Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:
Schools Concentrating On Accountants And Auditors
- Focus: For schools with a focus on this career area, look at Truman College, Daley College, Harold Washington College, and Wilbur Wright College.
Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider Midstate College, National-Louis University, Northeastern Illinois University, and Judson.
- Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Hebrew Theological College and Midstate College.
- Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Olive-Harvey College, Daley College, Morton College, and Truman College.
- Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider Wabash Valley College, John A Logan College, National-Louis University, and University of St Francis.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Hebrew Theological College, Northwestern University, North Park University, and Loyola University.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of Monmouth College, Augustana, Blackburn, and Illinois College.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Northwestern University, University of Illinois, Illinois Wesleyan, and Loyola University.
- % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Saint Xavier University, Northwestern University, National-Louis University, and University of St Francis.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at Augustana, Northwestern University, Illinois College, and Illinois Wesleyan.
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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DePaul University • Chicago, IL
Studying Accounting (completion in 2010)
• 4/30/2011
"I am reasonably sure that DePaul will be good to have on my resume in the future. I know they could have done some things better, but no school is perfect."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I think it is a highly rated school that will help with their career. If they were willing to spend the money then it is a good school. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | DePaul has a very highly rated commerce program. They graduate program is one of the best in the country and the undergrad program is also very good. |
| Program Quality | 8 | DePaul has a very good accounting program that is well thought of in Chicago. However, they could have done a better job assisting with internship and job placement. |
| Instruction | 8 | DePaul has great teachers and classes and requires an internship from its accounting students. I feel like the classes could have had more real world instructions though. I didn't know much about how a real accounting department worked when I left. |
| How Difficult | 7 | I think the classes were harder than the classes I took at my junior college. However, I think they were all an achievable amount of work. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | They do require an internship, which is good for hands on learning. The classroom teaching though is very focused on book learning. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | The gen ed courses were ok with regards to scheduling. The accounting courses are also ok in the beginning. As you get into later courses, however, you only get one class each semester. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | The classrooms are getting some new technologies and some of them are even wired so you can watch the class online. The rest of the facilities, like libraries, were really not used by me the whole time I was there. |
| Social Life | 2 | DePaul does have a lot of clubs and activities advertised around school. However, as a commuter student I didn't really have a chance to join any of them. |
| Placement Services | 4 | As I mentioned before I feel they could have done a better job at assisting with job placement. They have a jobs website that you can use like careerbuilder, but it is not as user friendly. They also don't do much more than that, aside from resume reviews. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | DePaul pushes its alumni associations quite a bit. They have many ways to help alumni. I personally have never used any of their services so I can't comment on their effectiveness. |
DePaul University • Chicago, IL
Studying Commerce (Accounting And Management) (completion in 2010)
• 7/9/2011
"I'm hoping that my school will help my career through my life. Thats why I was willing to invest more than $100,000 in it. I think it is a good school, but only time will tell if it makes a difference in my career path."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I do think that DePaul is a good school. Every program has its flaws, but I believe the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks in the long run. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | DePaul's commerce program is very popular. I know that the graduate program is very highly ranked in the country. It has always been my impression that their undergrad program was well thought of too, especially in Chicago land. |
| Program Quality | 7 | DePaul has a very good rating for its commerce programs. I have found, however, many things that were missing form my education, such as how to use Excel. |
| Instruction | 7 | The professors are all experienced professionals that seem to enjoy their jobs a lot. However, like I mentioned above, the Excel training is terrible. I also feel like I didn't get a look at what real life would be like in an accounting department. |
| How Difficult | 9 | Accounting is usually considered to be a difficult major. I spent many hours doing homework each night because there is no way to learn it all without practice. There is also a lot of accounting classes and material to go through in a very short time period. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | My classes were mostly book learning. I'm not sure how accounting classes would be hands on. I do know that I wish I had more real world type experience. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | DePaul has many options available for class scheduling. However, as you get into higher level classes, they often only have 1 section of a class per quarter. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | DePaul has plenty of computer labs around campus to help students. They also have a library devoted mostly to commerce at their loop campus. |
