Andrea is a new NINJA CPA Blogger.

CPA.

Those three little letters strike fear into the hearts of students and accountants-to-be everywhere. Until you climb that mountain, those three letters can be the most daunting in the world.

These are all of the clichés we are told to get us through the hell of studying and passing. No one in your life can truly understand what you are going through while you are studying for the exam. People will wonder if you disappeared off the face of the earth. Sometimes you will feel like you have.

In the end, though, it will all be worth it. At least, that is what we are told.

Four years ago when I began school, I was originally pre-med. I took an accounting class my sophomore year, and as corny as it sounds, I fell in love. It just clicked. I loved the use of logical reasoning to determine answers to complex questions.

I just graduated this past May with my Bachelor’s degree in accounting, and am currently a graduate student. Looking back, I find it interesting I traded a test as hard as USMLE (medical board exams), for the CPA, CFF, ACCA, and other equally difficult exams. It’s a choice that just made sense.

Life is full of easy and difficult choices. The choice to become a CPA is one of the easy ones. The ability to stay on track and actually accomplish it is the difficult choice. I am studying international and forensic accounting currently. The thing I have found most difficult is focusing on my CPA studying when there are so many other tests in the future.

I look forward to us going on this journey together!