Graduation Countdown, Looking for final push

[Kgaul]

Graduation Countdown
I already have an AA and a BA in History and Early Childhood Education. I have had a difficult time finding a teaching job and wanted to make a career change into the business world (most likely accounting). I intended on doing it the traditional way until I found you guys! I started reading this forum obsessively in November and took my first exam December 5th, if all goes to plan I should graduate in June! I have 3 more tests, one Davar (which I’m taking tonight), one accounting TECEP, and what really concerns me…. The capstone TECEP!
I have until April 23rd to complete the Teceps and I am freaking out and losing hope that I will pass. I have completed 23 classes (69 credits) in 15 weeks! I will graduate with a BSBA in Accounting and General Management. Thank you all so much for your help, I would be approaching being finished with my first 4 classes if I hadn’t found this! I guess at this point I just need some encouragement, I feel defeated every time I pick up the strategic Management Study material.
Here is my degree plan for anyone who is interested. It has all been approved my TESU
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2220[/ATTACH]

[Hunter91]

Inch by inch life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard. You've accomplished more than most could in 15 weeks. Life is a marathon not a sprint so don't burn yourself out before the real work (career) begins. Take a deep breath, focus on what you need to focus on, do your best and forget the rest.

[bjcheung77]

Graduation Countdown
I already have an AA and a BA in History and Early Childhood Education. I have had a difficult time finding a teaching job and wanted to make a career change into the business world (most likely accounting). I intended on doing it the traditional way until I found you guys! I started reading this forum obsessively in November and took my first exam December 5th, if all goes to plan I should graduate in June! I have 3 more tests, one Davar (which I’m taking tonight), one accounting TECEP, and what really concerns me…. The capstone TECEP!
I have until April 23rd to complete the Teceps and I am freaking out and losing hope that I will pass. I have completed 23 classes (69 credits) in 15 weeks! I will graduate with a BSBA in Accounting and General Management. Thank you all so much for your help, I would be approaching being finished with my first 4 classes if I hadn’t found this! I guess at this point I just need some encouragement, I feel defeated every time I pick up the strategic Management Study material.
Here is my degree plan for anyone who is interested. It has all been approved my TESU
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2220[/ATTACH]

That's great news! Did they change the rules? When I inquired about a double concentration, you can have it in any one of those listed in the BSBA page, with the exception of General Management. For example, Accounting and Finance, or CIS and Marketing, if you choose General Management -it won't be allowed with any other as it's too broad.

[Kgaul]

I had read that here as well, but I inquired and everything was approved. You just cannot use any of the same courses. So for general management I couldn't use any accounting only Man courses, fin courses, and Mar courses

[dfrecore]

That's great news! Did they change the rules? When I inquired about a double concentration, you can have it in any one of those listed in the BSBA page, with the exception of General Management. For example, Accounting and Finance, or CIS and Marketing, if you choose General Management -it won't be allowed with any other as it's too broad.

I guess they did change the rules at some point, I can't quite figure out when.

Maybe I'll add General Management to my HR concentration, because I have credits that aren't being used at all!

[Kgaul]

They must have. Even though it is more "general" it is 18 completely different credits. I just like it because with the accounting I'm only seen as an accountant and not necessarily management material.

[Synicaal]

Good Luck in the future with Accounting, very bold choice earning all the accounting credits that way. I was not that brave. I can see a huge difference between what I learned in a Study.com / SL course for accounting and what I am learning in my actual B&M accounting courses. Unfortunately I don't see how the ACE courses prepare someone to go into that field, I am so glad I took tesu-acct-students advice and took regular credits for accounting. Not sure how good the Penn Foster course is for Intermediate Accounting II so hopefully that was a good course for you.

I am not trying to be snarky I am just trying to warn people, What you learn in the Study.com/SL courses is not going to prepare you for actual accounting work. However, if you can handle the TECEP for Federal Income Tax you can definitely handle taxes. There really isn't more to taxes then to be able to look up what is included/excluded from taxes and fill out forms. I make it sound easy but that's truly all there is. If you utilize the IRS.govs PUBs it tells you everything you need to know. I wish you good luck in the future and I am sure you will do fine on the TECEP. Everyone says its way more intimidating until you actually take it.

[sarg123]

Just to add my two cents...

I chose to go the B&M route for my accounting credits, even though I hope to "finish" with Ace credits and TESU (in management, finance, and electives). I glanced over the study.com accounting classes, and they do seem to be much much easier than classes in a regular college (and I had a REALLY easy teacher). For example, Advanced Accounting is known to be an extremely hard class, which I didn't take yet, but I could easily pass Study's class cold right now. Also, these classes come in as CR - as a C equivalent - and "real" accounting firms do want to see letter grades for accounting classes.

With all that, however, people can and do take the CPA test with a different degree, without having taken any accounting classes. They use the review courses for the CPA exam. I don't know how many people who go that route actually pass, but it's definitely been done.

