The Washington Campus

Hi everyone!

I wanted to talk about how I spent my Spring Break in Washington D.C. over the course of the week. 27 members of my class and I took part in a 5 day course where we listened to guest speakers that helped us gain a better understanding of the intersection between accounting and policy making. Speakers included the former chairman of the FASB, a board member of the PCAOB, members of the FBI, and a person on the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Each speaker presented to us for about 60-75 minutes each and would talk about their organization and important the accounting profession is to what they do. As someone that is not up to date on the political landscape, I appreciated being able to have a bipartisan program that helped present perspectives from both sides as we discussed such monumental issues in our country today. The director of our program from the Washington Campus described the program as "drinking out of a fire hose" and I would definitely agree with that description, there was a ton of information being thrown at us during the week.

In addition to the formal program provided by the Washington Campus, we also had an alumni reception hosted at a restaurant in downtown D.C. Besides the free food, something us college kids do no take for granted, it was great to talk to some alumni from the MAcc program and get their perspectives from living full-time in a big city like Washington D.C. As someone that is weighing his options for the future and considering cities that I could live in in the near future, hearing from young adults that are only a few years out of college is invaluable. I also had a chance to get to know some of my classmates in a less formal setting. Having only been around most of my classmates during the week when I see them for class, I was able to get to know each of them better when our work during the day would wrap up. 

To take part in this program, all you have to do is find housing for the week and be able to transport yourself downtown in the mornings. Many of my classmates played it safe and got hotel rooms that were within a couple blocks of where we would meet every morning, and that would eliminate the burden of having to deal with the morning rush. Other people in the program stayed in an Airbnb that was about 20 minutes outside of downtown D.C. and would commute via carpooling. Myself and few classmates stayed at a friend's girlfriends house for the week and commuted via the subway to get to class every day. As someone that has never consistently used the subway to get anywhere, I thought it was convenient and simple to use. The other plus to this program is that it counts for credit! The week long course is equivalent to a 7-week class that you would take during the school year, allowing for some extra free time if you would decide to enroll. All in all, I thought the program was interesting and the experience as a whole of being in Washington D.C. for the week made this Spring Break a great one.

Hopefully this helps describe all aspects of the trip! Until next month!