Student Profile
Undergraduate Students
The first undergraduate degrees in accounting were awarded in the early 1920's and since that time over 5,687 degrees have been granted. In 1984, the first students completed the AIS option (now divided into Systems Development and Systems Assurance options) and currently over 700 students have graduated from the program. At this time, each year about 100 students graduate from the Accounting Option, 35 from the Systems Development Option, and 25 from the Systems Assurance Option. There are approximately 500 Accounting and Information Systems undergraduate students currently in attendance.
Virginia Tech's Accounting and Information Systems Programs attract many excellent students from Virginia and other states because they are demanding and future oriented. Seventy-five percent of the undergraduate accounting students at Virginia Tech are residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Every semester, several international exchange students are enrolled in our Accounting and Information Systems Programs. During recent academic years, students from Austria, China, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mali, Singapore, Taiwan, and the West Indies have enrolled in accounting courses.
In 2002, the Pamplin College of Business received 2,334 applications for admission. Sixty-three percent were given offers. Fifty percent of the offers were accepted. The university numbers for the same period were 68% and 60%, respectively. The College received 533 transfer applications. Sixty percent were made offers and fifty percent accepted those offers. The average SAT score for freshmen entering the College of Business in 2002 was 1190.
Graduate Students
The Department of Accounting and Information Systems at Virginia Tech graduates about 60 Master's students and 3 Ph.D. students a year. Our graduate programs have about 12 Ph.D. and 90 Master's students in residence.
Over 800 students have completed the Master's program. Of the students currently enrolled in the Master's program, at least half are women. Most are full-time students, and a few combine their studies with full-time employment in the area. Students come from a variety of backgrounds. They are graduates of public and private colleges and universities of all sizes and locations. About 30 percent hold undergraduate degrees in non-business disciplines, including biology, the physical sciences, engineering, English, history, political science, psychology, and others. Of those who earned undergraduate business degrees, approximately 75 percent were accounting and/or information systems majors. The average GMAT score of students currently enrolled in the Master's program is 550.
Since we awarded the first Ph.D. in Accounting in 1976, 82 students have completed the program. In this relatively short period of time, Virginia Tech has become an important supplier of university educators in accounting and information systems. Our graduates have accepted faculty positions at such colleges and universities as:
Alabama, Alabama-Huntsville, Appalachian State, Bentley, Boston University, Bowling Green State, Cedarville, Christopher Newport, Clarkson, Delaware, Drexel, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Florida International, Georgia, Georgia State, Houston, Illinois, Indiana-Indianapolis, James Madison, Lehigh, Lethbridge, Louisville, McMaster, Middle Tennessee State, Montana State, Moorehead State, Nanyang Technological Institute-Singapore, Nebraska, New Orleans, North Carolina-Charlotte, North Carolina State, North Dakota State, Northeastern, Northern Kentucky, Old Dominion, Penn State, Penn State-Harrisburg, Radford, San Diego State, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia Commonwealth, Wake Forest, West Virginia, and William and Mary.
We are proud that our graduates have been productive in their faculty positions. They have published in major academic journals (the Accounting Review, The CPA Journal, Contemporary Accounting Research, Decision Sciences, Journal of Accountancy, Journal of Accounting Research, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, and Management Accounting). Three of our graduates are co-authors of major textbooks.
