I  will graduate in December 2010 with a BS in Accounting( ~3.7 gpa Tier 2 university in the US). I am doing an audit internship with a regional public accounting firm right now but they told me not to expect getting a job offer at the end of the internship. I am trying to find a job very hard and will continue till December but I am not very optimistic about my chances. I don't think I will be able to land any job. I have enough credit hours to sit for the CPA exam.  I could just find a volunteering opportunity to maintain my status during OPT, take the CPA exams, hope that I will pass the CPA exams on the first try itself and then hope that I will be able to find a job after passing the CPA exams. Or, I could join a Masters program and hope that I will find a job after Masters.

I feel like both of these things will just help me stall the problem. I feel like I am just delaying the inevitable. I was thinking about a third option. I was thinking may be I could go back to Nepal. Rather than studying Masters here and being in the same position in 24 months, will it be better if I go back to Nepal/India and study there? Does anyone have any suggestion for me? Any advice? Do you think banks in Nepal would hire people like me for finance-type positions? I won't be able to practice as a Chartered Accountant in Nepal so my best bet is to find finance job. Are these jobs mostly taken by US-educated MBAs?

Should I think about returning to Nepal or should I just try to figure out ways to somehow maintain legal status and remain in the US? Which is better- 1) returning to Nepal or 2)fraudulent marriage for GC, work through dhoti consultancies, fraudulent asylum, joining masters just to maintain status, army (if MAVNI reopens), Kaplan courses to maintain status

Have you considered getting a PR from Canada?? Denmak have also recently opened a PR system there. Think about it. You might land in a job there.

Yeah. Canada is a great shout. Else, I'd urge you to finish your master's first. Then go back home. You'll sell like a hotcake ( as if u wouldn't already...just 5 years of stay in this country should suffice the basic requirement of marketing yourself or you being on demand ).

dude, the way i see it is you dont have a specific goal, no matter how many degrees you have , u wont achieve anything until you set a target for yourself, so u need focus and orientation, do not get disoriented by that much of options you have mentioned, prioritize them and do accordingly. there must be a reason for u to do a BS in accounting .  different ppl will tell you to chose 10 different things here, that way u will still remain confused, so just ask yourself, what's your passion and just go for it .

good luck

You said you already have enough hours to sit for the CPA exam (150 hrs?), which means you will not be learning anything new if you do a Masters in Acct. Instead of getting a Masters it would pay you hugely if you focused your energy in getting a CPA. If you go to Nepal after getting a CPA you will be able to market yourself much better than with just a undergrad.

I would join maybe something like kaplan and start studying for the CPA. Take all four test and if you try it is really not that bad. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice guys. I appreciate all the suggestions.

I have been told that Canada wants skilled manpower. So if I want to apply for PR with a BS in Accounting I need to be a CPA (correct me if this is wrong). The problem with trying to be a CPA is that I could take the exams and pass them but  I will have to meet the experience requirements set by the states before I can official be a licensed CPA and practice as such. Which means, I will have to find work and work, to be able to be a licensed CPA. Like Duracell said, Masters is not really a prudent option for me because I already have 150 credit hours (I tested out of a lot of ESL classes offered at my university  to get credit). So I am stuck here. No work means no CPA license and No CPA license means No Work*


* When I say No Work I mean very low prospects of finding work.

You said you graduate in Dec, 2010. There is still time and hope. :-) Shoot me an email with details about ur school and maybe ur resume (if you want to) and I will see if I can forward it somewhere.

First of all Canada only offers you a legal status to stay there. Getting a job over there is 5-10 times harder compared to US. So if you think you might have issues staying legally in US then consider Canada; if you can continue your studies and find a way to stay here legally then forget Canada.

Now going to Nepal is a personal decision. Chances of getting a job in your field over there is 10-100 times harder.There are just too many bankers and accountants there. If you had an experience in US that might have helped but with just studies and internship  you are just a part of the crowd of tens of thousands of applicants for another job.

My suggestion is to try to get a job here. Enroll in masters and keep trying. If you get a job work few years then go back to Nepal. If not then you have to goto Nepal anyways.

This way you will avoid a lot of headache and depression for your decision to "abandon US prematurely." Atleast you can say you gave it a try. Whatever you do, remember that you want to go back to Nepal ultimately.

"return back"?

Is this a trick question?

"Return" means "to go back to where you came from originally no matter how long ago"

Then you go ahead and add "back"(which means turn around and go to the spot of origination) to the existing word "return". Therefore "return back" sounds more like a recursive activity which is designed to end you up in America after a long or short visit to Nepal.

If you meant returning to Nepal for good, you will be happy later if you have figured out exactly what you want to do there and you have practical reasons to believe that you can achieve what you have dreamed of. No matter where you go or where you stay, one needs at least a satisfactory vocation to start with.

Thanks for the suggestion guys.

@Mr Hyde: Thanks for pointing that out. Hopefully, I will not make the same mistake again.