The question is what you want to do with an accounting degree. In almost any job, in any occupation, most of what you do is learned "on the job". I'm assuming accounting is similar, and these ACE classes are probably enough so that you can pick up basic accounting once you are working. I don't know how much of what I am learning now is actually going to be necessary once I start a "real" accounting job! However, for me personally, I have heard enough stories of potential employers asking for actual transcripts, and looking for letter grades, (I'm assuming A's or B's), that I was willing to spend the extra time to make sure that I do the accounting classes right.

[Kgaul]

I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but I have done my due diligence and I am more than comfortable with my choices for this degree. Thank you for your concern but at this point I was just looking for a little bit of encouragement not a critique. I work 50+ hours a week, I have two children under six, and a sergeant husband who works inconsistent hours. Taking classes at my local college is not feasible. I did not think I would have to defend educational path here of all places. I am extremely excited and proud to have accomplished what I have in the past four months. Thank you again for your concern

[sarg123]

I don't want this to come out the wrong way, but I have done my due diligence and I am more than comfortable with my choices for this degree. Thank you for your concern but at this point I was just looking for a little bit of encouragement not a critique. I work 50+ hours a week, I have two children under six, and a sergeant husband who works inconsistent hours. Taking classes at my local college is not feasible. I did not think I would have to defend educational path here of all places. I am extremely excited and proud to have accomplished what I have in the past four months. Thank you again for your concern

I really do apologize, I must have said it completely wrong because that is not what I meant to say at all! To have finished so many credits in so few months is completely amazing, especially since you work full time and have two small children. I don't know if I could have done that, it's really amazing.

I was in no way saying that I endorse the B&M route, even though that is the route I took. Each specific situation is different, and people are looking for different plans based on their life circumstances, and what they want from that degree. I think that the test-out degree is an excellent way to "check the box", and I do think that you do get basic accounting principles, and that is always a good thing (at least, speaking as a hopeful accountant, that's my opinion).

I was actually agreeing with you that it is not necessarily best to go the b&m route. What I mean to say by that is that when I last checked for advice (ok, it was definitely more than a year ago), the consensus on this forum was that it is best to take accounting classes in an actual classroom. Since I did take some classes that way, I was pointing out the negatives of going that route. One negative is time. I started my classes three years ago, and it mostly took so long because the CC I went to makes you take the classes in sequence, and they wouldn't even LET me take Accounting I the first term. I got Pell grants so I didn't pay for the classes, but... three years is a long time, plus I could only work part time (I also have kids), so it really DID cost me money. Another negative is that the classes are very hard, and there is much more work. That may sound like a positive, but I'm really not so sure. How much of what I learned am I really going to use, even if I do go into "real" accounting? So much of what you do you learn on the job, and each company does things different, anyway. In my CC, some of the teachers were easy, some of them were hard, but even as I am learning this stuff, I'm thinking - how much of what I am learning am I actually going to use? Yes, the B&M classes are much harder than study's classes, but so what? Most of what I learned in Intermediate I and II is extremely complicated, extremely convoluted, and honestly, I forgot all of it the second I finished the test (and I did do well on the tests). And that's just the class - the textbooks are even worse! If you are going the test out option, Study (I didn't check SL) does a really great job at explaining the basics, and that's all most people will ever need, anyway, even if they do eventually work as an accountant, but especially if they are just looking for background accounting knowledge, which most people are anyway.

To give a specific example of what I mean - I had a class on preparing a Cash Flow Statement, and the intermediate teacher assumed that we had already learned it in Accounting I. But I didn't, not really, so I turned to Study to help me learn how to do it. Study gave a very simple overview on the subject, and it did not help me at all for my test, as it did not go into enough detail. But when I worked for a small private company (many, many moons ago), Quickbooks generated a cash flow statement! I don't know if it still does that, but I'm sure things have only gotten better in last x amount of years. At that time, I had no idea what I was looking at, but if I would have taken the Study class then I would have known a bit more of what the Cash Flow Statement is trying to accomplish, and a basic idea on how to read it.

I used the example of someone sitting for the CPA with an unrelated degree, and just a CPA review course, to show that it could be, and has been done, and that it's not an absolute must to actually learn all this in a classroom setting.

My two cents - which is worth exactly that - was addressed to other people who may have been reading this post as well, as I know that you have already made your decision. (I know that I read a lot of older posts over the past few months, with advice addressed to different people, which I took for myself, also). When I did my research, it seemed to be recommended to take the B&M route for the actual accounting classes. Not every question has a one size fits all answer however, and now that I have gone that route, I am questioning that it would work for everyone. Yes, the regular classes are harder, and more intensive. Yes, you learn more. Is that a good thing? In my opinion, not necessarily. There are so many positives in testing out - much cheaper, much faster, and now with so many accounting options, you do get a basic understanding of the accounting process, and if that is all you really wanted, that should be more than great!

I don't know if this explanation makes things better or worse, but either way, I certainly did not mean to criticize a decision that you have already made, and I was just making a side observation on another post... Sorry if it came across as critical of your choice, I really did not mean it that way!