| Social Life | 1 | Since I was a commuter student I didn't participate in anything. They have a lot of clubs and activities, but I never wanted to be taking a train home in the middle of the night so I could participate. |
| Placement Services | 2 | They do provide a job board that allows you to apply for openings online. However, it is much harder to use than other job boards. Aside from resume reviews and practice interviews, this is the only help you get. |
| Alumni Network | 3 | I haven't had many dealings with the alumni services at DePaul. I did expect a little career help, which is non-existent at the school. |
University Of Illinois • Urbana-Champaign, IL
Studying Accountancy (completion in 2011)
• 7/8/2011
"Given the level of success I had in finding full-time employment after graduation, I am overall very satisfied with my school. I made strong friends at the university, took on many opportunities the university offered, and have a recognized degree in the accountancy field. No university can be perfect, so I chose 9/10 in that my university can always address its ongoing, minor issues."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I do not believe there are very many other places worth considering for the best accountancy program experience. Above everything else, accounting employers are definitely interested in graduates from my university. A well-paying job in accounting ought to be the ultimate measure to judge the quality of the program. I also believe that most students genuinely interested in accounting would enjoy the facilities, experiences, and fellow students on the campus. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | Our university's accountancy program has for many years been ranked in the Top 5 accounting programs in the U.S. Given the broad factors which go into rankings, I believe the consistently high rankings illustrate a strong reputation. I also believe many employers think of us as a primary school to target for their best available positions. |
| Program Quality | 10 | My university's accountancy department had excellent professors that were genuinely interested in accounting research as well as teaching students. The program went through a great deal of effort to attract top employers of accountants and ensure I had the best opportunities available to me after graduation. I do not believe there is much room for improvement for my school's accountancy program. |
| Instruction | 10 | The material taught to us was both timely and relevant. Many of the newer topics we learned in class are now beginning to appear on the CPA examination, an important qualification test for auditors. When I previously interned at an accounting firm while attending school, it was very apparent how much I was familiar with accounting as compared to interns from smaller programs. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Though the accountancy program was a great experience and brought me many opportunities, I do not believe the courses were particularly difficult. The majority of students were going to earn either a B or an A in classes. To become a Masters in Accountancy student after being an Undergraduate, you needed to have a B or higher for every undergraduate accounting course. I suspect this may have led to grade inflation across the department. Beyond grading, there was a significant amount of assignments that were group projects. Working in a group relieved the pressure of the volume of tasks to do. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | In an accountancy program, it is very difficult to create realistic simulations that could be considered "hands-on" learning. Therefore, the majority of our learning came from books or lecture notes. I chose 8/10 rather than 10/10 because we had occasional class games which simulated principles of accounting, albeit in ways that were more entertaining than productive. We also occasionally gave class presentations that were more interactive than note-taking lectures. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 7 | My school offered most accounting courses over the summer if students took a unique path in their education. However, accountancy courses were never allowed to be transferred from other universities, nor were any accountancy courses taught online or on the weekends. Non-business courses taken as electives were more flexible, however. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | During my undergraduate education, my university completed and opened a new business facility. This modern building has many technologies and new classrooms that facilitated learning in my accountancy courses. Furthermore, all of my accountancy courses were taught in this building. Professors had their offices in the building, which made it easy to visit them after classes. A lecture hall built into the building enabled many accountancy courses to have guest lecturers from public accounting firms teach our classes. Overall, I was very impressed with this new facility and its benefits to my accountancy education. |
| Social Life | 8 | There are endless opportunities for social experiences at my university. As the university is a flagship school for Illinois, almost every sport imaginable is available to play or watch. Creating and joining campus clubs was also very easy to do. I have put 8/10 rather than 10/10 because I felt that parties and social settings with students over-emphasized binge drinking, and that not much was done by the university to address the dangers of binge drinking on campus. |
