I am an recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin- Madison where I graduated with a bachelors in Finance and Human Resources. After graduating I got a job in accounting and want to pursue my CPA. The problem is I am missing around 20 accounting credits that I need to get my CPA. I am planning doing this through WGU or the local technical college to get these credits. The problem is that these credits will pretty much take me through a undergraduate and a masters of science in accounting program at these schools.
However, I want to pursue my MBA later in life when I have 5/6 years of experience, will I be looked down upon as a candidate at a top 1-15 MBA program/MBB if I have this masters degree (MSc) already? Am I able to hide it from my application/remove from resume when applying? I guess I am scared of the decision to apply for an MBA right after the MSc or going to a school like WSU/Tech college to get these credits will be taken negatively by most admissions committees ('why go for the MSc at all if you want to get an MBA right after?'). Also, if its even possible to get both? I didn't want to disqualify myself from getting an MBA later in life.
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Thank you for your well-thought out answer. My current is plan is to go to WGU and get my cpa all online while I continue to work. I should have around 6 years of experience before applying for MBA programs. I guess my follow up question will going to WGU for my MSc be looked down upon from the MBA admissions team? WGU is an online university thats non-profit. Its affordable, flexible, self-paced and I am only getting these credits in order to get my CPA. My worry is that admissions will still look down upon my MSc if its from WGU. Do you think it will have an impact? I will still have two undergraduatex from UW-Madison, my CPA, a high GMAT score, and work experience.
In your one-pager application CV you might not even mention it as an MSc - you can mention just as a bullet point the CPA certification and use the rest of the space for your work experience. I think there is no hard rule, just what is more relevant for the context you apply to :) If that context is MBA / MBB and you already work in accounting, I would focus on showcasing relevant experience that links to a more generalist / consulting kind of role.
*Disclaimer: this is my personal view, as an MBA holder. I am not specialized to give advice in MBA admissions, as I think most people on this forum won't be :)