Transcript of My Dream to be an Accountant
My Expectations about the Interview
After I finished my freshmen year in Egypt, I had to move to the United states in 2012, and choose a major. when I enrolled in college in the U.S. I chose Accounting again as my major, but this time was different because I was confused about what my future career is going to be in accounting in this new country. I realized that if I were to interview Marla Blumenthal, who is an accounting teacher at Riverside City College in California, I would finally know what I need to do in order to get my bachelor degree and my CPA.
Observation About the Place
It took the bus about thirty minutes to get to RCC from my house. Once I arrived, the real journey started from seeing students try to find parking in the parking lot, to watching them walk to their classes. Some students were in a hurry to their classes and looked so stressed, other students were having fun and were talking about where they are going to eat at. The other students were happy because they were going home after a long day. It was interesting to see all the students doing so many different things within the same campus. The most interesting thing, however, was the different cultures, people from all over the world are in the same college, which I think makes it difficult for any teacher to have a good connection with these
students.
The Veteran's Building
This building has the office for disabled students. I saw many disabled students going to this office, which was interesting for me because these students show a lot of discipline by going to school to reach their goals despite their disabilities. Then my journey came to an end in Blumenthal’s classroom just after her Accounting lecture
.
Thank you!
Why Accounting?
Four years ago I finished my high school in my home town in Egypt, and I had to pick a major. It was the hardest decision for me because my dad wanted me to choose something in the medical field, but I realized that I hate anything related to medical. However, I found out that I prefer anything related to numbers or math. In Egypt working at a bank is considered a prestigious career with a high paying salary, and my brother in law influenced me by working at the HSBC bank (an international bank in Egypt). My brother in law graduated with a degree in business administration, after listening to him speak about his job, I became interested in Accounting and CPA. Then it was the time to decide my major, and I chose business accounting to be my major.
Observation After Interview
After finishing my interview, I realized that my fears of being a foreigner and being unaware of the systems in this country, has disappeared due to the new knowledge from someone who has experienced the things I will experience later. Now I realize that I can make it through all of this regardless of how hard this path may be, I just have to keep going and not give up.
My Dream to be an Accountant
Olivia Hanna
Professor Darlene Kriesel
English 1A
11 June 2015
The Interview Questions
Q. What makes you interested about accounting?
A. After I got my bachelor degree in English Literature, I found that I am more interested in accounting, so I decided to come back to school and take my bachelor degree in accounting.
Q. Which masters did you take after your bachelor degree?
A. After taking my bachelor degree, I took MBA and then my CPA.
Q. How long did it take you to finish everything?
A. It took me four years to finish my bachelor degree, one year for my MBA, and two years to get my CPA and CPA was the hardest part.
Q. Why CPA was the hardest part for you?
A. I had to work five hundred hours as an auditor for my CPA exam. I worked as an auditor at a firm, and then the firm broke up before I finished my hours then I had to work as an auditor for the state board of equalization to finish my hours. It took me so long to finish my CPA.
Q. When did you start teaching?
A. I started teaching in 1992 as a part time teacher at RCC.
Q. What other careers can I choose from besides teaching?
A. After getting your CPA, You can work as an accountant for any company, or as an accounting manager. The best places to work at are government jobs such as auditing or FBI.
Questions continued
Q. Why did you choose RCC?
A. In my opinion it is one of the highest community colleges in California, and also I could take my PHD to work in a University, but it would take me four years to finish it, and I preferred to continue working at RCC.
Q. I see that it took you eleven years to get everything, was it worth it?
A. Actually it’s the first time to think about how many years it took me to get everything, but yes it is because I enjoyed everything I was doing, and it’s my true passion.
Q. What skills should I have to be a teacher?
A. You should be patient, have a sense of humor and enjoy what you are doing.
Q. What is the most stressful aspect and the most enjoyable aspect in yo