Considering the fact that I have minimal professional work experience, I am not able to decide whether it’d be better off pursuing an MBA degree (in Accounting) or MACC. 

Could someone with the expertise knowledge share their thoughts on the job market for the international students with MBA or MACC degree but with minimal work experience? Which degree would be better?

I hardly see my future prospect with an MBA degree and no managerial job experience – employers would not prefer to hire someone with minimal work experience. On the other hand, I have no idea about the job market after the completion of MACC.

So please would someone care to share their thoughts on the above issue. Any feedbacks or suggestions would be highly appreciative.

Aren’t there any CPAs or MBA students or even business students in sajha that would like to talk about MBA or MACC and their future prospect? At least your opinions ??? Please guys help me out!!!!

If I were you, I would just go for Masters in accounting.... I have seen many people who went and got their MBAs right after their Bachelor's degree and it has got them nowhere...there are some exceptions, but you are better off pursuing a masters in accounting and getting your CPA license.

If you are interested in pursuing your career in field of Accounting, I will suggest you to go for MAcc compared to MBA in accounting. MBA in Accounting will help you to go for a career in Finance sector but MAcc will prepare you better for Accoutning career.

I really appreciate your feedback. Could either of you guys please tell me how the job market is for the MACC students? I mean how easy is it to get a H1-B job after completion of MACC? As you may already be aware about the CPA requirement (150 credit courses including 25-30 accounting courses and 1 years of professional accounting experience, which may vary according to state regulation), so it would be impossible to go for CPA certification right after the completion of MACC. So would you guys have any ideas about the job market for the MACC students?

The other day, I was talking to some of my friends who were of the opinion that MACC degree would be of less importance if you decide not to go for CPA certification after graduation. On the other hand, MBA program would cover wide areas of study from accounting, finance to human resource, so after completion of degree, you would have more option to look for the job in different industry. Any comments or suggestions on this guys?

Thanks !!!

you will need to make up your mind as to what career path you want to pursue before you get into a Masters program. if you don't want to work as a CPA, you should probably look into other things that might interest you. The job market is very good for accounting majors who are eligible to sit for the CPA exam.I don't know about all states, but in some states you can take all four parts of the CPA exam before fulfilling the work experience requirement- you get your license after you complete the work requirement. Usually if you have completed all four parts of the CPA exam most firms will try their best to hire you. Then after you finish your 1 year work requirement you can get your license.
The Big 4 usually hire international students and sponsor H1. The best way to get into Big 4 is through internships. Find an internship with them before you finish your program. More often than not internships with CPA firms lead to full time jobs....
I hope this helps

how is the job prospect for econ/finance major silly_me?  any idea in this field?  with economy not doing good, i am not sure how easy for one to find intern or full time job in this field.  any suggestion?

I know more about accounting than about anything else, but from what I have heard finance seems to be a pretty good field to be in too right now... don't know about economics... sorry! But I can tell you that where i am going to school the ones that are getting hired left and right are accountants and software developers....

great.  i guess you are an accounting major too.  anyways, let us know if you happen to know about finance positions.  its not for me though.  :):) 

i guess it also depends upon school and location.  if you are in good school and/or your location has more companies, chances of getting hired is high, am i right?

 

you are definitely right... school and location both play a very important role... you just need to be in the right place at the right time...

agree.  i have seen graduates of good schools not getting jobs while from okay school or below average schools getting jobs in my field,  so, location is also very important.  good luck to you.

Thank you all for your valuable inputs and suggestions.

Wow, silly_me_again you seem to know a lot about Accountancy and CPA. Are you an accounting major or an accounting professional? Could you recommend me some universities with strong MAC program? (for sure you can exclude the top ones – BYU, UW-Madison)

I have a cumulative undergrad GPA of 3.9, GMAT score of 590 and work experience of less than 2 year. Is there any university in your mind as of now that still has couple of weeks left for the application deadline? Suggestions and feedback would be highly appreciated.

well it all depends. MAcc is good for career in public accoutning. MBA is always good in the long run. It adds versatily and sets up path for advancement. Its really hard to get into good MBA program and most of time it is really expensive in good schools. It is very challenging to get an assistanship.

MAcc is good to break the ice. Get your feet in the job market. There is always demand for people in Public Accounting. But it is alwyas a hard work. 10 to 12 hrs work in busy seasons with mandatory weekends.

You seem to have good grade and a decent GMAT score. You should get assistanship. Try BGSU. I am BGSU alum. The name of grad coordinator is Alan Lord. You can find his email address in the school website.

As far as job is concerned, you should look into it as soon as you start your MAcc prog. Most of the firms hire a year earlier. You can post your resume up in school website and start communicating with career center. I do not know when is the deadline for applications. You can check website. The class starts from fall that I guess will be August. I hope this helps. All the best!!

Jndr23,

I am in the same filed, I have many of my frens not landing on job after their masters so thought of taking MBA in accounting, so that at lease I could have a professional degree.

Its obvious to be concerned about the job experience, I too just have 1.3 yrs full time experience, my professor didn't suggested me to take the whole accounting class, as I might be in risk. My school has MBA and MSBA. MBA is normal and MSBA is for concentration in certain field. He suggested me to take MBA but take more extra credit so that I could satisfy the criteria to sit for CPA exam.

So, why dont come to my school sfsu, its great school in bay area ! and teachers are even great !

GPA :3.2

GMAT:550

Work exp :2 yrs avg, but they consider too !

 

Good luck !

Sampada

jndr, You have already missed most of the "big name" accounting schools' deadlines for this fall.... However, my suggestion to you is to decide which state you want to be in after you graduate, then narrow down the schools. Usually with accounting degrees, the school prepares you to meet the requirements in the state that the school is in.... so if you want to be in california, find out what schools there offer a masters in accounting then narrow it down by ranking and then by the deadlines.... I had a 3.5 UGPA and a 700 on my GMAT but didn't get into the top two schools of my choice.... so plan wisely... write a stellar statement of purpose... and good luck!

silly_me!!! I don't have any state preference, but would like to work in the East coast after graduation. Since you know so much abt accounting and CPA, do you know some good universities in the East Coast that offer MACC? And where you studying right now?  

wow silly, 700 in GMAT is high.  great job.  yeah, i agree with silly, you prolly have missed deadline for most of the good schools by now.  for schools, i would suggest you to go to usnews.com and search according to your criteria.  if you want to see the full version of school rankings, you need to buy and it is valid for one year.  it costs around 15 bucks.  good luck. 

I won't claim to know too much about schools on the east coast. I focused my search mainly in the south and the mid west. But here are a few that might help you get started on your search...
Northeastern, Boston
Suffolk University, Boston
University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
Boston University, MA
University of New Haven, West Haven CT
Boston College
University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
All of these have Masters in accounting....
Good luck

Appreciated!!!! silly_me_again