| Placement Services | 9 | My university's career services provided many opportunities for all levels of accounting students to either learn about career paths or to interact with employers. We had career fairs, mock interviews, and resume critiques offered to us regularly. I stopped short of giving a 10/10 because some of the career services staff are not always in-sync with the ever-developing business world. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | Our alumni network is very large, but not always active. I felt that many alumni who had graduated 1-4 years ago were most active in connecting with students and offering advice. Beyond that, there are a few very successful alumni who graduated 15-20 years ago. There really did not seem to be any alumni in the middle of their careers that would connect with students and contribute back. |
University Of Illinois • Urbana-Champaign, IL
Studying Accountancy (completion in 2011)
• 9/27/2011
"Some areas could be improved. Overall my program was very satisfying and useful."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | The program is great. They were helpful in all regards and are rated highly by experts. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | The program is highly regarded. There is a lot of potential for your future in it. |
| Program Quality | 9 | UofI has a great accountancy program. I learned a great deal from my time there. |
| Instruction | 8 | UofI does a lot for career preparation. I was able to network easily. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Certain accountancy classes were very difficult. Overall I was happy with the difficulty. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Many options were made available to gain hands-on experience. I utilized these options when available. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | There were summer options were open to me. Their flexibility allowed me to earn credit with summer work. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | Certain facilities are new and very nice. Others need to be renovated. |
| Social Life | 8 | There is a lot of school pride. It is not in my interest but I was very pleased with the social aspect. |
| Placement Services | 6 | They were able to show me several options. I would have liked to see more. |
| Alumni Network | 7 | The school has a large alumni network. Sometimes it is difficult to set yourself apart when networking. |
Roosevelt University • Chicago, IL
Studying Accounting (completion in 1977)
• 10/13/2011
"I met a lot of people and learned many things at school. Between my education and the career center, I was able to secure multiple offers for jobs, and had my pick of careers."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I think that the big fish-small pond theory still exists at Roosevelt. Also, small class sizes can only be a plus. |
| Program Reputation | I wish I knew exactly what the rating is these days, but I don't have access to that information. I believe that it is still a good school. | |
| Program Quality | 10 | Going to school at Roosevelt University was perfect for me. The small class sizes enabled me to get a personalized education and forced me to work my hardest as there was no getting lost in the crowd. |
| Instruction | 9 | Most of my teachers were wonderful and had active careers in the Chicago business world. I thought they represented the real world. |
| How Difficult | 8 | The work was challenging but not impossible. Since I did not study accounting anywhere else I have no way to know if it could have been more or less difficult. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | At the time I went to school, I would say the program was very much about book learning, although we did do "practice sets" which were based on real life situations. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | I think that flexibility was key at Roosevelt. There were many students who worked full time and were still able to fulfill their degrees. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | The library was amazing. The professors always had office hours. |
| Social Life | 10 | Although the school did not have much going on with athletics and was primarily a commuter school, there were many opportunities to make friends with classmates. Now there is a dorm and sports. |
| Placement Services | 10 | I had access to interviews at all the (at that time) Big Eight accounting firms and all the large corporations in the Chicago area. The center was excellent at preparing us for the process. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | The alumni association is active. I do not currently partake in any of the activities. |
American Intercontinental University Online • Hoffman Estates, IL
Studying Accountant (completion in 2007)
• 12/4/2011
"AIU is a great online school. I learned a lot and ended up graduating with honors."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | A lot of people would rather do the online courses because then they can also still work full time. AIU Online is a great place to further education. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | Their reputation is overall pretty good. When I first enrolled my for associates, they weren't as well known as they are now. |
| Program Quality | 6 | AIU Online was a good school and provided good classes for me. They offered many different types of classes. |
| Instruction | 7 | I learned at lot at the school. All the classes that I took were very helpful for me and my future career. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Since I was in an accelerated course, a lot of information was thrown at me at one time. There were times when the homework was hard. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Since I had to study in my own time, I had to use the books to learn the information. It's hard for online classes to have much hands-on learning. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | Since I was in online classes, the flexibility was great. I could do everything on my own time and assignments were only due once a week. |
