Hello!

I'm currently a sophomore at a state university in Southern California. Because California will be changing their CPA eligibility requirements next year to require 150 units, I'm trying to decide what path would be best for me to go down in order to reach the 150 units and at the same time get an education that gives me as many options as possible in my future (ie. should I not go to grad school because I'll want to do that later in my career, or should I definitely go to grad school because firms will be expecting MAcc's). I'm assuming that if I want to go public after I graduate, I will need to be CPA eligible, please correct me if I'm wrong. Would it be better for me to get a double major, one in Accountancy and one in Management Information Systems (would this double major even fulfill California's new stricter rules?), or would it be best for me to go to grad school and get a MAcc?

On top of this, in this new five year school schedule required to get 150 units, what is the overall schedule of what things I should be doing and when assuming I want to work Big 4 after college? Here's my guess based on what I've researched so far, please add anything or correct anything if I'm wrong!

• Sophomore Year - Get good grades, participate in campus clubs, volunteer, join accounting society

• Summer after Sophomore Year - Attempt to get internship (unpaid?) at smaller local CPA firms

• Junior Year - Same as Sophomore, get more involved with Accounting society and join Beta Alpha Psi, go to meet the firms type events and network with recruiters

• Summer after Junior Year - Attempt to get Summer leadership program at Big 4, intern at small local CPA firm

• Senior Year - Apply for summer Big 4 internship during the fall

• Summer after Senior Year - Intern at Big 4, or other large firm (BDO, McGladrey), receive job offer (hopefully)!

• Senior Year pt 2/MAcc - If internship went well, work hard in school, don't mess up job offer, if not work on networking and finding future job opportunities

• Graduation! - Begin the joy of working in a large CPA firm

Thank you for your time reading this, I'd appreciate any advice I can get to steer me down the right path!