California State University, Los Angeles, CA
After transferring from Glendale Community College to Cal-State LA I have studied there for about 2 years. The experience was very rewarding, but unfortunately, or fortunately – depending on how you look at it, my situation changed. At the time I was going to CallState LA, I was working at Metropolitan Water District, a government agency with very regular hours. I started work at 6:30 a.m. and was out by 3:30 p.m. with plenty of time for school.
Around this time I was suddenly offered a position at L-Squared Entertainment – a special effect production company working on Hollywood movie productions. The temptation and the challenges were too great and I took the job. It was a really interesting and exciting next 4 years. Unfortunately, this job had crazy long hours and extremely tight deadlines – you learned a lot but did so by jumping from one fiery project into another.
I had to stop school in order to succeed at this job. So as a result, I was about 1 year shy of getting my Bachelor’s degree from a US university. Luckily so far, it has not hindered me in my employment opportunities. I think initially my 4.0 GPA helped me get the jobs, while later on most employers would simply focus on the work experience. Given the opportunity I would still love to go back to school, but it’s very different when you are older and working on several concurrent projects. Time will tell how this turns out.
Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA
I have taken most of my GE classes at Glendale Community College in order to transfer to a 4-year University. There was a funny story there. I was new to schooling in the US and there were 2 classes that I decided not to take after the opening day. So I just didn’t go. To my surprise, my perfect 4.0 GPA turned to 2.9 for the next semester. Turns out I got an F in both of the classes because I didn’t withdraw. I worked my way up all the way to the Dean of the Department trying to get rid of the “F”s, but they said the only thing I could do it re-take the class to get a different grade. So, I had to re-take the class I didn’t want to take just to clear my educational record. Live and Learn 🙂
National Polytechnic University of Armenia – Bachelor’s Degree
I received my bachelor’s degree is from the National Polytechnic University of Armenia.