Foster launches Master of Science in Taxation
Starting fall 2017, the UW Foster School of Business will offer a new Master of Science in Taxation (MST), based on the taxation track of the long-running MPAcc program. The change comes as the result of input from program faculty and the Seattle tax community as the program seeks to place students in a wider geographic region.
Although the tax program at Foster is well known in Seattle, accounting firms outside of Washington may not realize that this program is entirely tax-based, since many comparable MPAcc programs only offer a few electives in a student’s selected track. The creation of a new Master of Science degree devoted to taxation underscores the depth and focus of the curriculum.
While the name will change, the quality of the faculty and rigor of the classes will not. The program will offer 14 courses exploring a wide range of tax issues, from international tax and mergers and acquisitions to tax research and estate and gift taxes.
The MST program will also continue the core values and traditions that made MPAcc Taxation students so successful. The MST first time pass rate for the CPA exam leads the Pacific Northwest region at 77.2%—compared to a national first-time pass rate of 48.4%. In recent years, the program’s job placement rate has been 98%, thanks in large part to the close relationship that the program enjoys with public accounting firms in the Pacific Northwest and all over the country. The 2016 graduating class saw 36 students go to Big Four firms (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY) and 15 regional placements. The average starting salary of recent graduates was $60,000.
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Average starting salary for many other jobs are well beyond $60k. $60k with a masters in taxation, and all that rigorous studying and work/courseload, plus all those endless hours you’ll dedicate to your careers as tax professionals is a joke. Think about how smart you guys really are to choose this program and want to be tax professionals after leaving Foster. The only gratification you get is the perceived prestige that, honestly, only folks in your profession understands but no one else in the countless other jobs and industries out there does or cares to. It’s really just a self-reinforced perception of prestige among other tax professionals to continue to help them and you convince yourselves that this degree and career choice was worth it. When you graduate from this program and start serving your clients, you’ll see quickly the great deal of how so many other career choices make a great deal more for a fraction of your work hours, and are light years happier because of it. Don’t just have a job or career, have a life too and one that matters.