MS Accounting; Non-Acc Major

Hello! I've been following this forum for quite some time and found it really helpful in my search for information on making the switch to becoming a CPA. Now, hopefully someone can help me out with my personal case. You will find that my situation is quite unique.

My Background: I've been a graphic designer for almost 3 years after graduating from a small university with a Graphic Design major and a Business Admin minor (through the AACSB accredited business school). Ideally, I would have liked to have double majored, but didn't realize I wanted to go the business route until too late in the game. Therefore, upon graduating, I took a job at a reputable communications agency and tried to save for graduate tuition. As a designer, I have been able develop my problem-solving and communication skills by directly working with clients on a day-to-day basis. Some of our clients are even CPA firms. Hopefully my unique work experience will help in making my application more well-rounded.

My stats: I graduated valedictorian from my university with a 4.0. My transcript included some 400-level finance classes. Extracurriculars included co-founding a student investment fund and working directly under my finance professor with research for his thesis. I am planning on taking the GMAT at the end of December and am projecting around the 650-range.

Location: I am from the Pittsburgh area and ideally would like to find employment in Pittsburgh. I know that all of the big four have offices in the city, as well as some mid-tier firms.

Programs of Interest: UPitt Katz would seem to be a great option with their 1.5 year program, but they are not ranked on any of the published lists. They do, however, have OCR for all of the big four. Other programs I was looking into were UNC, Wake Forest, Northeastern, and W&M.

Any information would be extremely helpful and sorry for the long post! Thank you all.