When Christopher Patterson, MST’16, MSA’17, moved from Tennessee to Indianapolis, he brought with him a bachelor’s degree in economics, finance and psychology—and a passion for numbers.
Christopher relocated to the Circle City in 2011 after an internship with Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS). Following his internship, and a final semester of undergraduate coursework at Tennessee State, DFAS offered him a full-time accounting position. At that time, Christopher, who had the “itch” for taxes, began looking into graduate schools.
His first call was to the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI; he was sold right away.
“What makes the Kelley School so unique is how the program infuses real-world and real-life experiences into the classroom,” says Christopher, who enrolled in the Master of Science in Taxation Program. “I knew this program would put me on track to achieve my ultimate goal—owning my own tax firm.”
While Christopher says both accounting and tax are equally important, taxes intrigued him, and it was something he could apply immediately in his own life, helping clients through his volunteer efforts in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.