posted
I know you guys are sick of me doing this, but I can't express how cool it is to ask a question of so many people that have college degrees or are in the process - it just helps getting the opinions of people more experienced in this than me.
I'd like to take classes at two different locations this year - I'd like to be at UAB on Tuesdays and Thursdays taking two classes that are required for my major, and at the community college on Monday-Wednesday-Friday taking some other classes. Does anybody see any downside to this?
Here's what happened:
So my credits from previous college were finally articulated, and there was a slight problem with one of my biology courses. The University Core curriculum requires 8 hours in natural sciences with labs. My 2nd semester of biology was an anatomy course, and anatomy courses don't count toward core curriculum requirements. Which means I need another science.
Well, money is tight, we're doing okay but still recovering from having to shut down our business and there are still some outstanding bills that people haven't paid yet. The tuition at the university is twice the tuition at the junior college, and the junior college is closer to home.
I already checked out everything I can think of: Does the university have a policy preventing this? No, in fact an advisor told me it's pretty common. Will the university accept the credits from the junior college? Yes. Does the junior college offer a natural lab science that I can use for my core requirement? Yes, several.
I just wondered if there were any downsides I wasn't thinking of.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
You covered all the downsides I can think of. Just get an email or something in writing that the specific course you are taking will be tranferrable and will satosfy the core requirement. The best way to do so would be to send an email mentioning the name of the course and asking for verification that it satisfies the requirement.
That way, even if there is a SNAFU later, the email will give you better standing to ask for an exception if one is needed.
posted
Another question - I don't want to start a new topic.
Has anyone here who likes to write taken any college creative writing classes? UAB has a newly available creative writing minor, and my degree requires the completion of a minor.
I was just thinking it might be the type of class I'd enjoy, but maybe writing fiction for assignment won't really be that enjoyable. Any thoughts?
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I took a college creative writing course years ago.
The upside for me was I had the most WONDERFUL professor for the class.
Creative writing was a lot more than fiction. It was prose and verse and short stories, etc. I thought I'd do horrible at it, but really did quite well (haven't written any fiction since, but, oh well).
I think it will all depend on your instructor that their syllabus...
posted
They offer a minor in creative writing, and a minor in writing and they aren't the same things. The creative writing minor requires you take the intro to creative writing, and workshops in 2 of the 3 areas: creative nonfiction, poetry, and fiction.
The writing minor is professional writing - advanced composition, professional editing, writing in medicine, technical writing, etc.
I'm leaning toward the professional writing minor. As part of that, I do have to take one creative workshop, which I'll probably take the creative nonfiction one. That way, I get to study different types of writing. I think I will do well with that track.
Because I'm considering specializing in graduate school in medical librarianship, I'm taking every medical-related class I can. Big advantage being at a university with such a big medical center, there are tons of options. I need permission from my dean to take classes in the school of health-related professions which I'm going to try to do after this semester, when I'm a junior. There are some classes in the bio-informatics program that would really help me. At the very least it would help me know if that's really a direction I want to pursue or not.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
From my experience in grad school, it is really helpful if you have already taken an undergrad class that correlates to the grad class. For example, I have had interpersonal comm. as both an undergrad course and as a grad course. If you already know what grad program you would like to get into, look at their curriculuum and see if you can find classes in your undergrad that correspond. It will make grad school go more smoothly. As for the two schools, I can't see why it would be bad other than twice the paperwork but thats not really a major drawback. Also, if you are using student loans you might have to make sure they realize you are attending two institutions and not just one.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Well, I actually went and met with my advisor in person and boy am I glad I did.
First of all, the first person I talked to apparently didn't understand that I was talking about dual enrollment, because that is, in fact, not allowed. Any credits I took at the junior college while I was enrolled at UAB would not be transferable. There are exceptions, which require registering as a transient student but my situation doesn't qualify.
So...that's out. She also warned me that I was getting awfully close to the upper limit of hours I could transfer anyway, and still have the hours count toward my degree. So, looks like I'll just have to scrape up the money and stay at UAB this fall.
She actually advised against the creative writing minor, because the classes aren't offered that often, and usually only one creative class per semester, and I would have a hard time getting the required hours for my minor in the time I have left. As she said, I don't want to have all the hours needed to graduate in my major and have to stay on an extra semester just to complete my minor.
The professional writing is an option, but it suffers from the same downside as the creative minor - not many classes per semester. Her recommendation was psychology, actually, because I already have two classes in psychology that I did well in, and would only need four more for the minor. Plus, much of my work in my major will cover similar ground to the psychology classes, and there's certainly no shortage of psych classes each semester.
She also recommended I get my financial aid stuff in soon, because she knew of some programs out there to help women who were going back to college after years in the workforce or raising families, she also gave me some advice on preparing for graduate school.
We chatted about career options, and I mentioned the desire to get my MLIS, and she said that sounded wonderful, but that with my background that includes corporate training, I could also think about corporate communication consulting. Which was funny, because my mom is starting to freelance consult and has already mentioned that she could use me to come in and do training and seminars for clients. So, that just keeps another option open.
I told her that I loved corporate training and speaking, and had done a good bit in my position with the pharmaceutical company, but that I wasn't able to find a full time job in it because of my lack of degree. She told me that she understood, and that soon no one would be able to turn me away for that reason again. She knew exactly what I was going through, she had gone to college right after high school, then quit, then gone back to school when she was 36 and gone on through and completed her master's.
I had a great time. It was wonderful talking to someone who seemed to care about my situation and was so encouraging and so knowledgable. I'd heard so many people talk about how useless their advisors were, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the meeting. I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I just got lucky.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Belle, I think you got very lucky indeed! Your advisor sounds absolutely marvelous; I didn't find any advisors that interesting or helpful until I got to grad school (and some not even then).
I'm sorry that the transfer thing didn't work out, though. Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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