College major: Accounting or MIS?

[Adam03GT]

First, I understand that this is a car forum and I am only seeking input from people in the field.

I am having a hard time deciding between these two majors. My current major is Accounting and i do not dislike it, however i believe that I will enjoy MIS more.

I am mostly curious from those of you who are in each profesion:
-Do you enjoy your work?
-How are job prospects/security? I would hate to get a major that is completey saturated
-What is a day like as a profesional in an MIS position and an Accounting position?

Any input would be appreciated

 

[Shoregtp]

I would say some type of Business Degree and if you can minor in a Tech degree you would be golden.

 

[BlueVenom281]

Try to double on both of them if you can. It will set you apart for sure. I doubled in Finance and MIS and it has helped me greatly. There are a good amount of classes that overlap for those majors as well.

 

[98slowbra]

MIS???? I am taking it you mean Managment Information Services? Please let me know if I am wrong. My wife and I work in what they call now IT. She has her masters and I have my degree. My wife is a Director and I am a Manager. I have been in IT for over 18 years and they pay is very good, we do not complain. My daily duties is to supervise the Queue and make sure everyone is doing their tickets to support the customer. I also work on the tickets as well. My main background is in Telecom so I support Cisco UCCX, ICM, CVP. I really enjoy my job working in IT and so does my wife. After a while you will earn some good money, I think me and my wife will clear $300,000 this year. I do not know much about accounting but I think they get paid pretty well also. So I just know one side of it and not the other.

 

[KingBlack]

MIS...no doubt. both would be better

 

[moddestmike]

MIS, as it contains basic accounting and finance. Focus on Financial/EBS software support and dev (Oracle, SAP and ETL come to mind).....you'll write your own checks. Have a buddy that's an independent contractor specializing in SAP integration, he clears about 320k/year by himself. Of course no benefits or company matched 401k but who the **** cares?

I did EMR migrations for a while but that cow is slowly running dry. Currently work as a Network/SAN engineer with few certs. Clearing well over 100k before yearly bonus. Try and pursue a gig in the energy sector or go for a company that's strictly focused on selling SaaS (primarily tech driven companies like NetApp, Citrix, Clarion, Deloitte, etc..). Anything other than those sectors and your asking for a crappy career. Stay away from government gigs.

MIS will most certainly give you a broader spectrum of career possibilities. I wouldn't waste time/money trying to pursue both. That's what an MBA is for.

 

[65fastback2+2]

MIS without a doubt

 

[JasonSnake]

You really can't do anything without some sort of MIS background now a days.

 

[ccperales]

MIS is an awesome degree. My buddy is a consultant for KPMG, makes stupid ridiculous money.

 

[xenodragon]

I doubled in Accounting and Computer Science. I took enough MIS classes to say I minored in it.

I started my work life as an Financial Auditor at Deloitte. I did that for 3 years, and got burned out. I had enough of working until 1am in the morning for 3 months straight.

I left Deloitte and am now working in IT auditing consultant for another large accounting firm. I am making very close to 6 figures and I am not even 30 years old yet and live in the midwest (much lower cost of living). I am only a Supervisor (not a manager yet, have only been there for 4 years).

It depends what you want..I would say with MIS alot more would be available to you, but to move up in the field you will need some sort of Accounting/Finance background anyway.

 

[Dusten]

My wife is an accountant and has her BA in business/accounting.
She says if you like cost accounting do an MIS minor because Excel and sequel and other report writing programs are a huge part of her job.
As far as job prospects she says it depends on you. Having an understanding of those programs will help you immensely. She said that when interviewing two candidates she will take the one that has the sequel knowledge over one who doesn't.

If you are talking accountant as a CPA i can't help you. She decided not to go that route. She doesn't like public cost accounting
My wife has excellent benny's though and makes about $75,000 which is the median income for a Senior Cost Accountant in our area and considering she only has 5 years experience im happy with where she is at.

She's been in the field for 5 years now, and had a job straight out of college. She's worked for 3 different companies with 0 gap in employment.
She said that cost accountants is a field that fairly easy to get into because there are fewer people doing it compared to public accounting

 

[Adam03GT]

First, for the people who asked. Yes, MIS = Management information systems.

Thanks for all the replies. Honestly, i kinda like the answers I have gotten. I have been leaning towards MIS as it interests me much more than accounting does. Seems like it would be an easy choice however, It was hard for me to switch from an accounting major to MIS because i know that accounting has great earning potential and I understand it, but like several of you have stated, I am terrified of burnout and the monotanous nature of the job.

I have already been accepted into a good state university as a transfer student for MIS and I am happy to hear that I have made a good decision.

I guess my last worry would be, has anyone had trouble getting a job as someone in the MIS field? I am just curious as too how many MIS people are out there in the market.

 

[Viking42]

I have my BS in MIS. There will always be jobs available as MIS covers such a wide berth. Currently I do HL7 and DICOM interface implementations for Philips Healthcare. I'm building up experience and eventually have a goal of getting into IS consulting for the Healthcare industry, as consulting is really where the money is.