Accounting: a Slacker Major?

[CaseInsensitive]

As I'm preparing to enter college, a major must be chosen, so that I may take the needed pre-requisites. I will most likely choose accounting, but I'm worried about it being a "slacker major". Is it considered to be one? Is the workload heavy? Does it have good prospects? Must one necessarily get a Master's degree and become a CPA in order to find a good job in the field?

[Lasereth]

I just got done with Accounting 1 and Accounting 2 at my college. They were easily the most confusing classes I've ever had, and my adviser said that it was the one major that people can take the first class of and know that they're gonna love it or hate it. It's NOT a slacker major, I can tell ya that. Most people make a C or below at my college in it. I don't know much other than the fact that it's tough.

-Lasereth

[maleficent]

I went to school with lots of accounting majors, it's hardly a slacker major (that'd be communications).

I wouldn't be in such a rush to decide your major. Prerequisites are prerequisites -- you rarely take major specific courses til your sophmore or junior years. Take a variety of classes and see what strikes your fancy.

I'd check Monster or some other job bulletin boards to see what types of accounting positions are available. And how many CPA positions are available.

[Cynthetiq]

slacker???? LOL that would be something like...

music appreciation... or like my friend's degree from University of Redlands, The Art of Handshaking. WTF????

[DelayedReaction]

Well, a lot of it depends on who you talk to. Engineering majors pretty much agree that everything below chemistry is a slacker major.

I would suggest doing what you like first, and not caring how other people feel.

[Cynthetiq]

Originally posted by DelayedReaction
I would suggest doing what you like first, and not caring how other people feel.

I'm going to temper that with do what you like first, then think about how you are going to apply it to earning a living. Plenty of liberal arts majors having no idea what to do with themseleves when they are done with school.

[slimpi66y]

Buddy, in the old days, we go to school to get an education, or access to a large amount of chicks, if you are thinking about whether this major is gonna land me a job then you are undermining the value of the education.

I went through undergrad as an anthropology major because I like that stuff, and still read up on it during my spare time, I had no regrets in college because I received a quality education on the subject chosen by myself, not future employers.

then of course I had to go to grad school to land a job...that was a bitch...

[la petite moi]

Personally, I don't think there are really any 'slacker' majors out there.

[maleficent]

So naive... so very naive....

[Cynthetiq]

Originally posted by slimpiggy
Buddy, in the old days, we go to school to get an education, or access to a large amount of chicks, if you are thinking about whether this major is gonna land me a job then you are undermining the value of the education.

I went through undergrad as an anthropology major because I like that stuff, and still read up on it during my spare time, I had no regrets in college because I received a quality education on the subject chosen by myself, not future employers.

then of course I had to go to grad school to land a job...that was a bitch...

not at all... I'm just being realistic. You said it yourself, that you had to go to grad school to land a job. For some people, a BS/BA is hard enough.

The current darling playing on Broadway, Avenue Q, a show about a recent college grad trying to find his way in the world,

http://avenueq.com/

starts the show off with... a song "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?"

Plenty of people equate having a degree with a job a job that they can use their major and yes, there's plenty of jobs that pay well that don't require a degree. I'm in one of them because well I have no degree, but I do have 5 years of college that I did attend, I'm probably just shy a handful of credits.

[maleficent]

Interesting how times have changed, makes me feel quite old. When I graduated from college in 1986, as long as it wasn't a liberal arts major, you were very employable. That silly little piece of paper that qualified you to say "You want fries with that" was enough for most people. Because it said that you had what it took to make it thru four years, that you had the committment.

I was a math major, with the intent of going on to engineering school, which I did for a year and a half, until I realized that I was the stupidest person on the planet. I ended up, after jumping around a little bit, paying off my dept, in a career in information systems, settling, finally, in programming. Not a far stretch from math, but the guys I work worth - -not one started life as a computer science major.

Where am I going with this?

Accounting is probably the one major where it is going to pertain to your working life, or at least get some useful information out of. Most other majors? Eh - not so very useful in the grand scheme of things, but it helps to discover where your interests are and opens a new world to you.
(my brother, younger by two years, was a Philosophy and French major, and ended up in IT - it was all about getting the degree) - have times changed that much?

[DelayedReaction]

Originally posted by la petite moi
Personally, I don't think there are really any 'slacker' majors out there.

Tell that to an engineering, physics, comp sci, chemistry, or math major.

[ChrisJericho]

Anything involving numbers is not a slacker major.

Around here I think communicatios is generally considered the most slackerish major. English, sociology and psych are not too far behind =X

[streak_56]

I'm in Accounting 211 at Ohio State U and it possible had to be the hardest class I have taken to date, but Accounting is my major (possibly) and I think that it is an excellant career feild. Try the entry level accounting class and see how you do in it. Good Luck

[WarWagon]

Originally posted by DelayedReaction
Well, a lot of it depends on who you talk to. Engineering majors pretty much agree that everything below chemistry is a slacker major.

I would suggest doing what you like first, and not caring how other people feel.

We probably wouldn't feel that way if our admissions credentials in math and science weren't higher than most other degrees (business and accounting included) at the end of their 4 years!

Oh yea, 4 years too, no chance in hell here at OSU any more for an engineering major. Looking at a minimum 5 without failing any classes and taking some heavy credit hours each quarter, which are grossly underrated. For example, our engineering class is only 4 credit hours, yet its a robotics project which consumes approx 50 hours a week or better at a minimum, much of which is on our own time. The engineering requirements are currently under review here, particularly due to the number of failures and believe it or not, number of deaths associated with people in the engineering program.

Definitely not putting any other majors down though, I for one wish I hadn't started engineering, but I'm not really good at anything else. I don't think there are any slacker majors necessarily, just some that are uneccessarily difficult.

[bbbbbb555]

i am an engineering major, and i would have to say that accounting is somewhat of a slacker major. the people that i know in it do less work then me, and are able to get done with college faster. no major in a decent college is easy though, so you will still have a hard time and have to do some work.

maybe i am just jealous since there are no business classes on friday at my school so they always have a 3 day weekend.

[DelayedReaction]

I'm an engineering major at the University of Maryland, and I've managed to arrange my schedule so that not only do I get my BS in four years... but I'll have my Masters in mechanical engineering in my fifth. And it didn't come at the expense of my social life either; I'm involved (and possess leadership positions) in multiple clubs and organizations.

All it takes is determination, patience, and a ton of summer courses.

[metalgeek]

Ton of summer courses = no summer job = no cash for a lot of students.
if you live at home great, and have a scholarship, or if mommy and daddy are paying for you.
(or if you don't mind ending up with 40-50k worth of debt)

[bbbbbb555]

i am on quarters hare at cal poly, so if i go summers that is 4 extra quarters, and to me if you graduate in 4 years but go to summer school that is like 5 years and 1 extra quarter total.
i am going to be able to graduate in 4 years and 2 quarters without going to summer school, but i had a lot of high school credit to start with.

[DelayedReaction]

Originally posted by metalgeek
Ton of summer courses = no summer job = no cash for a lot of students.
if you live at home great, and have a scholarship, or if mommy and daddy are paying for you.
(or if you don't mind ending up with 40-50k worth of debt)

I managed to get a scholarship through hard work and perseverance, and still worked 30 hours a week to pay for food and insurance. The opportunities are there if you look for them.