recruiting, internship, professional development, career workshops and events
We have decided to get a little color in here and post some serious video blogs. No joke, this is the real deal. Click the link below to see what crazy (lame) answers I may or may not have come up with!
Wow, p.s. I am horrible on camera…I better not quit my day job. 🙂 Accounting rules and there is no place better than UT MPA. <—Fact, even Wikipedia confirms it!
April 26/27, I am on a Continental flight to Tokyo’s Narita Airport right now. But Tokyo isn’t my final destination; in eight hours or so, I should be landing in Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. This is my treat to myself, in celebration of the successful completion of my tax internship at The Big 4 Firm in Houston. In a way, it is also a celebration for the beginning of what I hope to be a new career. Although I still have roughly six months of classes left (summer and fall semesters) when I return from Taiwan, my mind is somehow at ease knowing that now I can concentrate one hundred percent on my studies. I am not going to lie-–it is a great feeling.
Before I get too excited about the three-week vacation at my parents’ place in Taipei, I think it would be a good idea to conclude the atrophied “lunch series” I tried to maintain on this blog. My apologies, once again, for not keeping up as I had hoped on the details of my internship. When I was living the day-to-day life of a tax intern, the details of my work did not seem blog-worthy. However, now I have had a few days to reflect on what I did, I really feel fulfilled with the opportunities I had on my internship. Continue reading Internship Lunch Series #3: Homeward Bound
Submitted Question:
“Hi Bart,
Thank you so much for your writings on the blogs of McCombs. It is very entertaining and informative to read! [You’re absolutely welcome. Glad you like our blog!]
I’m really excited to be accepted into the Texas MPA program [Congratulations!], and I know this is a great prestigious program that prepares you well for a career in accounting. But it is so costly! I’m from out-of-state, and have previous degrees in [omitted], so must pay $54,858 in tuition. My other option is to attend the 1.5 years MPA program with full-tuition remission at [another university], which is where my parents live. [The other university] does not have nearly as good placements for graduates as the top accounting schools.
What is your advice? I want to get the CPA after graduation, and am not sure where I want to work yet (probably in [the state I’m currently living in]). Does the prestige of my MPA program matter? Or should I take out a loan, make the investment and go to UT? How do you feel about being in debt? It must be very uncomfortable.
Thanks, and good luck to you and your wife.”
Answer: I received this excellent question from an admitted student who is trying to make the final decision of whether to attend UT or not. Here are my thoughts on the matter [Disclaimer: Take my thoughts for what they’re worth, which might not be that much.]
I agree that tuition is expensive. Really expensive. And taking out student loans to cover tuition costs has been emotionally burdensome. My wife and I have never gone into debt before (besides our current home mortgage and car loans quite a few years back), and instead of paying loads in tuition to complete our degrees we could have chosen to just keep working and making money. Going to school is a double whammy in that you’re not only paying tuition, you’re also sacrificing the income you would be making if you weren’t at school. Depending on your situation, that opportunity cost can be considerable. It was for me.
It sounds like you also have at least two schools to consider as options. So did I, but the tution difference wasn’t as huge as yours seems to be (partly because I’m paying in-state tuition, and partly because I didn’t have another option that would pay all of my tuition). Free is something I rarely pass up.
That said, this situation could be one of those rare instances. It all depends on your goals and which program will help you accomplish those goals. In the end, debt can be paid off (fairly rapidly if you’re dedicated to it), whereas your first job out of college can’t be changed, nor can your graduate school experience or the degree on your resume be changed.
If you will be able to accomplish your academic and career goals by attending your local college, I recommend you attend school there. But if you believe that UT will give you a much better academic experience and is much more likely to open doors to your desired career, I highly recommend you attend the University of Texas.
I don’t like debt. But in the end, the debt will be gone, and I’ll have no regrets since I’ve had an excellent experience, have made great friends with impressive people from around the country (who enrolled in this program for its excellence), have gotten the job I wanted, and am well posed to accomplish my short and long-term career goals.
Good luck making your decision!
Now, I would not go as far to say that my fourth year is over, but I am in the extensive process of wrapping things up. Between internship paperwork, exams, registration and making my decision on my offer…I have been a bit busy.
Once you have completed your internship, your work to earn college credit is not over. During my internship, I was required to keep a daily journal. In addition to this, there are a few online questions that need to be answered for the Accounting Department. The answers are used for statistical reasons and are not difficult. Additionally, I am required to write a five-page paper about my internship experience. The paper is designed to discuss what I learned, what I wish I would have learned, as well as my likes and dislikes about my internship. All of these items are due at the end of the week so I have a few long nights ahead of me.
I guess I will get back to watching Harry Potter…I mean, get back to studying for exams! 😉
Good luck to everyone else on exams and registration!
~Ciao~
Wow, so I guess it’s been a while since I’ve blogged! Surprise, surprise. Maybe that speaks to how busy recruiting season is. Or maybe it just means I’m bad at keeping up with my blog. Sorry! I know my blogger counterparts are much better at keeping up with this than I am!
In this entry, I’m going to talk a bit about the interview process during recruitment. For those of you who aren’t familiar with recruitment, several accounting firms of local, national and global size travel to UT’s campus during the spring to interview MPA students for potential internships. First, we as students must submit our resumes to the firms in which we are interested (this is done through OCR, a McCombs Web site). After the resume submission period is over, the firms sort through all of the resumes and select the students whom they want to interview. We find out whether or not we are selected through the same Web site, and, if we are selected, we then have the opportunity to sign up for an interview time. This whole process happened before spring break in March.
Fast-forward two weeks. For the first time in my life, I’m in panic mode on a Friday at 4 in the afternoon. I’m looking at my schedule for the following week: Continue reading Next step: Interviews