Dear 100 Hour Board,
Could you give me some advice for Accounting 310 which I'll be taking next semester. I've heard it's hard.
-Pre-accounting student
Dear pre-finance student,
I think I've talked about my foray into accounting in the archives at some point. I'm almost certain.
I, probably much like you, took ACC 200 without any intent on pursuing accounting as a career. I took it because I was going to complete a business minor, and that was one of the classes that was required to do that. I took it back when Norm was still on campus, and I was pleasantly surprised at how charming and pleasant Norm and his subject were. The tests were easy. The daily quizzes weren't difficult at all. I saw people struggling around me, and I thought that hey—maybe accounting was the right major for me.
I enrolled in ACC 210 (now ACC 310) the following semester eager to spend another fun semester with Norm. As soon as the add/drop deadline passed, however, Norm transformed into a flesh-eating robot with a grumbling stomach that only hands and brains could satisfy. He began following me, trying to back me into a corner to get at my delicious, healthy brain meat. On three occasions he successfully trapped me—in the testing center for the two tests and the final. After 13 full hours of testing over the course of the semester, he had managed to eat all of my brains and drank my spinal fluid as if my spinal cord were a bendy straw.
So my advice to you is to expect a completely different, possibly terrible experience with ACC 310. You might not make it out of that course with a desire to go into accounting. That's okay. It's a weeder class. It's designed to be roughly as terrible as the junior core is. If you can't take the heat, you should probably reconsider what you want to do with your life.
Like in ACC 200, stay on top of everything. Don't allow yourself to get behind. Spend time in the accounting lab if you're having a really hard time. Study your brains out for the exams and try to get in the mid-80's on all of them if you're shooting for an A or an A-. Don't lose easy points because you don't take time to read/watch critically for the weekly quizzes (which are much, much harder than in ACC 200).
If you actually enjoy the class, you're meant for accounting. Talk to your professor and express to him how you enjoy it and want to spend the whole rest of your life learning about it. If you don't enjoy the class, don't fret; you still might be able to tucker through the rest of the program out of sheer grit and determination. I just don't recommend forcing yourself to do that just because the job prospects are good.
Best of luck, and try not to die. Plan to take the full four or five hours in every exam, and don't be surprised if you still have to guess on a few questions. Woof.
--Gimgimno