| Academic Facilities | 7 | They had an online library available which had a lot of information. They also gave us helpful links to places with more information if we needed it. |
| Social Life | 5 | I'm giving this an average because since I was taking classes online, there wasn't much for social experience. I did, however, make some good friends. |
| Placement Services | 8 | I used their career assistance for a while and they were really helpful. They helped me get my resume together and also sent me job leads. |
| Alumni Network | 8 | Support was great. I always got answers to my questions and never had a problem getting a hold of anyone. |
University Of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign • Champaign, IL
Studying Accountancy (completion in 2012)
• 1/7/2012
"I'm grateful to have been accepted to my university. I shouldn't complain for not having everything I wanted in school because I have a great job and good memories."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | A very prestigious university with countless opportunities, both internal and external, offers anything a future accountant could want. Patience with the university when things do not turn out as desired/expected will pay off significantly in the end. |
| Program Reputation | 10 | UIUC has been ranked several times as either the number one or two accountancy program in the world. The graduate program has been ranked as the best or second best many times. |
| Program Quality | 7 | The school is prestigious and not far from home. However, I did not feel that the curriculum made me truly understand and master the material. |
| Instruction | 6 | The curriculum and school primarily focuses on auditing. Book keeping and tax services have become an afterthought which does not prepare me well for half the field of accountancy. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Some classes required excessive material to be studied and did not always help to learn the material. This made classes more difficult and detracted from other workloads. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The school's learning was mostly book/reading-based, but some hands-on examples existed. The curriculum was mostly based on book-reading so hands-on proved more difficult. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 8 | The school is very large and therefore has many students to fill classes at different times. Online, evenings, mornings, multiple listings and a variety of other services help to make the schedule mostly flexible. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | The school was very open to help its students. Many different resources were available, usually free of charge and at all hours. |
| Social Life | 6 | My social experience was fine. I didn't take advantage of all I could, but U of I offered incredible opportunities for nearly anyone who was interested. |
| Placement Services | 8 | The school repeatedly inquires to see if students have found employment. During senior year, they hound their students for their current employment status and do all they can to get students as least some kind of job out of college. |
| Alumni Network | 9 | The University of Illinois has the largest alumni network in the world. This is extremely beneficial and brings incredible relations to a student and alumnus. |
DePaul University • Chicago, IL
Studying Accounting (completion in 2012)
• 2/21/2012
"I had a good experience there and I got a job when I graduated. What more can I ask for?"
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | DePaul has a great accounting program. It is well respected, especially in the Chicagoland area. If students want to be well versed in the business field, they should attend DePaul. |
| Program Reputation | 8 | Businessweek ranks DePaul in the top 40 commerce schools. Businesses feel that graduates are well taught and ready for the work environment. It's no Harvard, but it's far better than any school around it. |
| Program Quality | 10 | DePaul taught me the accounting knowledge I needed for my industry. It also required me to learn various learning domains outside of business, which made me a more well-rounded person. I think the courses were challenging, but not impossible. |
| Instruction | 8 | I often talked with the career counselors, and that helped me obtain a job right after graduation. I was not happy to take the required religion classes. However, the rest of the business core and learning domain requirements were relevant and necessary to know for my field. |
| How Difficult | 7 | Most classes were challenging, but manageable. If you put in the effort, you will get A's at DePaul. Some courses were too easy and I did not get much out of them. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most classes are straight from the textbook. No research is done by professors. They lecture from a PowerPoint in most classes. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 3 | They offer a wide variety of timeslots. However, most upper-level classes are only available at night, and this was not a good option for me. They need more online classes, especially since most of the students commute from far away. |
| Academic Facilities | 8 | There are many labs available for students. I never had to wait to use a computer. The library is large and had most of the books I needed during my time there. The classrooms are large for the most part (some are tiny), and they have good technology. |
| Social Life | 4 | They have a D1 basketball team that is terrible. Most students do not attend events. |
