Ladies and gentlemen of the freshman class of 2000:
Try an Accounting Education.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, an accounting education would be it. Thousands of professionals can attest to the benefits of an accounting education, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering academic experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the discovery and learning provided by your accounting program. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the discovery and learning provided by your accounting program until you're on the job. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at your program and recall in a way you can't grasp now how important discovery and learning was to your professional career and how hard you really worked. The accounting program will not seem as hard as you imagined.
Don't worry about the difficulty of the coursework. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve accounting problems by sharpening your pencil. The real concerns in your program are apt to be the realities of life that descend on you at 4 p.m. on some idle Friday.
Learn one thing every day that interests you.
Study economics
Don't be reckless about learning. Don't put up with professors who are.
Study art and literature.
Don't waste your time on memorization. Sometimes you'll remember, sometimes you won't. The race is long and, in the end, it's only your ability to learn and discover that will support you.
Don't rest to heavily on your successes. Learn from your failures. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old contacts. Incorporate new technology to communicate with them.
Study statistics.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know whether to work in public or private accounting. The most interesting students I've known didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their careers. Some of the most interesting professionals I know still have time to decide.
Read extensively. You'll hate it if you miss that golden opportunity. Maybe you'll be partner, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll be CEO, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll be successful at 40; maybe you'll turn over the business to your children on your 65th birthday. Whatever you do, don't sell yourself too much, or under rate yourself either. Your choice of an accounting education is only half the battle. The rest is up to you.
Enjoy your mind. Use it every way you can. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own. Don't be afraid to think or let other people keep you from thinking.
Practice speaking, even if you have nowhere to do it but in front of the mirror at home. Your presentations will be better and making your point much easier.
Practice writing skills, even if you think it's irrelevant.
Don't use solution manuals to study. They will only cripple your ability to learn and discover.
Get to know your professors. You never know what a valuable resource they can be in the future. Be respectful of your peers. They are your link to the accounting network at school and the people most to likely network with you in the future. Understand that learning opportunities come and go, be sure to grab as many as you can.
Work hard to understand the gap in what you know and what you need to learn, because the older you get, the more that understanding will serve to continue the successes of your youth.
Think about working in New York City once, but remember to leave before you burnout. Think about working in Northern California once, leave if you want to but it's your choice.
Do an internship, but value the learning experience and not just the money.
Accept certain inalienable truths: your future is uncertain, some classes will be difficult, all grades won't be an A. You, too, will complete the program. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you started, your future was certain, most classes were easy and the A grades were in relevant courses.
Respect your professors.
Take responsibility for your mistakes. Maybe you'll be lucky and the mistakes immaterial. Maybe you'll have friends willing to cover for you. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't accelerate your program at the expense of understanding or by time your 40 you'll wish you were 20 and could do it again.
Be careful with the advice you receive, and be patient with the professor willing to give it. Advice is what accountants get paid for. Dispensing it should always be done with the utmost respect for your client, his/or her objectives, yourself, and your career goals. Make sure the advice you receive can be trusted as specific to you and not over used clichés that have been wiped off and recycled for more than their worth.
But trust me on the accounting education.
This is an adaptation of Mary Schmich's "Sunscreen" column and subsequent musical score of the same name. My apologies to Mary Schmich.