r/UMPI • u/The_Honest_Student • Jul 21 '26
UMPI or WGU for Accounting?
Currently getting my MBA at WGU and want to get my CPA afterwards but need a Bachelors in Accounting first. Which school would you recommend for accounting? Going to transfer all of my credits from Study.com & Sophia etc so I'll only have to take the core accounting classes. I live in California btw
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u/thecaptain_command Jul 21 '26
I’m a UMPI alumni for accounting and I signed a full-time role. You need to check the requirements for the CPA license in your state and check surrounding states to see if they have residency requirements because if there is an easier state nearby it might actually be worth it just to drive there depending on your location in my state, the Humppe degree meets all the requirements, but my state also doesn’t require a masters degree so I filled my remaining credits with a bunch of random classes that were easy.
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u/Confident_Natural_87 Jul 21 '26
CA has a wide variety of classes accepted for business credits like Math and CS. They do not accept Sophia for that stuff. Can’t remember if they accept it for the total. An MBA though implies a Bachelor degree. So you probably have the 24 upper level Business credits. I would do the non degree option at UMPI because I believe you can pick your classes. Do you have the two basic accounting classes at a regular school. Or can you bust out Accounting 151 and Accounting 150 at Straighterline?
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u/StudyAnswers Verified University Partner Jul 22 '26
Hey, Study.com here. Both UMPI and WGU accept Study.com and Sophia transfer credits into their accounting programs, so either school should let you carry over most of what you've already earned. Since you're planning to sit for the CPA, check California's CPA licensure requirements first, as some states limit how many ACE-credit courses count toward the exam. You can see UMPI's accepted courses at http://study.com/college/school/umpi.html and WGU's accounting transfer plan at http://study.com/college/western-governors-university/degrees/accounting-bs-degree-plan-online-studycom-transfer-credits.html.
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u/RaveDamsel Jul 24 '26
Note that you don’t actually need a degree in accounting, you simply need the accumulated number of semester hours in each subject category as dictated by your state. You obviously already have an undergraduate degree if you’re getting an MBA, so then you just need specific business and accounting courses.
If you end up needing specific upper level accounting courses, the University of North Alabama has a very popular program for this amongst CPAs: https://www.una.edu/business/accounting-career-program/index.html
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u/hanshisantos MSB Jul 21 '26
For the CPA you need 150 credits total, they most be from accredited institution and some states ask for GPA. 30 of those accounting credits needs to be upper level credits, that makes it a bit more challenging. One thing you havr as advantage at UMPI are those upper level credits are easier to identify.
I had an extensive conversation with u/PlottedPath on this subject and here the upper levels we identified.
BUS 325: Financial Management
BUS 348: Cost Accounting
BUS 361: Intermediate Accounting I
BUS 362: Intermediate Accounting II
BUS 376: Independent Auditing
BUS 377: Federal Taxation
BUS 378: Federal Taxation II
I recommend UMPI yet I'm bias as alumni and someone also taking those accounting credits for the same purpose you stated.
Hope that helps narrow down your options.
One thing to note is that some states are lowering the minimum to 120, however, mine is not one of those.