Your situation sounds very similar to my own and that of several friends of mine so I decided to register for the forum to comment here. I ended up completing the UCLA Extension Certificate in Accounting and got job offers from PWC, E&Y, and GT; I will be starting with PWC in January and will be completing the last section of the CPA exam on January 3rd (REG). Throughout the last year and a half I have learned a lot of lessons from people willing to take the time to help me as well as from my own experience and would like to help you if I can. I would rather talk on the phone because it is less time consuming than typing and more interactive so if you would like to talk then send me an email at heavydutyesp135@hotmail.com and I will forward you my phone number. Good luck in whatever path you decide!

David 

lelik wrote: natsci98, I showed IL as an example. In your case, I would just finish the 24 cr/h of accounting and register for the CPA exam. I am not sure how easy it would be to get a job with Big4 if you don't have any accounting-related education, though. Recently, Big4 fired a lot of people...

Good advice. It is difficult to get a job with a Big 4 firm because that is where over 90% of the top accounting students want to go so those firms get first round draft pick for talent. After the Enron collapse and the SOX implementation they had a very high demand and had trouble filling all the spots that they needed, but that is not the case anymore. The Big 4 have not stopped hiring because they need a constant flow of new talent to replace all the people that get burned out and leave but the hiring demand is not what it was at that time. My understanding is that the spots that they do have usually first go to those who have had internships and then most of the other spots go to the top students in BS and Masters programs from the big name schools that they normally recruit at. If you really want to go Big 4 then you are going to be in tough, but if you are open to other opportunities then there are always good positions for CPA's.