Laura Weise earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. Since September 2005, she has worked in the Assurance Department at Grant Thornton in Chicago and recently started to specialize in financial institutions.

Even as a child, Laura enjoyed the business side of things—in elementary school, she was an entrepreneur, selling crafts she had made. Her father made a suggestion when Laura was about eight years old that she should consider accounting as a career. In college she took Financial Accounting during her first semester and discovered she loved it. “Once I had settled on accounting,” Laura explains, “choosing to pursue a CPA was an obvious choice because it is the standard certification for the profession. Now that I've passed the exam, the CPA designation is something that I will always have.”

Laura offers practical advice to someone preparing for the CPA exam. First, take it as soon as possible after finishing school. Second, take the exam seriously: give studying the time and attention it deserves. Finally, take a review course. “You probably didn't learn everything you need to know for the exam in school, but even if you did,” Laura emphasizes, “the NIU [CPA] review course helps you decide on the best ways to use your precious study time.”