r/Accountingstudenthelp

I’m currently in my 4th semester of Accounting & Finance, and honestly, I feel extremely disconnected from what university is teaching versus what the real world actually values.

Most of my classes are pure theory. For example, this semester we’re studying auditing, but it’s mostly memorizing definitions and classifications for exams. After months of lectures, I genuinely feel like I haven’t built a single practical skill from it.

At the same time, outside university, I’ve been teaching myself:

Financial Modeling

DCF Valuation

Regression Analysis

Power BI & Tableau

Advanced Excel

QuickBooks

Python for financial/data analysis

Recently, I even built a small software project using Python and anomaly detection techniques like Isolation Forest to identify unusual financial patterns in datasets.

That project alone taught me more about analytical thinking and problem-solving than months of theoretical lectures.

I’m not saying theory is useless, but I feel like I’m wasting huge amounts of time just preparing for exams instead of learning how finance and analytics actually work in real companies.

I’ve tried applying for internships, but most never reply, probably because I don’t have experience yet.

What I’m really looking for is guidance from someone experienced in:

Financial Analysis

FP&A

Data Analytics

Corporate Finance

Financial Modeling

Audit/Data Automation

I don’t want shortcuts. I genuinely want someone who can:

review my work

point out mistakes

guide me toward industry-level thinking

help me bridge the gap between university and real-world finance

If anyone here has advice, mentorship suggestions, communities, remote opportunities, or even criticism, I’d seriously appreciate it.

I’m willing to put in the work. I just don’t want my growth to stagnate in endless theory. 📈

Took my Managerial Accounting final yesterday, have a feeling I bombed it. The exam’s I’ve taken all year individually have been fine and make sense on a more “per-chapter” basis. The finals for managerial and financial accounting are both department wide finals which is where I have problems. For financial accounting I had a 93% in the class until the final, I got a 78% on the final dropping my grade to a 85.

Just wondering if this is a common issue to have in accounting or if this is a me-thing and should look into alternate majors if I have this block preventing me from scoring well on finals.

I am currently at the end of my first year in college and I have been contemplating on whether or not to purchase an iPad. I have an HP laptop that has been sufficient so far for college in general, but it is ~15 inches and hurts to carry all the time which is why I want an iPad. Although, I have survived with my iPhone and laptop. I don’t know, but I don’t want something outrageously expensive with a bunch of features as I plan to not replace my laptop. Just enough for research on the go, sustains large storage, and of great quality. If it meets my requests I will purchase :)

Should I buy one in general? If so, which one? And which storage capacity?