Originally Posted by KayakerDan

That's a really good point. There are just so many accounting courses you can only take in 4th year.

The real issue is the fact that DeGroote Commerce requires you to take an inordinate number of "non-commerce electives". If it weren't for that requirement, you could easily get your 51 credit hours within a normal 4 year program.

so i guess mcmaster is not the best option for accounting. what is degroote the best for? i really want to go to mac but then i don't want to kill myself with the overloading to get the 51credit hours

To be honest, the overloading isn't that difficult. Like I said, you have to take a lot of non-commerce electives, and you can end up taking some pretty easy courses. I took 2 soc sci courses this year which in total (including (not) going to class, reading someone's notes, and writing the exams) took up 4-5 hours of my time each.

But I can't say I don't agree that another school would likely be better. At the risk of being shanked on campus, I have to admit that if I had to do it all over again, I would have picked one of the other universities I got accepted to.

are you going into the CA destination? did you do internship? was it hard to get

I'm not going for CA anymore. Going for CMA. So luckily I don't need to do the 3 summer courses. But I was always planning to do CA until this year, so I overloaded.

I did do an internship. I ended up working in a Managerial Accounting role, and that's what made me decide to pursue the CMA route instead. I can't say it was particularly hard to get, but it was before everything went to hell in the economy, and also, I'm just plain awesome.

that's awesome. what's the difference between CMA and CA. and i'm choosing between laurier and mac. got accepted into laurier bba. which one would you choose

In a nutshell, CAs tend to work for audit firms like the Big 4 (not always, of course), and provide services such as assurance to other companies.

CMAs are more likely to be found working in industry, in the finance/accounting departments of large manufacturers, distributors, etc. I prefer CMA because you get to really understand the industry and company you're doing the accounting for, as opposed to getting quick, superficial looks at many companies through audit engagements.

icic sounds good. i'm choosing between laurier bba and mac commerce. which one would you choose. just asking for opinion. lol and how is mac's campus and res?

Like I said, if I were doing it again, and looking ONLY at the path to get the 51 credit hours, I would have chosen a different school. I'm a Waterloo local, so I really SHOULD have chosen Laurier.

That said, I've had a great time at Mac outside of the classroom. I lived in residence first year, and then was Residence Life Staff for (almost) two years. The residence system is awesome. Some of the buildings are old, and new students get all depressed if they get an older building, but it's honestly more about the people you live with.

You'll have a great time at any university, and I've had an awesome time at Mac. But I can't argue with the logic that you can get your 51 credit hours through Laurier without jumping through the extra hoops DeGroote has established.

since you brought up cma i am considering that destination too lol

It's a good idea to look at all of the designations. I was hell bent on getting my CA, until I had the opportunity to work in a more CMA oriented role. The CA designation gets all of the attention because there are big firms FULL of CAs who work with the ICAO to push the designation. CMA and CGA designations don't really have any huge companies to help promote them.

btw why did you pick mac. and not laurier. was it because you wanted to get away from home lol

It had a lot to do with getting away from home. I ended up being torn between McMaster and Western. At the last minute, I chose McMaster, for several reasons:

a) A lot of my extended family live in the Hamilton area (so I can be away from home while still being fed occassionally)
b) Two of my uncles went through McMaster Commerce and had a good time
c) My grandfather taught at McMaster for ages, and always spoke highly of it

icic thanks for all of the info. wow you're almost done and i'm just getting started haha 4-5 more years of school

Originally Posted by vi3tgurl

icic thanks for all of the info. wow you're almost done and i'm just getting started haha 4-5 more years of school

No worries! Good luck with your final decision.

And I know, I'm super old. haha. I honestly don't know where the 5 years went.