Baron Baura, Catching Up with an MST Alum

Baron completed his Master of Science in taxation in 2020 and now works as a Tax Staff 1 at Ernst and Young. We interviewed him about his choice of Tax as a profession and his experience at Foster in the MST program.

When did you decide you were interested in tax?

There’s audit, there’s tax, there’s also consulting. I found the perfect spot in terms of enjoying both accounting and law in tax. Foster was very recognized and has a good recruiting network with companies out there. I had more knowledge in tax because I really enjoyed it and I also wanted to be able to increase my candidacy for Big Four accounting firms and other firms that are competitive around the Seattle area.

Why did you choose Foster?

I think as an undergrad or even just a student in the Foster School, they do a really good job with supporting you professionally. When you get into the program, the career services has such a good, structured support they provide you with. They provide you with a timeline and when should you apply. They always have recruiting events, networking events with the campus recruiters.

Tell us about the cohort.

Probably the most beneficial thing in terms of getting a master’s degree or coming to the Master of Science and Taxation program was really getting close to the colleagues that I had here, and you can ask each other the questions that you may not feel comfortable asking to the higher ups.

And it’s made my work in my job much easier in terms of transitioning into a professional from a student. It’s very rigorous material, so I leaned on my study group a lot. But I think the program challenges you to learn in a different way. It forces you to not always have the right answers, but to understand why it’s wrong and why some people were led to that answer.

What advice would you give future MST students?

The more you put into the program, the more you study with your study group, the more you’re going to get out of it. You’re going to get more relationships with your classmates. You’re going to get more relationship with your faculty, and you’re going to get more relationships that you can take advantage of once you become a professional.

And I think the biggest advice for anyone, even once they finish a program, is to really stay in contact with the network that we were blessed to have for that one year, because all these people are going to go in different places in the next decade or so, and you never know where you’re going to end up or when you might need a friend.

 

Learn more about the Master of Accounting programs at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

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