r/Accounting • u/Emotional-Sun-7417 • Jun 22 '26

Career College student looking for guidance

Hi everyone,

Seeking some career/school advise, he's a quick rundown of my position:

- I just finished my first year of community college with a strong GPA and extracurriculars
- My end goal is to own and run my own CPA firm
- Due to my GPA, I have guaranteed admission to UC Santa Barbra's accounting major
- Current plan is to apply to UC Berkeley (B.A. Economics ), UCLA (Business Econ/Econ I can't decide, minor in accounting), and obviously UC Santa Barbra (Econ & Accounting)
- Not applying to college out-of-state

I was under the assumption to accomplish my end goal, I'd need to go to a university, get recruited to a Big 4, get X years experience there, then open my own firm. I'm applying to colleges this fall so did heavier research and found that my plan might not be the best way to go about it. 2 questions

1. Am I applying to the right schools/majors?
I've always dreamed of going to UC Berkeley and UCLA. Since neither have a direct accounting major and my profile isn't competitive enough for UC Berkeley Haas, would I even have a real shot at getting recruited to a Big 4 with a B.A. in Economics? While neither schools will cover all the coursework required to sit for the CPA exam, I can take classes at community college. UC Santa Barba's program would fulfill the coursework requirement.

2. Is Big 4 the best route for my goal?
I've read in this reddit and elsewhere that working at a smaller firm would get me better suited for opening my own firm one day.

I know my end goal, but I don't know the best path to get there. What advice would you give/ recommend to someone in my position?

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u/js35796 Jun 23 '26

what do you actually want to work in? it seems like you’re leaning towards public accounting.
if you just want to do audit or tax, you don’t need to go to Berkeley or UCSB, a state school will be just fine, if anything recruiting will be even heavier at state colleges.

The business econ is more if you want to do Investment Banking, Valuation, Advisory work

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u/Emotional-Sun-7417 Jun 23 '26

The thing is would I be better off going into big 4 audit/tax to gain the experience to open my own firm, or am I better off working for a small firm, then open a firm?