Accounting degrees are in demand with employers. Degrees from accounting schools are often the first step toward a lucrative career. The specific requirements that you must meet in order to get into an accounting school can vary from school to school. However, almost every undergraduate accounting school will require you to have a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) credential in order to apply. (Most schools also welcome applications from students with homeschooling backgrounds.) Most undergraduate programs will also require you to fill out an application, submit a high school transcript (unless you have a GED), submit your scores from the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT, submit at least one letter of recommendation, and write one or more essays. Graduate programs, on the other hand, will almost always require you to have a bachelor’s degree in order to apply.
Most graduate programs will also require you to submit a college transcript showing that you have achieved no less than a 3.0 GPA in upper level college courses (a “B” average in courses that are designed for college juniors and seniors), submit your scores from the GMAT and/or the GRE, submit one or more letters of recommendation, and write a statement of purpose (an essay that explains why you are pursuing a graduate degree and identifies some of the things that you hope to achieve as a result of that degree).
It is also important to note that some schools may require you to pay an application fee, which typically falls somewhere between $15 to $100, with most application fees falling in the $25 to $35 range. This means that an undergraduate student can expect to spend anywhere from $35 to $150 for his or her college application and testing fees for the SAT or the ACT, and a graduate student can expect to spend anywhere from $160 to $510 for his or her college application and testing fees for the GRE and/or the GMAT.
After you have submitted your application, an admissions board, which is made up of a group of professors and other professionals who work for the college, will review your application to determine if you have the knowledge and personality traits that are necessary to succeed in an accounting program. These professionals are looking primarily for signs that you have the basic skills and knowledge necessary to earn your degree, as well as obtain a position in the field of accounting once you graduate.
Typically, the admissions board for an accounting program looks for individuals who have an above average GPA (especially in math-related courses) and above average SAT, ACT, GMAT, and/or GRE scores (especially in the math sections of each exam). It is important to note, however, that the professionals on an admissions board will take a number of factors into consideration before they make a decision, and it is possible for an individual to be accepted even if his or her GPA and/or test scores are lower than the average student’s scores. It is also important to note that each accounting program has a limited number of slots available, and an individual with an above average GPA and/or above average SAT, ACT, GMAT, and/or GRE scores may actually be denied entrance in some cases. In other words, the specific number of applicants that a program can accept varies considerably from school to school, and even an individual with a good academic background may be denied if there is not enough space.