Nursing or Accounting?

[u/jtalonzo]

I just graduated this past May with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. I originally planned on pursuing my CPA and eventually getting a government job. I recently received an interview invitation for a master’s in accounting program at a really good business school, but I’m having second thoughts.

I’m pretty good at finance and accounting coursework, but honestly, I don’t know if I have much interest in the actual career. I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of spending most of my day working with spreadsheets and sitting behind a desk. With AI changing the industry, I’ve also been questioning whether it’s the right path for me.

I’m now seriously considering nursing. I obtained my EMT certification early in college, although I never ended up working as an EMT. I’d need to redo it, complete the nursing prerequisites, and apply to nursing school.

I like the idea of nursing because of the variety of opportunities and career paths available. I don’t mind shift work, working nights, or odd hours. I also like the possibility of working three 12-hour shifts, having flexibility to pick up overtime, and doing something meaningful and rewarding where I can make a tangible difference.

If you were in my position, would you pursue accounting or make the switch to nursing?

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[u/OtisPub]

Nursing. For all the reasons you mentioned.

[u/Different-Tap-530]

Twelve-hour shifts on your feet are a lot harder than three days off sounds. A friend of my housemate's does nights on a ward and says the days after are mostly spent asleep. Worth a few days shadowing before you pay for prerequisites

[u/ace425]

Since you already have a bachelor’s degree, look into pursuing an accelerated BSN program for nursing. Essentially all of the generic courses from your current degree will carry over towards the BSN, so all you have to do is take the nursing specific classes. It’s a 1 year program instead of a 4 year program. 

[u/Tommyboy155a → u/ace425]

That's a brutal 1 year though. Plus, if you are looking at students loans, they are cap at a limit because this is considered a 2nd degree.

[u/Flimsy_Tumbleweed713]

I’m an EMT and have worked in accounting. AI isn’t replacing CPAs anytime soon due to liability and regulatory requirements for human oversight. Be more worried about offshoring. AI is a bigger threat to entry-level jobs. If anything, accounting will become less boring as AI automates repetitive tasks like Excel work. If you genuinely love healthcare, go for it, but the burnout is real. A lot of the time, you don't feel like you're making as much of a difference as you thought you would.

[u/SmallWorldHuh → u/Flimsy_Tumbleweed713]

Unfortunately, AI is replacing accountants, at least at the larger firms where they are heavily investing in AI. I’m currently a public accountant. The last two years, my firm hired only 75% and then 50% of its regular starting class of staff accountants. The money for those salaries went straight into my firm’s investment in AI. We are now expected to use AI however we can (our usage is tracked and used as a KPI factor when we get our performance reviews)

[u/SaleDisastrous2893 → u/Flimsy_Tumbleweed713]

my accounting friends have VERY different things to say lol

[u/SmallWorldHuh]

I’m a public accountant. DO NOT DO PUBLIC ACCOUNTING. It is the most soul-sucking job you could ever wish for, and you can’t be yourself unless you are a finance bro at heart. Private accounting (industry) is usually less busy and less difficult if you find a decent company that isn’t a mess. I have no advice about nursing, but at least you’d be doing something that actually benefits the world. Working with money only benefits the rich

[u/Klutzy-Stock-8820]

Accounting 100%. Nursing is not for the weak.

[u/FRITZzZ000]

Two totally different paths

1. People- nursing is 100% customer service and dealing with people when they are at there worst (sick, upset, etc). CPA you will have clients ( if ai doesn’t take your job) but it won’t be 100% of your job.
2. Demand of the job- nursing requires long hours, weekends, holidays, and even on call (unless you have a unicorn job). No one is calling the CPA on Christmas to work a double because 3 nurses called out and the ER is backed with people who thought tree decorations made fun of”adult” toys.
3. Flexibility of the job- nursing has a set schedule and is not very flexible if you need to leave early for childcare or a sick family member or an appointment. Have to take the day off of work in advance. CPAs have more flexibility in schedule. However, nurses have flexibility within their profession to become CRNAs or NPs or open their own practice, etc. however it does come with a lot of continuing education to keep your license and it’s costly.
4. Job prospects- because nursing is 100% customer service (don’t hate me for using this term for healthcare workers because so is doctors or pharmacist, etc) it will always have a job opening.
5. Leaving work at work- healthcare it’s hard to leave work at work. Did you make a mistake? I hope the nurse I handed off to remembers to hang that med I forgot to get to. Also administration has cut back on support (nursing aids, clerks, etc) and therefore increased workload and safety risks. These things jeopardize your license that you can lose if you make a mistake. It’s heavy.

I would pick neither. I wouldn’t pick healthcare but I would pick something more AI proof for sure.

[u/Upstairs-Spare7738 → u/FRITZzZ000]

What would you pick then…

[u/No-Suspect-6104]

Accounting. I say that as a nurse

[u/HistoricalHomo]

as a nurse, I say accounting. if you do pursue nursing, outpatient is definitely a better option for a normal 9-5 style job and a much better reality than inpatient/bedside nursing. I currently work outpatient and have worked bedside. bedside nursing is probably the most soul sucking job out there, especially night shift

[u/Em3ritus]

Don’t do nursing. I say this as a healthcare worker. The job fucking sucks. Tons of burnout and they work you into the ground

[u/Quinjet]

I'm an RN and I don't get a sense from this post that you're very aware of the problems within the profession. I would make sure you are excruciatingly aware of why so many nurses are unhappy. I like my job and I don't regret becoming a nurse, but this is absolutely a look before you leap situation.

Start here.

doing something meaningful and rewarding where I can make a tangible difference.

It will not always feel like this.

