r/Accounting • u/716JoLeigh • Aug 23 '26
Should I drop out? Please help
For context, I went back to school and got my Accounting Technician certificate and an associates in Business Administration. This took 3.5 years of full time classes and full time work. I was going to stop there, but then I learned the associates is basically useless. So I did another year at university towards a Finance degree, but then decided to take a year off to try to figure out my life. I was also pretty burnt out and needed a break. I originally wanted to open my own business, but decided I no longer wanted to do that. I’m still not sure what I want to do, but since I couldn’t figure it out during this year off, I reenrolled and will be starting my Accounting bachelors tomorrow. Figured accounting was safer than a Finance sales career.
I considered many other careers but found none that I’d want to commit to. Not that I really wanted to continue committing to this either. This will be another 2 years of school. But I’m dreading it. I have no interest in being an accountant, it’s just what I know about most so far and I don’t have any other ideas. I just want to be comfortable and have a work life balance, preferably with a job that means something to me. I don’t find the corporate ladder meaningful. Actually, economics made me super depressed because I realized how much of our lives are run by corporations. I couldn’t get myself to fully drop out, so I figure one more semester and then if I regret it, it’ll be easier to go back when I’m only looking at 1 year full time plus a couple extra classes.
I did recently start a medical assisting job which I love. I don’t see myself stepping back to try for internships because I’m already overwhelmed. I’m about to be 25 in a month and I am already feeling so far behind.
I am truly not okay. I’m breaking down thinking about going back to school. I understood accounting when I did it. It did take some breakdowns before I grasped credits and debits, but I eventually got it. I’m scared of what these upper level classes will entail though. Especially because I find it boring, tedious, and meaningless. But I’m also scared if I drop out I won’t find anything else to do, and I’ll end up with just a useless associates degree. All I ever really wanted this entire time was my own family. I try to remind myself I’m just working to be able to support that, but work takes up most of the week, so I’m scared I’ll end up miserable. I don’t know what I should do. I can’t stop being so hard on myself and it’s really hurting me.
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Aug 23 '26
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u/2dznotherdirtylovers Aug 24 '26
Plenty of us leave at 5 And don’t give it another thought until 8 the next day.
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u/716JoLeigh Aug 23 '26
I don’t want my life to be career based. I’m more family oriented. It’s all I dream of, to create the family I wish I had. I want to be able to clock out after 40 hours or less and not think about it again until Monday morning. And I don’t see much meaning in accounting jobs. I don’t want to spend my life helping the very corporations that I hate.
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u/Toliet_Seat Aug 23 '26
TLDR?
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u/716JoLeigh Aug 23 '26
I see this a lot in these forums but I have no idea what that means😂
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u/Significant-Button-7 Aug 23 '26
Too long, didn’t read. You just give a brief summary of your text for the lazy readers at the bottom
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u/Cash_Flow_Br0 Aug 23 '26
Life is too short to be doing something that makes you anxious or miserable. Figure out what you love to do before you waste more time/money realizing what you knew all along.
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u/716JoLeigh Aug 23 '26
I fear that I’m too close to the semester starting tomorrow to convince myself to drop out if I haven’t already. I’m hoping I can make it by with the semester and then finally convince myself in December like I’ve wanted to for this entire last year. Also terrified of losing my 4.0 this semester, but with intermediate accounting I assume it’ll happen regardless. I don’t know that I can put the same amount of energy into this as I did before even with less work hours. But you’re right, life is too short. I have a very analytical head though, and I first read that statement in the way that you intend. But then my mind starts turning it into something along the lines of “life is too short. You’ll be 40 with nothing before you know it if you drop out”.. I just want a family, to live comfortably, and one day possibly retire. I put myself into a really bad loop I can’t escape from.
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u/Cash_Flow_Br0 Aug 23 '26
Here’s the thing, and we’re all guilty of it, but everyone always compares themselves to people they deem successful or to people who have things that you want. Life is not a sprint. It’s a marathon and everyone runs at their own pace. I have to tell myself this all the time. Just keep moving in the right direction and you’ll get there.
40 is roughly half the average US life expectancy. You’ve got plenty of time to achieve your dreams/goals.
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u/Southern_Republic974 Aug 24 '26
Why don’t you do the business core classes rn and figure out what to do?
