Affordability wasn’t Sarah Curley’s top priority when choosing a college. It was her only priority.
“UMass Lowell was solely a financial decision,” says the honors accounting student from Salem, Massachusetts. “I can’t go to a school that I can’t afford, so I didn’t really look at all the different aspects of the university – just financial.”
Four years later, Curley “couldn’t imagine going anywhere else.”
“I am honestly shocked by all the opportunities I’ve had to travel, earn scholarships and make great connections,” she says. “I came to realize that UMass Lowell is affordable and a great school.”
Best of all, Curley has a full-time job waiting for her as an associate at accounting firm RSM in Boston after graduation.
“I’m excited to have that locked in. I don’t have to worry about that now,” says Curley, who worked as an audit intern at RSM the summer before her senior year – an experience that sparked her interest in auditing.
“I feel like it’s more personable. You get to talk to clients, and you’re not doing the same thing every day,” says Curley, who was excited to take an auditing course following the internship. “There’s so much more to learn.”
After starting college remotely during the pandemic, Curley hasn’t taken her time at UML for granted. She is president of Joy Tong Women in Business, vice president of the Accounting Society, a member of several honor societies and has played two club sports, rugby and soccer. She also works as an office assistant to the dean in the Manning School of Business.
At the encouragement of her accounting professors, Curley applied for, and received, a $5,000 MassCPA scholarship that was sponsored by RSM. She also won a scholarship from the Boston chapter of Financial Executives International.
“Without that support from faculty, I wouldn’t have known about the scholarships,” she says.
With help from the dean’s office, Curley has also been able to attend Institute of Management Accountants conferences in Pittsburgh and Austin, Texas.
“I talk to friends at other schools and they’re like, ‘Wait, you’re going to a conference?’ The opportunity presented itself, and I applied,” says Curley, who also studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, with the Honors College, an experience that “changed me so much.”
Curley is already working on her M.S. in accounting through the Bachelor’s-to-Master’s Program. She also plans to take the CPA exam as she starts her career at RSM.
“Before I came to UMass Lowell, I was undeclared and had no clue what I was doing,” Curley says. “But now, I’m leaving, and I feel like I know exactly what I’m going to do.”