Patricia Pham

Business major Patricia Pham was prepared to talk about balancing the books when she interviewed for an accounting co-op at BerryDunn. But it was a different kind of book — “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig — that helped her land the position.

As president of the UMass Lowell Book Club, Pham had recently read the novel. Her interviewer had read it, too.

“We ended up bonding over it,” Pham says. “She remembered me for that.”

Pham, a first-generation college student from Methuen, arrived at UMass Lowell (UML) unsure which business path she wanted to pursue. Everything clicked when she took her first financial accounting course.

“I thought, ‘This is for me.’ Nothing has changed my mind since,” says Pham, an Honors College student who describes herself as meticulous, detail-oriented and someone who “actually loves Excel,” traits her professors have reinforced.

She has taken three courses with Associate Teaching Professor Laura Christianson, whom she credits for helping her win a $5,000 Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants (MassCPA) scholarship.

“Even though she had so many students, she believed in me,” Pham says.

But Pham’s experience at UML has been shaped just as much by the opportunities she’s pursued outside of the classroom.

Her first-year roommate crocheted, prompting Pham to pick up a hobby she had learned at age 10 by watching YouTube videos. That spark led her to become president of the Crochet Club, which meets weekly and collaborates with other student groups, including the Fashion Club and Joy Tong Women in Business, on textile projects.

Around the same time, Pham’s love of reading drew her to the UML Book Club. As president, she organizes monthly discussions and larger events such as the “Blind Speed Date with a Book,” which drew 60 students to Allen House. Each attendee pitched a chosen book to the group and if they “matched” with someone else, they swapped books.

“I love being able to bring people together,” she says.

Pham has also studied abroad twice — first in Paris, then in London — with support from an Immersive Scholars award and a Manning School of Business scholarship.

Professionally, she landed an operations internship at a local coffee shop through Joy Tong Women in Business, and she has also tutored English on the side since high school. She says teaching others to read critically has strengthened her own ability as an accounting student.

“People think accounting is all about math,” she says. “It’s really about reading carefully and understanding what you’re looking at.”

Following her co-op at BerryDunn in Manchester, New Hampshire, Pham has a summer internship lined up at Andersen, an accounting firm in Boston. Long term, she plans to pursue the CPA license and likely the Bachelor’s-to-Master’s Program at UML.

“UMass Lowell is really good at giving you so many opportunities and not forcing you into a bubble, which is really important because I wouldn't have been able to meet all these people,” Pham says. “I don’t think all of this would have happened at another school.”