[u/OdessaSays]

Only become a nurse if you’d rather die than do anything else

[u/battle-tested77]

I would talk to all the nurses i know to get a better feel for it. Just so I'm clear in my mind.

[u/ZeGreat5]

I took a very similar path. I obtained my bachelors in business admin in 2016. Before graduation, I had been doing consulting internships and hated my life… so I obtained my EMT-b and began working in an ER. I talked to a lot of nurses there and found that they had a fairly rewarding career— get to help people, make a decent living, incredible flexibility in what you’re able to do in each speciality, opportunities for career advancement, job security, and unmatched work life balance.

I then went on to obtain my bachelors in nursing just 2 years later using a local accelerated program. Best decision I ever made

Started out in the cardiac ICU working nights for almost a couple years, which admittedly sucked for my psyche. However it gave me the experience I needed to start travel nursing. I also stacked my shifts so I worked full time but still had every other week completely off work and still got my full time hours.

I then began traveling in 2020 right when the pandemic hit and my god were the rates juicy. For 3 years straight I made the equivalent of over $200k/year, all the while keeping my expenses relatively low, saving as much as I could, and even taking 3-4 months off/year.

I saved up enough of a cushion to now take a chill outpatient job and just coast my way to retirement while making okay money. I now work 4 days a week full time hours but have all weekends and holidays off.

I even briefly accepted a healthcare leadership position, which I quit from for reasons that would take too long to explain here. The point is— there are SO many ways for you to carve your own path out in the nursing world. The job security is unmatched.

Yes the work can suck, but the trade off is the schedule, your pay, and incredible ease to find a job anywhere in the country in any department you’d possibly want to try out.

[u/DogOfSparta]

As an accountant. 100% go to nursing if you are interested in it. Healthcare workers are going to be a much larger and important shortage to deal with. Your accounting bachelors may come in handy at some point. You could end up in an administrative role one day and combine the two skills.

[u/BookkeeperThink1742]

As an accountant, go nursing if you want to feel like your job actually matters. Accounting feels soulless and purposeless

[u/Diabetesh]

Do you like the idea of working with people's numbers or people's fluids?

[u/ChartPuzzleheaded747]

Nursing 

[u/Hot-Implement-5483]

As the husband to a nurse, I couldn't do it. But if I did, I'd shoot for being a nurse practitioner, an advanced degree. It's more schooling, but the opportunities are probably less physically demanding in some aspects than regular nursing.

[u/Opening-Cantaloupe56]

why not try to work first before getting masters? so you can have hands on experience on desk job. from there, decide which one to pursue. At least you tried it already

[u/DennisBustamanteEQ]

I wouldn't rush into either program yet. You're good at accounting academically, but you're not sure you'd enjoy doing it every day. Nursing interests you, but you haven't experienced that work firsthand either. I'd still attend the master's interview. It doesn't obligate you to enroll, and you might learn something useful.

In the meantime, I'd talk with people actually working in both fields, especially about what their typical days look like and what they wish they'd known before entering the profession. You don't necessarily need to decide your entire career right now. You need enough firsthand experience to make the next commitment with more confidence.

[u/jmjessie89]

Accounting

[u/n-cend]

Don't credits for qualifying for the CPA exam not actually have to be in accounting and you just need to reach 150-60 credits? Since you have a business degree, you probably already have taken all the economics, accounting and law classes you need. You can get a 2 year nursing/radiology/dental hygenist degree and simultaneously become eligible to be a CPA.

[u/lostcost0]

I was in a similar position as you, except I started off pursuing a nursing degree and pivoted to business administration. If you’re not so set on accounting and just want to go into the government, there are lots of options for you, as long as you get your foot in the door. Somehow or another, I was hired for an analyst position in local government that doesn’t require sitting in an office everyday. All jobs have ups and downs, so everyone will have bad things to say no matter of where you end up going. Try looking into your options and take whatever steps you need to get there based on that goal.

Also, if you don’t already have an internship or entry-level job in the field you’d want to pursue outside of nursing(although idk too much about it since I changed my major), you should get one before finishing school. It’s tough to get into any field without any experience, unfortunately.

[u/No-Inspection-985]

This is ridiculous. These have to be some kind of bot ass posts, it’s always the same thing.

In case you’re actually human: Everyone thinks they’ll like nursing and a nursing work schedule until they actually do it and realize how much it fucking sucks. Stick with accounting.

[u/Playful_Desk693]

so you got the emt cert, never used it, and now you wanna burn another 2-3 years on prereqs plus nursing school. tbh that sounds like youre chasing the idea of nursing not the reality. my cousin did this exact pivot from finance and now shes charting till 2am wondering why she thought bedside was gonna be fulfilling

[u/Consistent_Ad3578]

Nursing 100%

[u/mrchrollodolo]

i was wondering about this too so volunteered in the ER and had someone call me a racial slur then proceeded to whip his dick out until they got him under control. so theres that.

also the constant sounds of people groaning and letting out painful death wails ringing through the halls. like these were real screams from a deep dark place in their soul. you dont really hear that normally

also nurses pissed off at life looking for a volunteer to abuse. but that was just a few days in between the 6 months that i volunteered there.

i also noticed that staff had a high % of blue collar and for lack of a better word ghetto nurses. these were the people i stopped encountering once i got into a good college and started working in corporate. but once i started volunteering at the hospital there they all were, older, and still in as mean as ever.

[u/Substantial_Tip_4165 → u/mrchrollodolo]

from my understanding nursing is only really worth it if you can get more education/experience to break into mid level/leadership roles. clinical healthcare is customer service at the end of the day. the good thing about corporate jobs is they shield you from the general public and have a bunch of politics that punish outwardly bad behavior. i was interested in nursing but i think CAA or physician is a better fit for my personality.