UNO MS Accounting Questions?

I got my undergrad at LSU in Finance and got a general MS Acct degree from UNO.

One thing to consider coming from LSU to UNO is that the class offerings are much smaller, meaning it might be harder to handpick which classes you can reasonably take and stay on track to graduate. This is a big reason I got a general MS (no specialty in say, taxation)bc it offered more flexibilty to graduate on time. Further, they are going to be reluctant to let you take more than 12 hrs in a semester (although it will be possible).

Also, there is only one "counselor" at UNO for the MS program, and he is a crazy, forgetful, and painfully slow old man; he will not remember your name or any previous discussion you may have had with him. This can make scheduling and graduating a pain as well.

Overall, I did enjoy it, mostly because I was happy to live in the city, as BR had kind of run its course. If you are feeling that way I would recommend it, as lots of your friends will be moving to NOLA soon for jobs, school, move back with their parents, etc. The curriculum is kind of a joke IMO, as most of the teachers don't really give a shite, although there are exceptions ie Dr Manry, dude is a beast, awesome teacher. If you did well at LSU you could easily do well at UNO Acct.

Yes Big 4 do recruit; when I went through , EY, KPMG and D&T all recruited, with EY probably recruiting the strongest as one of their audit partners is a UNO grad. Not sure how much industry recruits there but I do know of a few people that got jobs with large companies. One piece of advice, join Beta Alpha Psi or you will have a tough time getting a job with the Big 4. Also, be ready to do recruiting and apply for a job in the fall, as they recruit a year in advance.

CPA exam, thats going to be up to you to prepare. It is primarily an undergrad class exam though, so you will be referring to what you learned at LSU either way. You should get Beckerm, and if you sign on with a firm in the fall they will probably pay for it (all big 4 do).

Good luck, I hope this is helpful.

Previous poster literally spot on, and couldn't agree with you more (with the exception of the mba part, but that's a different ballgame).

quote:

---

Eventually in your career the MBA will trump the CPA
I kind of disagree here, but then again, it depends on the field

---

Agreed. Some career paths will always want the CPA and some could care less at a certain point. Just depends on industry and direction in management you want to go.

It doesn't matter where you get your macc as long as you did an internship and have an offer in undergrad. But if you waiting till graduate school to get an internship you need to go to the place with more connections, which I would assume is lsu.

Well I did not get an internship with a big 4 firm but I am working on it. I changed my major to accounting late. I have crammed my final 7 accounting classes into this semester and the next semester. I am graduating in the fall.

Just get something going before, it doesn't have to be a B4. Troll career services hard. Even if its some little cpa shop and the people suck (my first PA internship was this) its waaaaaaaaaaaay better than nothing and it'll help you get to the next step.

I'm also having the same debacle as you...we may even know each other since we're both ACCT majors at LSU!!

I can relate too...LSU wants their grad students to have over a 3.5 GPA, which I don't have . I was also born and raised in Metairie, family home is still there, and I could save a lot of money by getting an Acct MS from UNO (and have no rent expenses by living at home with my parents) for a year instead of having to pay more for LSU and the high apartment expenses by campus.


But my main question is if you only need 9-12 hours for the CPA once you graduate undergrad, is it best to just take a few extra undergrad/Advanced Acct type of CPA preppers as a non-matriculating student or is it better to go get the Master's to sit? And does having a CPA with Masters vs. CPA with just the Undergrad make a difference with both starting salary and salary 5-10 years down the line/promotions?

So since I'll only be short 9-12 hours, should I just be a non-degree seeking student for a semester to get the 150 hours I need? I think at that point the only classes I'd need to complete for the CPA would be BLAW 4203 (Commercial Transactions for Accountants) and Advanced Accounting. I'm going to have every other class done by May 2013 when I graduate.

I should probably set up an appointment with Laura Delaune this summer and see what she thinks.

If you have a job lined up and you're happy with it, just go part time. If you don't have a job lined up, enroll in the MS so you can go through recruiting and get a job. Its really that simple, the degree itself means absolutely nothing in terms of what you can/cannot achieve career-wise.