What Prerequisites Are Required to Enter Into an Accounting School?
Accountants play a vital role in virtually every non-profit and commercial organization as well as in government entities. With such a critical job comes a high level of responsibility as well as a rewarding salary in many cases. Education is extremely in preparing aspiring accountants to meet the high standards that will be required of them in their future career. As a result, graduate school is a common requirement for the future accounting professional who wishes to grown in his or her career. Students who wish to pursue a career in accounting should become familiar with the admission requirements that are common to graduate programs in accounting.
Bachelors Degree
The majority of accounting graduate programs require successful applicants to have satisfactorily completed a bachelors degree program. Graduate schools will also consider students’ grades in the undergraduate courses. Many schools require students to have completed a certain number of course hours in the areas of accounting, business, and/or finance. However, some programs offer supplementary courses or may have slightly different requirements for students who complete their bachelors degree in an unrelated field of study.
Graduate School Exam
Like students who wish to enroll in graduate school in other areas, accounting students must decide whether to take the GRE or GMAT depending on the requirements of their schools of choice. Some schools require one test over the other while some institutions while a few institutions have no preference as to which test prospective students take. Still others may not require results from either test. In general, the GRE is preferable to the GMAT as the GRE more thoroughly assesses accounting-related skills. Students must consult the individual schools to which they apply to determine from which test would offer the most benefit .
Students may prepare for the GRE and GMAT exams in a variety of ways. Test preparation books are commonly sold in university and public bookstores. There companies that specialize in standardized test preparation. Students may elect to take a course with one of the major test prep companies to learn more about the content that will appear on the test the student elects to take as well as test taking strategies.
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Language Requirement
International students who wish to study at universities in the United States are typically required to prove their English language proficiency. The TOEFL is administered to graduate school applicants whose native language is not English. Applicants who are exempt from TOEFL requirements are those who have completed a U.S. bachelors or two year masters degree program at an institution in which instruction was primarily given in English.
While the process of preparing to apply for entry to an accounting school can be nerve-wracking, being prepared can bring a sense of calm and give added confident to prospective students. Knowing each school’s application prerequisites and having completed them before the time of application is half the battle.