24/40 - Ships Not Beans

When I got into the Mays Business School, started as an Accounting major. There was a five-year program that began with an undergraduate degree in accounting and then your master's degree in a different business discipline. It sounded like a good program and a way to finish two degrees in less time.  It was a way for me to get a master's in finance and improve the finance job opportunities I would have after graduation.

There was just one problem: you had to be an accounting major.

In the fall of my Junior year, I took my first upper-level accounting class with Professor Perry. Online reviews had said she was tough but fair. I had figured out that with these kinds of professors and classes, attendance was key for me to be successful. I made sure she knew who I was and that I sat in the same seat every day.

About halfway through the semester, Professor Perry asked me to walk with her to her office after class.  As we walked, we talked about the recent quiz and the group assignment that was coming due. When we got to her office, she smiled and said,

"Andy, I really enjoy having you in my class. But I need to share something with you. You need to make an 82 or higher on every assignment, quiz, and test remaining this semester in order to pass my class. You haven't made an 82 yet."

I knew that I wasn't making the best grades in this class, but I didn't know it was quite that bad.  She then went on to say,

"I don't think that being a bean counter accountant is going to be your path. I think you are more of a big picture kind of counter. You are someone who is going to count the ships in the harbor that have containers on them filled with crates filled with boxes filled with jars that are filled with beans. You need to know how many ships there are, not any of the other details."

It was the nicest backhanded compliment I've ever received.

And that's how I became a finance major.