MSTax Alum Profile: Jennifer Lo
Jennifer Lo is a tax consultant at Deloitte Tax in Seattle. She graduated from the Master of Science in Taxation at UW in the year 2020.
Why did you choose the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business?
I am originally from Oregon but decided to venture out but stay somewhat close to home. After graduation, I decided to pursue the Master of Science in Taxation at Foster because I wanted to really hone my tax skills before I entered the workforce. And being that it was easy to apply directly into the master’s program, I decided to go for it and haven’t looked back since.
What were the highlights of the program?
Everyone in the program is driven and excited to work with different people. And those moments of solving problems and different tax issues together was really memorable. The master’s program created strong friendships among everyone in the class. The study groups, and the cohorts, created a lasting bond. A lot of my classmates are still in Seattle and if they’re not, we stay in touch just because we’re in the same profession.
What is your recipe for success?
I think what helped me succeed in the program was the faculty and my peers around me. All the faculty were very willing to chat in office hours and help the students with any of the technical or just career questions. And even the peers in the class were so willing to just talk about what was happening within the program and what our opportunities were outside of and after the program. I utilized the career services at Foster that the program offers and Foster’s alumni network. I met a fellow mentor who was in the accounting profession, and she guided me through the recruiting process and really helped me out with growing my network within Seattle as well.
What do you love about your job?
One of the things that I really enjoy about my job right now is being able to apply all the knowledge that I learned in the program and seeing that come to fruition in the client work. Clients ask a lot of questions that we tackled within the program, and it’s very satisfying to be able to utilize that knowledge and apply that within the real world.
One of the big misconceptions working in tax is that tax professionals are very heads-down, like to work alone, but since I’ve joined the tax profession in public accounting, I have realized that people work really well together, and we are constantly talking to one another and with clients. It’s a very people-oriented profession and was I pleasantly surprised by this.
Learn more about Foster’s Master of Science in Taxation.
