Ditching HYP for accounting

[Anonymous]

Which HYP are we talking about, OP?

She should not give up on Princeton. Harvard and Yale are definitely not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My niece is an incoming freshman at HYP. Earlier today she told the family that she is seriously considering not going and pursuing an accounting degree instead!

We are all pretty shocked by this. She is definitely not joking. She said that she’s been weighing the cost of the degree vs the benefits and is not so sure it is worth it. She was planning to do econ and/or math.

The thing is the cost is fortunately not an issue for her parents. She got 50-60% in financial aid, the rest they are paying out of pocket. Not a small sum but it’s something my sister and BIL have planned for and saved for. Plus my niece is an only child.

The thing is she has always been a pretty serious and responsible kid so we are struggling what to make of this. I personally feel she is getting cold feet. We don’t want her to throw away this opportunity that she is so lucky to have. Or are we the crazy ones? She is seeing some of her friends taking more practical/trade routes so perhaps that’s part of it. And I am sure the whole discussion about the rising cost of college vs benefits has impacted her and her peers.

Given the extend to which accounting is already being disrupted by GenAi and will continue to be so, this isn’t going to be the lucrative field she thinks. Unless she embraces the technology.

To hear Mark Cuban talk, the most in-demand workers in the future will be liberal arts majors with philosophy degrees. No, I am not joking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of all my friends at top LACs/ivies, the person I am most jealous of is a friend from high school who went into Accounting at a decent state school. They weren't the smartest, or even close to it, of the people I know, but they could walk into any internship, since Accounting schools tend to have direct pipelines into top organizations. She now has an extremely enviable finance position at a tech company we all use, and she got it, because they needed someone who knew finance AND accounting.

Sure, at a prestigious college you can go into IB and Consulting, but the work is pretty miserable and actually getting to those steps in the first place is not only competitive but a headache of "industry knowledge" you are expected to know and frankly the field is very sexist. If you are interested in like economics research or the rat race of IB, there's not much incentive to these top programs compared to attending a university with a solid pipeline to accounting organizations and doing the career transitions while you are getting paid at your firm.

I wasted my undergraduate years and chose communications as a major. I really wish I had gone for accounting as an undergrad. I have a similar friend as the one who you mentioned and is doing very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody is approaching this from the job and income perspective. But what about the general personal development and enrichment opportunities she would get by attending HYP?

We toured Yale earlier this year with my rising senior, and I was shocked at the things these kids have access to. In one week, there were talks/teas with a Head of State, Ben bernanke, and some big shot from Blackstone (forget the name)!

Yale has high suicide rate and it's retention rate is terrible.
Only 90%
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return

You'll have higher risk in terms of the general personal development and enrichment opportunities.

More on that data:
The retention rates shown below, from highest to lowest, are the average proportion of first-year entering students starting in fall 2018 through fall 2021 who returned to school the following fall.


Hmm. What else was going on during this time.

Something was going on only at Yale?
Not at MIT, Duke, UChicago, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The plus is that she is thinking longer term.

I am not sure the ROI from an Accounting degree is very high — for a typical/median accounting degree holder. Accounting is a field where the top earners will make a LOT more money than the median earners.

In any case, after an accounting degree, one will need to pass the CPA exam and later be fully qualified as a CPA to have a good career in accounting. Even in private accounting, most companies want their Controller to be a full fledged CPA.

If she has half a brain and can pivot well (which accounting gives you!) she will make it to the top. Honestly a student this logical doesn’t need the Ivy League.

[Anonymous]

troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody is approaching this from the job and income perspective. But what about the general personal development and enrichment opportunities she would get by attending HYP?

We toured Yale earlier this year with my rising senior, and I was shocked at the things these kids have access to. In one week, there were talks/teas with a Head of State, Ben bernanke, and some big shot from Blackstone (forget the name)!

Yale has high suicide rate and it's retention rate is terrible.
Only 90%
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return

You'll have higher risk in terms of the general personal development and enrichment opportunities.

More on that data:
The retention rates shown below, from highest to lowest, are the average proportion of first-year entering students starting in fall 2018 through fall 2021 who returned to school the following fall.


Hmm. What else was going on during this time.

The retention rate was affected by COVID. It's gone back to 97% since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody is approaching this from the job and income perspective. But what about the general personal development and enrichment opportunities she would get by attending HYP?

We toured Yale earlier this year with my rising senior, and I was shocked at the things these kids have access to. In one week, there were talks/teas with a Head of State, Ben bernanke, and some big shot from Blackstone (forget the name)!

Yale has high suicide rate and it's retention rate is terrible.
Only 90%
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/freshmen-least-most-likely-return

You'll have higher risk in terms of the general personal development and enrichment opportunities.

More on that data:
The retention rates shown below, from highest to lowest, are the average proportion of first-year entering students starting in fall 2018 through fall 2021 who returned to school the following fall.


Hmm. What else was going on during this time.

The retention rate was affected by COVID. It's gone back to 97% since.

What's special about Yale on COVID??

[Anonymous]

Yale allowed deferments and MIT did not ("you're not happy with zoom and want to sit out this year? yeah, we dont allow that for enrolled students. ")

not sure about the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale allowed deferments and MIT did not ("you're not happy with zoom and want to sit out this year? yeah, we dont allow that for enrolled students. ")

not sure about the others.

MIT did allow deferments. They always have, just limited to one year. DC's favorite club was lead by a super senior from COVID times...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She should go to HYP!

Signed,

HYP grad

Why?

In my view, she is raising good questions. Definitely listen and have a conversation with her.

More kids should be questioning what’s the right path for them.

The cost won't be much different with 60% FA. Might as well do HYP in case she changes her mind.

[Anonymous]

She’s right.

-T20 and hyp grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She’s right.

-T20 and hyp grad

I also cosign the Accounting path as a Princeton grad, unless she's very wealthy. It's so much less a annoying getting into accounting, and she'll end up at the same places as the finance majors at Wharton if she just pokes her head a little and asks for career transition in her company.

Applying for a career in Investment Banking sucks and the day-to-day is hellish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s right.

-T20 and hyp grad

I also cosign the Accounting path as a Princeton grad, unless she's very wealthy. It's so much less a annoying getting into accounting, and she'll end up at the same places as the finance majors at Wharton if she just pokes her head a little and asks for career transition in her company.

Applying for a career in Investment Banking sucks and the day-to-day is hellish.

IB is neither sustainable or advisable for one's health. It doesn't compare to FANG SWE in quality of life.

[Anonymous]

She sounds burned out and is seeking a certain path to employment that doesn't involve more of the same environment of hypercompetitiveness that attending HYP would bring. Her parents need to listen to her or risk depression or mental breakdown.