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Hi, I’m Brian – Welcome Back to Student Life

Author: Brian

Hi, I'm Brian - Welcome Back to Student Life

Hello and welcome to Student Life, the official blog for the Jenkins Master of Accounting Program at the NC State University Poole College of Management! My name is Brian and I’ll be sharing my experiences on this page as a student in the MAC program. For this first post, I will be giving you a little background about me and how I decided on the MAC program.

I am originally a Georgian, but LOVE North Carolina. I moved to Raleigh back in 2011 with my wife to take a new job and have really enjoyed everything this state has to offer. After working in the TV news biz for six years, I decided it was time for a change and took a strong interest in accounting. I have a number of family members and friends who are accountants and I have respect for all of them as people and professionals.

I quickly learned from some reading that accounting isn’t what it used to be. The stereotypical accountant who sits in the windowless room with receipts piled to the ceiling is an outdated image. Today’s accountants have to be personable, intuitive and well-rounded, which I found attractive. Some accountants get to travel the world, see a diversity of business operations and have a lot of great stories to share. On top of it all, they get paid very well to work in a field that has stable growth and security. Where do I sign up?!

Deciding on NC State was easy. The Jenkins MAC Program is top tier and a great value for the price. My 20-minute commute is enjoyable and most of my classes are in the afternoon. But what really separates NC State’s MAC Program from the rest is how devoted the faculty is to making sure you succeed. The job placement rate is nearly 100%, which proves my point.

Because my bachelor’s degree in communications shared no common classes with an undergraduate accounting degree, I was required to take a few pre-requisites that were listed on the admissions website. I elected to take those classes online at Wake Technical Community College, which all carried over to NC State seamlessly. Taking those classes helped me know my career change was the right decision.

With pre-reqs out of the way, I took the spring 2015 semester off to focus on a good application and GMAT score. I gathered my letters of recommendations, personal statement of interest and transcripts, and applied by the early deadline to automatically be considered for scholarships. If you are thinking about applying, apply before the early deadline! There are no extra forms to fill out and it could mean a lot of money taken off your tuition. It did for me and I would love to share more about that with you, but it will have to wait until my next post. Don’t forget to follow us on social media:

Facebook: North Carolina State University Jenkins MAC Program
Twitter: @NCStateMAC
Instagram: @ncsumac

Go Pack,
Brian

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