With a wide array of options, accounting students at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at George Mason University are able to choose the types of experiential learning that will best prepare them for their future careers.
Mina Al Hashimi, BS Accounting ’23, and Makayla Sorto, a senior studying accounting, took full advantage of internship opportunities that were offered through student organizations and courses. Kaleb Lewis is the director of career services at the Costello College of Business and the faculty instructor of the internship for academic credit course. “Internships provide the foundation for a successful career by allowing students to try out various tasks and get a feel for a company's workplace environment,” he says.
After graduating this past May with her undergraduate in accounting, Mina Al Hashimi is looking forward to continuing on the track at Mason with the master of science in accounting (MSA). But rather than taking the time to rest between her degree programs, she made the most of her summer by joining Ernst & Young (EY) as a technology risk consulting intern. She was serving as the president of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) on campus, which is how she got connected with the EY recruiter. As an intern, she learned about the different accounting service lines and did walkthroughs with a client to make sure that the process was working correctly. “I realized I can do a lot more with accounting than just audit and tax,” she says. “I can go into consulting or corporate accounting or any pathway really.” She now has a better idea of the kind of accounting career path she wants to pursue but still has her eyes on the big four accounting firms.
Another big takeaway Al Hashimi took from the experience was how vital networking is to connecting with people and learning from them, something that she looks forward to continuing both in the classroom and in the office. “Mina's internship flourished thanks to her leadership abilities, outstanding academics, and enthusiastic can-do attitude,” says Peggy Tsirigotis, assistant area chair and instructor of accounting. “Her student journey emphasizes the importance of organizational skills and efficient time management for students, while also emphasizing the value of hands-on learning and active campus involvement.”
Makayla Sorto is now in her senior year of studying accounting at the Costello College of Business. She had learned about the Embark Scholars program at KPMG and decided to apply. The Embark Internship is designed for accounting students from ethnic minority groups and consists of eight weeks rotating among the audit, tax, and advisory practices. Eligible interns are then able to select their area of interest for another internship the following summer at KPMG. Sorto and her team of six other interns completed projects ranging from researching clients to updating reports. “Going into this, I was so sure I was going to like tax, but throughout the whole rotation, I came out knowing that I want to do either advisory or audit,” she says. “It completely changed the whole trajectory of what I thought I was going to do because I had such a great time in audit.”
During the internship, Sorto was enrolled in ACCT 492, the Internship for Academic Credit course, offered through the Costello College of Business Office of Career Services. “ACCT 492 enhances a student's internship experience by providing assignments that allow the student to self-reflect on a number of career-related topics such as mentorship, receiving and giving feedback, and utilizing one's strengths in the workplace,” says Lewis. “In addition, one fundamental aspect of the course allows students to directly learn about their strengths and areas to improve through supervisor evaluations.” Through the internship, Sorto learned not only what really interested her but she also made many connections, especially with other Embark interns. One of her favorites experiences was presenting in front of executives at the firm’s headquarters in Orlando, Florida.
“Internships stand as highly effective experiential learning opportunities for accounting students,” says Long Chen, area chair and associate professor of accounting. “They bridge the gap between classroom and workplace, cultivating vital transferable skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Furthermore, internships facilitate networking with accounting professionals and provide insights into industry best practices. We strongly encourage both undergraduate and graduate accounting students to pursue internships and enroll in dedicated courses—ACCT 492 and ACCT 695—laying the groundwork for their future success in the field.” By extending their education to outside of the classroom, Al Hashimi and Sorto both gained a better understanding of what they want to do in their respective careers. The internship experiences allowed them to practice what they have been taught while focusing their continued learning on the areas that truly pique their interests.