Regardless of where you’re from or where your school is located, starting post-secondary education is a big step and you’re not always sure where you will end up. Sometimes things don’t work out as they plan and we switch majors one or more times between September of first year and graduation. Alternatively, others decide to pursue a different career path after they graduate.
Jeffrey Baker, an alumnus of McMaster University with a bachelor of science in biology, is now attending the University of British Columbia’s diploma in accounting program. Jeff was born and raised in Calgary and moved to Hamilton to attend Mac, but after four years there, he moved further west to Vancouver to attend UBC.
Q. What made you decide to attend school in Ontario when you were originally from Alberta?
A. I wanted to live away from home and experience residence and university life, which I didn’t think one could do living at home. My sister was attending Laurier at the time, so I was away from family yet within easy driving distance if I ever did get homesick. McMaster also felt like it was going to be the right fit for what I was looking for, it’s that hard-to-explain feeling, but I just felt like I would succeed there.
Q. Did you face any challenges that made living far from home really difficult?
A. The biggest challenge was being away from all my high school friends. It is difficult to maintain those relationships, but I quickly developed new ones with people living in my residence. I only visited home three times during the school year (Thanksgiving, Christmas and Reading Week), so I had few opportunities to meet up with them when I was home, especially when balancing family gatherings with homework, it got quite hard to make time.
Q. Why did you start on the path to completing a biology degree?
A. I originally had aspirations of going into med school and biology has always been the common path for people going down that road.
Q. When did you realize that you were no longer interested in a career in biology?
A. Midway through third year I found I was not interested in biology to the degree that I would want to do it for the rest of my life. I have always enjoyed biology, but I was no longer able to see my future in it. Around the same time, I was becoming very interested in the stock markets and trading (it may have just been the thrill of making some money).
Q. Why do you want to become a chartered accountant (CA)?
A. It mainly boils down to job potential. There are several jobs I could get working in a bank branch as a investment advisor, but there is not much room to advance without the knowledge and expertise that an accounting designation would provide me. The CA designation focuses so much on analysis of a company as a whole that it seems like the best fit for jobs analyzing and trading stock and bonds.
Q. How will the program at UBC help you become a CA?
A. The diploma in accounting program is designed for students who already have an university degree but have little or no training done in accounting. It is an accelerated program that will satisfy all of the course requirements for any of the three accounting designations. It provides a nice alternative to returning and completing an additional BBA in three or four years.
Q. What do you find different about living in B.C. now that you did your undergrad in Ontario?
A. The DAP programs is run differently than the traditional bachelor’s degree because all of the classes are held at night. It has been a difficult transition for me to force myself to study during the day and then go off to class at night.
Q. Do you have any last words for students who may be considering switching programs or pursuing something different after they graduate?
A. I guess the most important thing to do is make sure you research your options well: phone or meet with counsellors and recruiters to find all the different options available to you so you can make the best decision. You don’t want to be caught in the same scenario where you are doing something that isn’t right for you.
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