Hello All,
First off, I want to thank y'all ahead of time for taking the time to read my post. I am a former Marine Infantryman and current Master of Accountancy student (set to graduate in December 2019). I left the service in 2012, and eventually started school in 2014 in pursuit of a bachelors degree. I hit a rough patch in my life after I separated from service, and when I started school I just didn't transition well. It took me almost two years to get focused to just pass my classes, so my GPA took a huge dive. I was able to finally graduate in May 2018 with a bachelors degree in accounting (GPA 2.78). Currently, my GPA is a 3.6 and I hope to have a 3.7 by December.
Having been an unorthodox student, and unaware of what accounting entailed I did not know who the Big 4 accounting firms were or what public accounting was until I was a senior. As a senior, I finally began taking upper level accounting class (this was because I had changed majors after my setbacks). I started to work my butt off and network but it seemed that the combined low GPA and veteran status (it doesn't seem many firms in the San Antonio area cared for this and seems to be a hinder; other veterans in the area have also had issues finding employment in accounting) hindered my ability to even get interviews. I had never had trouble getting interviews until I started applying for accounting positions. I applied for internships and jobs alike. I finally landed something in August of 2018, after over 120 applications. Currently, it is where I am interning. Around the same time I started my masters program. So as of right now I am headed towards taking the CPA exams, although it is highly unlikely I will ever get licensed since I will need to meet the experience requirement. In order to be licensed in Texas you must work under a CPA doing non-routine accounting work. I was offered a position where I am interning but there are no CPAs there.
I like where I am at the moment, but the journey in finding work in accounting has frustrated me so deeply that I have started to resent the accounting profession. I have also had an awful time in my current program of study since I had to appeal an erroneous denial of admission or else I would have not got in. The closer I am to graduating the more I think of just leaving accounting to pursue a career in law. This is where I need assistance.
I know that because of my GPA I am limited to schools.Furthermore, because I want to limit the costs exceeding the benefits of attending a law school I would need to attend a public university in Texas. I can get most tuition and fees waived in Texas if I attend a public university because of the Hazlewood Act. I do not have anymore federal education benefits unless I can convince the VA to pay for law school. So financially I would primarily have to worry about living expenses and books.
Now considering those two main factors I am very limited on schools. I think for the most part UT Austin is out of the picture. So I was looking at either the University of Houston and Texas A&M law schools, granted I get a decent LSAT score. I plan on taking the LSAT in June and have started to study it.
I know that the better the law school the better career outcome. So I know it's flabbergasting to talk about my limited opportunities in accounting, when a career in law probably has much higher risk in finding employment. It is something I have come to terms with and I at least would feel comfortable pursuing because it is not all fluffed up like accounting. I would argue there are less jobs out there for accounting than the current stated growth.
The areas of law I do find intriguing are Tax Law and Constitutional Law. I think I would feel passionate in either. It highly appeals to me developing strategies/defenses against the government.
I really would appreciate any feedback, insights, or thoughtful questions that I may not have asked myself. I am open to learning and setting myself up for success. Maybe by your answers I will realize that law should not be for me.
Thank You
Combat Veteran/Accounting Major Seeking Insight Forum
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AJ0311_A=L+SE
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2019 9:41 pm
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dabigchina
- Posts: 1845
- Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2014 2:22 am
Re: Combat Veteran/Accounting Major Seeking Insight
Former CPA here. I wouldn't give up an accounting career to go to anything below UT austin.
Accounting pays like crap when you first start out and it's mind numbingly boring at junior levels, but if you get a 2-5 years of public accounting experience, you can exit to a low 6 figures job with good work/life balance easily. This is something that I think a lot of very successful law school graduates would like to have to option of doing.
The work also gets more exciting. As a tax lawyer, you generally defer to the tax accountants because they are closer to the business side than you are and are much closer to the facts/financials. The decision makers in tax departments tend to be tax accountants, not tax lawyers.
