Need help with University courses :(

[siddhartharora]

Hey everyone,

I've been quite confused, scared and annoyed recently due to my subject choices not matching my university choices. I'm going into Year 12, doing English, Religion (compulsory), Biology, Economics, Accounting and Further Mathematics. Now I moved to Victoria at the start of Year 11, which meant that I didn't understand how VCE worked, how the subjects responded to University courses (prerequisites) and such, because in NSW, courses only look at the ATAR. So coming into a new state, I didn't really know what Maths Methods was, and at the time no one told me anything about the prerequisites system in Victorian universities. When picking out my subjects with the rest of the year group, I already had a career pathway that I strictly wanted to stick to: Accounting.

This led me to picking Accounting, Economics and Further Maths, as I knew this maths was somewhat basic and would be an appropriate match for accounting, and also thought that Methods wouldn't be appropriate in my choices if I was to pursue a career in Accounting. I chose Biology because we had to kick off Year 11 with 6 subjects, and in one of the two remaining blocks, Biology seemed most interesting in comparison to Art and Chemistry. So that was my stupid way of thinking going into VCE. Unluckily for me, it took me till halfway through Unit 2 to find out that the major degree leading to a career in Accounting, was Bachelor of Commerce.

And I found this out from a student in my class, who was more knowledgeable in regards to University info. So I went home the day I found this out, and researched the major Victorian universities. Melbourne Uni - Commerce pre-requisite, METHODS. Monash Uni - Commerce pre-requisite, METHODS. Basically, I'm lost for options now. If I had gone into VCE knowing Victorian universities have prerequisites for courses, I would've picked Methods without doubt. But the fact that I went into Year 11 with no knowledge of this whatsoever and picking stupid subjects, has annoyed me in the recent times.

Wow, that's a lot of background information. Now straight to my question. What other courses are out there for Accounting that will give me an equal opportunity at being employed as someone who's a Melbourne uni graduate? And, does the university where you do your degree really matter once you've done your CPA/CA and have quite a fair bit of experience? (I'm considering Bachelor of Business at Monash or Commerce at Deaking. Thoughts?)

If you took your time to read all this and answer, I'm extremely grateful to you. Thanks!

[EvangelionZeta]

So a few responses to this:

1. It's not too late to change into Methods!  The 1/2 course can be EASILY done over the holidays, and indeed, some people even complete the 3/4 course over the holidays too.  Give it a shot, and I'm sure you'll be fine. 

2. I'm not sure about what courses can lead into Accounting exactly, but after you've been working for a while people care about as much for your undergrad degree as 3rd year students do for ATAR (ie. not a lot).  It'll definitely be fine, if you don't pursue the Melbourne route. 

3. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure it's also possible to transfer into, for instance, a degree in Commerce, or to get in by taking a bridging course of sorts (ie. learning Methods with the uni :p) - there are always options!  Check with your school careers counsellor or with the universities about this!

Just some final words as well: things will turn out all right.  You haven't even entered year 12 yet, so there is still lots of time for you to work out how to get to your dream career path.  And if people you know in real life don't, this forum at least has your back.  Good luck!

[walkec]

Heres a few options that I've thought of:
Look at doing a bridging course for the more desired courses if available to help you catch up on the components covered in methods.
Enrol in a similar, business course, keep your marks up and then transfer over
See if there's any way you can transfer to methods.
Enrol in a more generalised business course, then complete a post graduate

Hope this helps just remember that there are always ways to get to where you want to go, even if it means taking the long way around.

[WINGARDIUM]

Have you tried looking at the VICTER for your entry year? Heres the link: http://www.vtac.edu.au/pdf/publications/victer2014.pdf
Just search "accounting" and you should find more courses and prereqs

There are quite a few accounting courses that don't require any prerequisites. Check out La trobe uni, they have quite a few multiple accounting degrees (some require maths, most need english) http://www.latrobe.edu.au/courses/accounting

[petitties]

Shouldnt the school have gave you some guidance in picking your courses? Especially at the VCE level, in which case if you found out early you could have easily changed into methods. Not to mention its not entirely hard to learn 1/2 methods, there are plenty of people who dont take unit 1/2 classes seriously so you can easily catchup. Most of it is building on from stuff you do in highschool no matter where you're from.

Most universities are also becoming more and more accepting of further as a prerequisite nowadays. You could also contact universities personally explaining your situation and seeing if they would make a special offer, given that you do well in further/atar. Lastly many universities run bridging programs for people who dont do the prereq subjects in highschool, dont know how this would work though. Get into contact with your school's careers councilor to find out.