often be working through my half-hour lunch breaks I was told "by law we don't have to give you a lunch break unless you show us there's a medical reason to require it". There were times where I'd work ten hours without a break of any kind, and that's really mentally-draining in the realm of working with the public, especially when many treated you poorly. I can't imagine why people would want to work for a place like a bank when you could do what I'm doing now and be willingly underemployed while earning more money with less stress.
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Old 01-23-2013, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,361 posts, read 16,894,348 times
Reputation: 12390
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissShona View Post
Everything you say is absolutely true. The problem is, if you do not choose to play the game (and earn the degrees), then you make things harder on yourself. Especially when you are just starting off your career and looking for someone to give you a chance.
Yes, the rational thing for each individual to do results in a worse outcome for all. In some ways it's similar to a tragedy of the commons, although I don't think you could call higher education a commons in the classic sense (except insofar as student loans allow payments to be deferred a long time).

Still, I ultimately think you'd need to have the government step in and regulate. Obviously the education industry has a vested interest in continually ramping things up, and most employers don't give two ****s if their prospective employees spend tens of thousands of dollars making themselves more attractive.
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Old 01-23-2013, 01:16 PM
 
255 posts, read 283,176 times
Reputation: 162
I have enough credits to take the CPA exam and no one wants to hire me.
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Old 01-23-2013, 01:54 PM
 
Location: Harrisburg, PA
2,336 posts, read 7,760,273 times
Reputation: 1580
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechCom View Post
I have enough credits to take the CPA exam and no one wants to hire me.
1) Did you pass the CPA exam?
2) What type of work are you looking for.

On a side note, back in 2006 I had grand dreams of becoming a CPA. I had worked in a CPA firm for two tax seasons and loved it! However the required accounting classes just for my business minor and MBA degree were such dreg to me. Financial accounting (which is really what I did....bookkeeping really) was fine. But I couldn't stand managerial accounting (business valuation, funding cost centers, etc.). Obviously, I did well enough (I graduated) but I have absolutely no kind of passion for that type of thing.

I never took a course in taxation...but I love, love taxes. I like reading cryptic IRS rules and applying them to real-life scenarios. That intense jargon doesn't phase me for a bit. If I already had a position in the industry, I would have opted for a Masters in Taxation. But I like the flexibility of my MBA much more at this point in my life. However just as a backup, I plan to get my EA (enrolled agent) designation by this time next year.

Try Accountemps/Robert Half. They call me all the time (although it's for positions that I'm not really interested in because the pay rate is less than what I make now).
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Old 01-23-2013, 01:56 PM
 
Location: Crafton via San Francisco
3,463 posts, read 4,626,309 times
Reputation: 1595
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechCom View Post
I have enough credits to take the CPA exam and no one wants to hire me.
Go west young man/woman(?)! A friend's daughter is graduating with a degree in accounting, not sure if she's taken the CPA exam yet, but she has a bunch of great job offers. Excellent starting pay, 5 weeks paid vacation...
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Old 01-23-2013, 02:24 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,529 posts, read 17,459,063 times
Reputation: 10629
Quote:
Originally Posted by TechCom View Post
I have enough credits to take the CPA exam and no one wants to hire me.
Would that situation change if you PASSED the exam and became a CPA?
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Old 01-23-2013, 03:01 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,259,082 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by track2514 View Post
This argument about an MBA is rather silly because the job market has always been cyclical and currently healthcare is the "hot" field in the Pittsburgh area. At some point there will be too many pharmacists, chiropractors, physical therapists, physician's assistants, osteopathic doctors, cardiac specialists, etc. in the Pittsburgh area and the demand for the next "hot" field will take over. In today's economy making yourself the most marketable and having a degree that is general and specialized at the same time can help you succeed. For instance, all MBAs are not the same and some programs allow you to specialize in areas like healthcare management, hospitality management, risk management, etc. These specializations can sometimes make all the difference, especially in an area like Pittsburgh that has a highly specialized economy.
Actually, health care has long been big in Pittsburgh, for at least the last 60 years or so. Pitt's medical school is highly rated and has been for years; Pitt has one of the oldest graduate schools of public health in the country, etc. When Pitt was about to go under in the 60s, the state bailed them out b/c Pitt had the only med/dental schools in W PA. The polio vaccine was invented in Pittsburgh in the 50s for heaven's sake! Also Starzl perfected his liver transplant stuff here in the 80s, after he relocated from Colorado where he had some b*tch with the CU Health Science Center. Health care was just overshadowed by the steel industry for a long time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Caladium View Post
A PMP also seems to be the magic acronym they're looking for on resumes these days (at least for an engineer who wants to go into management).
What's a PMP? I'm not an engineer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by juliegt View Post
Go west young man/woman(?)! A friend's daughter is graduating with a degree in accounting, not sure if she's taken the CPA exam yet, but she has a bunch of great job offers. Excellent starting pay, 5 weeks paid vacation...
Denver is the financial center of the Rockies. My nephew had a great job with Ernst and Young here. He wanted to move up the ladder however, and went first to Pittsburgh, then Chicago where he's been for a few years.
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Old 01-23-2013, 03:04 PM
 
Location: North Oakland
9,150 posts, read 10,835,490 times
Reputation: 14503
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
What's a PMP? I'm not an engineer.
Let's ask Acronym Finder.

PMP - Definition by AcronymFinder
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Old 01-23-2013, 03:12 PM
 
295 posts, read 657,409 times
Reputation: 208
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
About seven years back, a friend of mine in NYC worked as an assistant at a nonprofit. They were looking at hiring a "research assistant" whose job would be basically finding articles on the internet. They got so many applications in her boss asked her to throw any in the trash which didn't have at least a Masters degree.

That's what degrees are. A filter. A really expensive filter.
A masters degree doesn't guarantee a job, either. I interviewed for more than one research assistant job in NYC just about seven years ago and I have a masters degree. Didn't get them. Ended up with a publishing job that paid even less. The competition for jobs like these has always been tough. Remember, 2006 was when the economy was supposedly good. My degree is in urban planning, btw. Not as useless as a philosophy degree but close.
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