How to survive as an accounting major: Join a student organization

By Christian Conley

 

By far one of the biggest hurdles when I first came to Central Michigan University was breaking out of my comfort zone. Growing up, most of my elementary school friends went to the same middle school as me and then we went to high school together. It was a pretty consistent flow and my social group never really evolved. That all changed the moment I arrived on campus.

Finding people to “party” with is not a hard task to accomplish, especially in a college town. However, finding friends who you can study with, work on group projects with, and complain to each with is much more difficult. That is why I encourage any accounting major (or student) to join a student organization. Here are the top three benefits in my opinion:

1) Students who relate to you

The accounting major is very unique in that our hardest exam is after we graduate. Very often, you will hear students talking about their “150” or trying to study for “FAR.” When you join a student organization like Beta Alpha Psi (BAP), Student Accounting Society (SAS), or National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), you find people who relate to the struggles you are going through. They understand (or are going through it with you) the difficulty of preparing for “501 and 531” while juggling office interviews.

2) Networking

Typically, this is what the core objective of joining an organization like BAP, SAS or NABA is about. The people who sit next to you during professional meetings are future managers, partners and CFO’s. More importantly, you interact with recruiters every week. I have walked into interview rooms where the people who are interviewing me I have met numerous times before because of Beta Alpha Psi. I can’t think of any better way a student could build up his or her’s professional network than to join a student organization.

3) Great people

I know this is the second time I have mentioned the students, but it would be a disservice to not articulate how wonderful the people are. Some of my fondest memories of the accounting program is sitting around tables in Grawn or the library and studying for our final exam together. When you join a student organization, you get to experience items like socials (BAP/SAS are going to a Piston’s game next week), volunteering events (working the food pantry is always a great experience) and formal banquets (where the food is always amazing).

 

Christian Conley is the current President of Beta Alpha Psi’s Eta Epsilon Chapter. He has been a member of Beta Alpha Psi for two years. To contact him, send an email to betaalphapsi.cmu@gmail.com.