Spring brings the enjoyable activity of watching campus tours fly around the university grounds. You can easily spot flocks of would-be Warhawks gathered in front of buildings and checking out lecture halls. Some students show up knowing what career they want to pursue right out of high school, and some change majors multiple times. The Royal Purple sat down with Alyssa Schuyler to ask about what led her to becoming a Warhawk, and what her experience was like deciding a major. 

As a member of financial information honor society Beta Alpha Psi and being on the Dean’s List all throughout her college career, Schuyler is a high achiever in the College of Business and Economics. 

Q: When did you decide you were going to attend  UW-Whitewater?

It was kind of around the same time I was taking my college accounting class. I heard UW-Whitewater had a good accounting program and it is not too far from home, so my parents can come and get me on the weekends. 

Q: What made you want to be an accounting major? 

So, I have always loved numbers growing up. Numbers were always easier for me than writing. I think what really made me think of being an accounting major was my sophomore year of high school when I took an accounting class for the first time. It was one of those things where I needed an extra class and I asked teachers about what I should take. One of them finally said, “Well we can fit accounting into your schedule,” and I was like, “Ok, that deals with numbers, that’s fine.” So I took the accounting class and I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. My teacher was very nice and she did a really good job teaching me in that class. So I thought, “Hey maybe this is something that I want to pursue and actually have a career in the future. Then I took a college accounting class my senior year and because of covid it ended up being put online, but I still enjoyed it and I still felt like I wanted to pursue accounting. But, that first accounting class kind of set me on the path of coming to UW-Whitewater and becoming an accounting major.

Q: How do you like the program?

I have really enjoyed the program so far. There’s a lot of nice professors and they really help you learn. Like every professor teaches differently, but they also give you an idea about how you want to study the material. 

Q: Where do you see yourself working in the future?

I guess I am still on the fence. I don’t necessarily know if I want to go into audit or tax at this point. Being an accounting major you also have different options besides those two. They’ve talked about other careers like being a part of the FBI, and also like the size of the accounting firm you would like to work at, and also working for a private or a public firm. There’s so many different options that come into play that I can’t really settle just yet with a particular option or company right now. I still need to branch out and figure out whether I want to work for an accounting firm or do I want to work for a specific company. I know accountants are pretty much needed everywhere, so it kind of boils down to what kind of company I want to work for. I feel like you should find a place where you feel validated as a person and as an employee and where you actually enjoy what you do and the people you work with. It is also like the mission behind what the company stands for that I think is important and the culture within the company. 

Q: Do you have anything you would like to say to students who want to pursue accounting as a major?

For students who are thinking about majoring in accounting, it is a major that will take up a good amount of your time, but if you study hard then you’ll be able to understand the material pretty well.