I am facing a dilemma, and often one of the best ways for me to process a big decision is to write it out.
My dilemma: Do I go back to school to take accounting classes so that I can become a CPA (certified public accountant), or do I work on starting a family.
This is a dilemma because I’m 28-years old, and in my idea of a perfect world, my husband and I would have started a family this year. I would definitely still like to have our first kid before I’m 30. But, most of the people tell you that if you know you want to go back to school, you should do it before you have kids, because afterwards neither the time nor the money is ever quite as readily available.
So, if I go back to school, I’d probably be working on my classes for two to three years (I’d be working full-time while I take classes), at which point we’ve missed my “deadline” for having our first kid.
But, if we start a family, I probably won’t be able to realistically think about going back to school until our kids (we want two) are three- or four-years old, which puts off my education plans for almost seven years (assuming quite a few things, but let’s just go with it).
Some background on the “back to school” bit
Several months ago, I stumbled on the idea that I might really like being a CPA. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a revelation to no one but me, but there you have it.
I’ve been doing research into what it might take to eligible to sit for the CPA exam and apply for a CPA license in Colorado. This answer is not as straight-forward as you might think.
There are four requirements you need to meet to apply for a CPA license in Colorado. You need to 1) meet the Education requirements, 2) pass the CPA Exam, 3) pass the AICPA Ethics exam, 4) and meet the Experience requirements.
The licensure process is made slightly more tricky by the fact that the education requirements to apply for a Colorado CPA license are changing in July 2015 from 120 semester hours to 150 semester hours. It’s taken me several months and dozens of phone calls and emails to get a final answer on whether the experience requirements also need to be completed before July 2015 in order to take advantage of the education requirement in place until that date.
The answer to that question is no. If you are going to apply for a CPA license in Colorado after July 1, 2015, you have to abide by the new education requirements effective after that date.
That being the case, now I need to figure out if I need to take a few undergraduate courses and get an MS in Accounting in order to have the right number of semester hours to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam, or if I can just take the undergraduate courses and be eligible, or just get the MS in Accounting and be eligible.
And if just the undergraduate courses will work, which would be less expensive, do I really want to go back to school to get nothing more than a CPA license? Or is having another nice piece of paper with my name on it representing several years and several thousands of dollars worth the money?
On top of all that, despite my interest in the subject, I have no idea if I’d even be good at being a CPA. It’s something that I’d never even thought about until recently, and the societal pressures against it are intense. Everyone makes fun of accountants. They’re stereotypically seen as un-creative, boring sticks-in-the-mud. And I don’t like the idea of being associated with those concepts any more than the next person.
All in all, the whole thing is scary and frustrating and overwhelming and I don’t like it.
Decision-making help
I’ve been going around and around in circles on this dilemma for several months (in case you can’t tell). Recently, I’ve been reading Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project, and I’ve started reading her blog of the same name.
In one of the blog entries, she talks about “5 Fateful Questions”:
What am I waiting for?
What would I do if I weren’t scared?
What steps would make things easier?
What would I do if I had all the time and money in the world?
What is the worst, and the best, that could happen?
So, I’ve decided I should ask myself these five fateful questions and see what I turn up:
What am I waiting for?
I’m waiting for a sign that this is the right thing to do.
I’m waiting for us to have enough money saved up that I won’t have to take on more student debt to make going back to school happen.
It’s even possible that I’m waiting for the choice to be taken out of my hands, although that’s a disconcerting thought.
What would I do if I weren’t scared?
If I weren’t scared I would sign up for an accounting class (possibly at the local community college) just to see if it was something I’m really interested in.
If I weren’t scared I would take the GRE, as preparation for the possibility that getting an MS in Accounting is the best, easiest, fastest, best way to go about this whole CPA project.
What steps would make things easier?
It would probably make things easier if I took a practice GRE online, to see how much studying I have to do to pass it.
It would probably make things easier if I started saving a small amount of money each month, just to have something saved toward the project. That might give it more legitimacy in my mind.
What would I do if I had all the time and money in the world?
If I had all the time and money in the world, I would (in this order):
- go back to school,
- get an MS in Accounting,
- take and pass the CPA exam,
- get my experience requirement take care of (preferably at a big accounting firm),
- get my CPA license,
- go on a baby-moon to the British Isles with my husband, and
- start a family.
What is the worst, and the best, that could happen?
The worst that could happen is…
…that I’ll invest time and money into the project of becoming a CPA and once I finally have the license and get my first job I’ll hate it.
… that we wait too long to have kids and don’t have them at all.
… that I get my CPA license and all of the predicted jobs for CPAs don’t materialize and we’ve added to our debt load without any increase in income.
The best that could happen is…
… I could absolutely love being a CPA and it would be well-worth the time, energy, and effort I put into it
… I get my CPA license after taking all my classes, we have our first kid just before my 31st birthday and our second kid just before my 33rd, and I work from home as a CPA until our kids have started school, at which point I go back to work part-time at a great, local accounting firm.
… I get my CPA license and land a job paying $80,000 a year, giving my husband the ability to go to culinary school and stay at home with the kids.
A useful exercise
Writing all of the upsides and downsides out has actually really helped me clarify the situation. I know now what I’m going to do.
My plan:
I’m going to start saving money toward the costs of books and tuition.
I’m going to take an accounting class at the local community college.
While doing that, I’m going to study for and take the GRE.
I’m going to talk to advisers at the local university and see if I need to take both undergraduate and graduate courses, or just the graduate courses.
I’m going to apply for any scholarships I can find.
I’m going to go back to school in the Summer or Fall of 2012.
