“If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” College is an essential key to success, but to decide a major can cause struggles that make you wonder about your future career. When I decided to apply to college, I thought I wanted to pursue an undergraduate degree in finance, but the first semester at College made me wonder if earning a finance degree was right for me. The accounting major has many similarities with the finance major, which confused me about what major was the right path for me.

Many first-year students at college as me who plan to study business majors, such as accounting or finance, have struggled with deciding which major to choose because of the uncertainty of what will bring better outcomes at the end of their professional life.  

 Furthermore, some think about whether accounting or finance career is the same domain of ability, even though they belong to the same root of business science. Accounting is a narrow science, while finance is quite an extensive major. To become a finance expert, you must know basic accounting, but they are different. When you ask an expert about those two careers, they will tell you a significant difference between them.

Those struggles mentioned above were part of my journey to choose the right major that would bring me excitement and excellent outcomes in the long run. I had to go through much research into what was more suitable for my life.

Initially, it is tough to know, especially since not knowing people in the industry to guide you can be trickier. I remember very well that in my first accounting class, I struggled a lot with how accounting works in real life. I took my second accounting class, which was much easier than the first one. A cost accountant at a private company instructed the class. He made the class so smooth that I felt a connection with accounting. It was like a sign that I wanted to go for accounting. Since that class, I would say that I will never regret deciding to major in accountancy.

As I continued my journey as a student, I started getting more involved with classmates and accounting professors. It was exciting how everyone started helping me to figure out what the industry in accounting was about. After compiling a good number of opinions, I knew I had decided correctly.

In the accounting major, you have excellent opportunities since the degree is flexible and covers finance, business, and accounting. Once you graduate, you can work in the private or public sector. You can become a tax accountant, auditor, bookkeeper, budget analyst, financial examiner, tax advisor, risk assessor, treasurer, and even more; if you get your CPA license, you will enrich your abilities in the accounting industry. You can become a forensic accountant/ FBI agent, sports accountant, IT auditor, etc.

Now I am a week away from finishing this fantastic journey. Closing one cycle to start another feels awesome, especially when you have enjoyed the process. A piece of advice to recent high school grads uncertain about what they want to do in college is to network with anyone. One person may change your life from the thousands, and one word can help you to understand something better.