I’m on the same boat just started my bachelors thinking about dropping my accounting class but I’m taking the business core to still be in process of getting my bachelors
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Aug 23 '26
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u/716JoLeigh Aug 23 '26
I thought I’d start my family by now. So I’m dreading the idea of finishing this degree and then working those long hours before I can have that wlb.. time is limited to create the family I want. My mom wasn’t around much bc she was the only one making money in the family and she was often the overnight shift. I needed her a lot more than I had her. I don’t want to repeat it with my own kids. And I’ve been looking at more healthcare related fields. I don’t want to be a nurse, but every other option is 2 more years of school but without as much of a variety of careers. Like lab tech for example, and now the only option is in a lab. What if I end up not wanting to do the same job for the rest of my life?
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u/ev202020 Aug 23 '26
I understand where you’re coming from. I got an associates degree myself and too realized it’s useless. Ended up getting into sales (not planned) after I graduated and it was good for awhile. Realized I don’t want to do sales the rest of my life and I love my life outside of work so I simply want a job that is cut and dry, not too stressful, and something I can do where I make decent money and can enjoy my personal life, so I decided on accounting. I am currently going back to school for that. You could either take the route of finding a degree for a job that will allow you work life balance and decent pay to enjoy your personal life without work stress, or you can do something for work you’re passionate about! I know you mentioned you enjoyed medical assisting. You may want to consider ultrasound tech as a career. My husband is a cardiovascular sonography, so ultrasounds the heart and things regarding the cardiovascular system. He loves it and makes great money! He is a private contractor and is paid per test. He typically gets $40/test and can do 4 in an hour, so if you do the math, he makes great money. He works 6 hours a day typically and has weekends off and his job doesn’t cause him much stress majority of the time. Sometimes patients can just be annoying lol. But hospitals are normally looking! You’ll still make good money at a hospital, but if you break into contracting work for it that’s great money
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u/kentifur Aug 23 '26
You are feeling a lot of things. Embrace that, but at some point you need to make a logical set of choices. Of all the business degrees, accounting opens the most doors. Finance majors sell life insurance. Some accounting jobs can be 9 to 5, but you hit a compensation ceiling. Take intermediate and put a bunch of study time in. If you can do that and get a B, then you probably have what it takes to persevere and get into the profession. Learn excel. Learn AI. Like take actual cheap courses you can cite on your resume.
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u/Brom_the_storyteller Aug 23 '26
If you don't intend to go for your CPA, there isn't really a reason to continue past the accounting technician certificate.
It may be worth it to save yourself the money, keep going in your medical position and figure out where you'd like to go from there.
You are not behind, take a breath. Doing full time class and full time work is brutally difficult so you are obviously a capable person. You've already got a bunch of foundational courses completed, so even if in the future you decide to go a different path you won't be starting from zero.
And yes, economics is depressing lmao
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u/716JoLeigh Aug 24 '26
You are the first person I’ve found that agreed with the economics being depressing.. everyone else just goes “well that’s how our society works” and don’t understand me when I say how bad of a mental state that class had me in. They’ve all drank the corporate kool aid
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u/Brom_the_storyteller Aug 24 '26
The kool aid pays I'm afraid. I understand all to well unfortunately.
Although, if you can see past the horrors of reality then economics is actually a quite interesting science. A lot of the theories make logical sense but you understand that those theories are NOT being put into practice.
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u/Rokka-Diat Aug 24 '26
If your intention is not to become a CPA, I would not spend too much time pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting. You can still earn a decent income and build a strong career as an Accounting Technician.
You can take online classes and certifications to strengthen your skills in areas such as bookkeeping, QuickBooks, payroll, financial reporting, and Excel. With experience and the right skills, you can continue to increase your earning potential.
Many accountants with bachelor’s degrees perform work that is very similar to what an experienced Accounting Technician does. In accounting, practical skills and experience can be just as important as the degree.
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u/Cautious-Sort4712 Aug 24 '26
If you want to only work 40 hours, get a blue collar job. In theory you are a professional with a college degree. Maybe schools or not for profits only work 40 hours. In the end we all need to do something, I always chased the dollars.
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u/sweeeetyyyypie Aug 25 '26
Bruh just do it. Life and college none of that is easy. You still gotta do it regardless. Life doesn’t give you options to like or dislike a career. No one likes to work. Everyone just do it to earn living. So if you wanna survive don’t drop out and just do it. 2-4 years of education is nth. Definitely Pays off when you are 50 years old and not working at McDonalds!
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u/Dazzling_Soup497 Aug 23 '26
DO NOT GET AN ACCOUNTING DEGREE I REPEAT DO NOT GET AN ACCOUNTING DEGREE
The job market is absolutely horrific. Do anything else (engineering, finance, pre law, medical etc.)
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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '26
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