In the summer of 2022, Katelyn Young enjoyed an early immersion in DePaul life, where she had enrolled as a transfer student. She took an accounting class on DePaul’s Loop Campus, met new friends studying accounting, toured accounting firms and connected with the DePaul alumni who work at those firms. This was all possible thanks to the Accountancy Transfer Scholars Program in the School of Accountancy & MIS, which aims to acquaint accounting students with campus and career possibilities before their first quarter formally begins.
Young, who transferred to DePaul as a junior from Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois and will graduate June 2024, says the program helped her feel more comfortable as a DePaul student. “I got to experience what it was like to be in a big university college class for the first time before jumping right into the fall quarter,” she says. She also learned how to approach prospective employers and introduce herself—a skill that proved valuable at the school’s popular career fair, Meet the Firms. “It made me comfortable reaching out to firms and talking to recruiters,” she says; she later accepted an auditing internship with Baker Tilly, which she completed last March.
The Accountancy Transfer Scholars Program was established four years ago to provide a more seamless transition to university life for transfer students, helping them get settled in DePaul and gain early exposure to networking for well-placed internships.
“Before the program, transfer students were juggling a new school, new classes and networking while also interviewing with firms in their first quarter,” says Brian Maj, senior program administrator in the school. “That’s a very overwhelming way to begin your first week.”
Students selected to participate in the program have the option of taking an accelerated accounting course, Cost and Managerial Accounting, which provides foundational experience as they begin interviewing with accounting firms for those internships. In addition, they tour the major accounting firms in Chicago, meet with alumni and partners over lunch, and learn about professional development opportunities. The summer program provides the added benefit of an early starting GPA at DePaul, which gives them high visibility with recruiters looking for top student talent for roles in audit, tax and advisory services. The summer class typically has 15 to 20 students each year.
“They spend part of their summer together and they end up learning how to sign up for classes together, how to get tutoring help if they need it. They form social relationships,” says Maj. “And that’s a tremendously big part of success in university life.”
Area accounting businesses have received the program well, too, Maj adds. “There’s recognition by our largest employer partners that these are our top transfer students,” he says, “and so we are seeing an increase in their recruiting right away for internships that take place later in the academic year or next summer.”
After completing her internship with Baker Tilly, Young says she affirmed that auditing is the work she wants to pursue. When she graduates, her goal is to work at one firm for her entire career, ascending to partner. For now, during her final quarters at DePaul, she plans to keep collecting business cards and continue meeting alumni and other connections in the accounting world as she searches for the perfect fit. “I’m hopeful that maybe at the beginning of my senior year I’ll have a job lined up,” she says.
Hui Lin, professor and director of the School of Accountancy & MIS, says the program offers a solid foundation to the group. “Every student that we’ve tracked through this program and completed the accounting degree has been hired full time,” she says. “This summer program speaks to the mission of DePaul by giving students who typically have greater financial need a head start toward success in the field.”
By Kate Silver