| Placement Services | 7 | The placement rate after graduation is in the upper 70%, depending on the major. If you are a good student and have a decent GPA, you will get a job after college. The career assistance is very helpful and they go above and beyond for you. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | They encourage alumni participation with current students. However, many friends I have do not participate in this. They felt the school was too expensive and do not care to give back. |
Roosevelt University • Chicago, IL
Studying Accounting (completion in 2008)
• 2/21/2012
"I wish I had gone to a school that was much more intense academically. This school hands out diplomas, but without the education that should back it up. I learned more in the process of obtaining my undergraduate degree than I did earning my master's."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | no | If one is going to spend the time and money to earn a degree, they deserve the knowledge and confidence that comes from a solid education. Having a piece of paper that you don't feel is worth anything is akin to fraud, and it's not a feeling any auditor would want to experience. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | I am not familiar with the opinion of the accounting program. However, nobody was recruiting from my graduating class. The school is known as good for business students, due to their flexibility in class schedules. |
| Program Quality | 3 | My school gave me an M.S. in Accounting, but the classes were terrible. I could never have passed the CPA exam without an additional prep course. I think my university focuses on how many diplomas it can hand out, without actually caring if the students learn what they need to. |
| Instruction | 3 | The instructors were always eager to let class out early. My Accounting 101 exams at the state college were more difficult than the M.S. accounting exams, and most of the tests were open book. |
| How Difficult | 1 | Class scheduling was always easy, because they had a lot of night and weekend classes. The academics were laughable; anyone could easily get their master's at this school. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | All learning was book oriented. Most of the teachers were part-time and simply gave us open-book tests. The teachers did very little lecturing. During class, we just did exercises from the textbooks. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 10 | Roosevelt is probably the best school in Chicago for those who need class flexibility. They have weekend classes and evening classes. They also have a second campus in Schaumburg, which is great for those who live or work in the suburbs, and it is near the airport. |
| Academic Facilities | 5 | The libraries and computer labs at both campus locations are excellent, and they are open on the weekend and in the evening. The professors were always very accessible, and they were understanding of the fact that I had to travel for work. |
| Social Life | I think the social activities offered were good. However, I was busy working and never participated. The school does not have any organized sports. | |
| Placement Services | 1 | The job placement service consists of them pointing you to a computer to perform job searches. None of the staff members at the school have any interest in whether they help you with your job search or not. |
| Alumni Network | I never participated in any of the alumni's offerings. To their credit, they often sent out information encouraging students to access them through the website. |
Loyola University Chicago • Chicago, IL
Studying Accounting (completion in 2001)
• 3/29/2012
"I was satisfied with the school because it fit into what I needed at the time. It provided me with the classes I needed and had good professors and strong students. These combined to provide a great learning environment."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | maybe | My answer to someone would depend on their situation and what they were looking for out of their program. This program worked very well for me because I was already working (in my field) and just wanted some additional training. However, if someone was not already working, I would suggest that they look more at some of the larger programs. |
| Program Reputation | 6 | School has a good local reputation. However, nationally the program is not really known at all - fortunately the school is recognized and that provides some benefit. |
| Program Quality | 7 | I'm generally satisfied with school. They provided a lot of flexibility and enabled me to take the classes that I felt were most helpful and fit best into my schedule. |
| Instruction | 9 | The instructors were very qualified to teach the topics. The instructors were dedicated to the students' learning. |
| How Difficult | 8 | |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Program had a good mix of book versus hands on learning. Hands on learning was primarily accomplished through case studies or financial analysis of real companies. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 9 | The program allowed me to largely pick the courses that best fit my goals. The schedules for the courses were very good and I never had a problem getting into a course that I wanted to take. |
| Academic Facilities | 10 | The business school had just finished a new building and it was very nice (at the time). The electronic resources available were very helpful as well. |
| Social Life | I lived off campus and only commuted in for classes, and thus I was not involved in the social life at the school at all. I was also working full time, which reduced the social life as well. | |
| Placement Services | 5 | The school had job placement services but did not really seem to have strong involvement by the accounting firms. I would have appreciated a little more opportunities to interact with the firms. |
| Alumni Network | I have not participated in the alumni network at all. I have not even attempted to be involved, so I don't feel I can rate it. |
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