I went to a T14 law school and I am making market in biglaw and I still think about going back to accounting.
As for your job hunt/licensing concerns - I would look around and see if you can get in the door with a regional/local firm if you can't get a big4 position. You can lateral fairly easily in a couple of years. This is even easier if you are open to moving out of texas. You can also look into working for some kind of governmental tax authority like the IRS, because vets tend to get preferential treatment there (i am not a vet, so happy to have someone fact check me on this).
As for constitutional law - that's not really a career path you can bank on out of law school. People who practice at that tier of the legal profession typically graduate at the top of their class from elite schools and have elite clerkships with federal judges.
Accounting pays like crap when you first start out and it's mind numbingly boring at junior levels, but if you get a 2-5 years of public accounting experience, you can exit to a low 6 figures job with good work/life balance easily. This is something that I think a lot of very successful law school graduates would like to have to option of doing.
The work also gets more exciting. As a tax lawyer, you generally defer to the tax accountants because they are closer to the business side than you are and are much closer to the facts/financials. The decision makers in tax departments tend to be tax accountants, not tax lawyers.
I went to a T14 law school and I am making market in biglaw and I still think about going back to accounting.
As for your job hunt/licensing concerns - I would look around and see if you can get in the door with a regional/local firm if you can't get a big4 position. You can lateral fairly easily in a couple of years. This is even easier if you are open to moving out of texas. You can also look into working for some kind of governmental tax authority like the IRS, because vets tend to get preferential treatment there (i am not a vet, so happy to have someone fact check me on this).
As for constitutional law - that's not really a career path you can bank on out of law school. People who practice at that tier of the legal profession typically graduate at the top of their class from elite schools and have elite clerkships with federal judges.
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kevin_lomax
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Sun Sep 22, 2019 11:49 am
Re: Combat Veteran/Accounting Major Seeking Insight
Disclaimer: I'm currently studying for the LSAT and can't offer any law school-specific advice.
I have been working as an accountant for two years now. I thought that maybe my experience would be germane to your situation. I was discouraged by my inability to land a job in the Big 4, and for a while, this bothered me. It ended up being extremely serendipitous and taught me a great deal about the possibilities of accounting and the potential career path. Here are a couple of thoughts I had after reading your post:
You mentioned you sent out 120 resumes. If you are just applying to jobs online this is not the way to be going about a job search, in any field. Nor should this figure be discouraging to you. The reality is that most of the jobs you never heard back from probably never opened your resume. By the time a job is posted online, chances are that role is already filled and HR is just making the hiring manager go through the motions. I'd brush up on your networking skills and use tools such as LinkedIn to reach out to accountants in your area who are where you want to be.
Next, the CPA is great, it adds value to your resume. However, it is not necessary by any means. Also, you need work experience in TX to hold your CPA license - not to sit for the exam. Simply passing the exam will make you a more attractive candidate for firms/companies and you can satisfy your work experience over a period of 1-3 years.
I have been working as an accountant for two years now. I thought that maybe my experience would be germane to your situation. I was discouraged by my inability to land a job in the Big 4, and for a while, this bothered me. It ended up being extremely serendipitous and taught me a great deal about the possibilities of accounting and the potential career path. Here are a couple of thoughts I had after reading your post:
You mentioned you sent out 120 resumes. If you are just applying to jobs online this is not the way to be going about a job search, in any field. Nor should this figure be discouraging to you. The reality is that most of the jobs you never heard back from probably never opened your resume. By the time a job is posted online, chances are that role is already filled and HR is just making the hiring manager go through the motions. I'd brush up on your networking skills and use tools such as LinkedIn to reach out to accountants in your area who are where you want to be.
Next, the CPA is great, it adds value to your resume. However, it is not necessary by any means. Also, you need work experience in TX to hold your CPA license - not to sit for the exam. Simply passing the exam will make you a more attractive candidate for firms/companies and you can satisfy your work experience over a period of 1-3 years.
