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*This is a rant, this is only a rant. If Boris were really considering the destruction of campus property, this message would be followed by a link about his subsequent arrest and trial.*
So, a couple weeks ago I *thought* I was a college graduate. Well, according to the registrar's office of BYU-Idaho, I'm not. Apparently I still have more hoops to jump through. Regardless of the fact that I have been in constant communication with the registrar, my advisor, and as many other people as possible to make sure that I was taking all of the classes I needed to in order to graduate. Last year I was required to submit a graduation plan along with a petition to allow me to continue taking classes beyond a (supremely idiotic and stifling) 140 credit limit for Bachelor's degrees. The plan was reviewed by two people in front of my face, compared with the requirements for my major, and okayed by them, then sent to a commitee for review, and was again approved. I took all of the classes outlined in that plan. However, my parents received a letter from the college stating that I wasn't finished, instead of the diploma I've worked my rear end off to receive. I feel not so happy right now.
That out of the way, has anyone else had to go through this? I'm going to go to the registrar's office monday to talk to them about it. I get this feeling that the computer is not fully up to speed on the requirements for my particular major and emphasis for the year in which I declared it, and rather than have people actually check to make sure this kind of mistake isn't made, I'm forced to go visit with someone to get things cleared up. I also have this sneaking suspicion that the person who was looking over my transcript didn't notice the fact that there are many classes that have alternates, in other words, take this class or this class to fulfill a certain requirement, rather than taking both. I don't want to think that the administration of this school is stupid enough to make that kind of mistake, but while I was working through the afforementioned graduation plan, the person who was going over my transcript with me made that very mistake. There are many times that I really really hate beaurocracy.
*This concludes this Rant. We now return you to your regularly schedule Hatrack discussion.*
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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That's really frustrating. My entire time in college, every single semester that I visited my adviser, my transcript said that I didn't have enough foreign language credits to graduate.
I asked him to check on it every time, and he assured me that I did indeed have enough, but the computer wasn't recording it correctly. In five years, the computer never once had it right.
Fortunately, I did get to graduate. I hope that your problem turns out to be a simple computer glitch as well.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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My sister went through something similar. I don't remember exactly what the class was that they said she didn't have, but it was something that was a gneneral requirement, not a major-specific class. And she'd taken it first year, but somehow the college managed to lose the records. She's still battling with them over it, and it's been about 4 months so far. The biggest issue for her is that she can't accept the job that's waiting for her till she has that piece of paper in hand.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Boris, at Rutgers University, we called that the "RU Screw". Everyone was a victim, and no one was spared. It was just a matter of when it caught up to you.
I was told two weeks before graduation that I didn't have credits to satisfy my major requirement, despite having a signed letter from the registrar himself saying that one of my study abroad courses would qualify as a major requirement. Lots of door knocking and head banging ensued before they let me have my diploma.
One friend received a phone call expecting him to be out of housing the following week, and wanted to schedule a time for him to drop of his key. He had no idea what this was about. Apparently, he hadn't sent in his last tuition check, despite several notifications. Funny thing was, they changed his mailbox number... and mailed the notification of the change to the *new* mailbox. All the tuition checks, etc, were stuffed in the new box when he finally tracked it all down.
Another friend was totally oblivious of the fact that the RU Screw caught up with him until, while standing at graduation in cap and gown, he didn't hear his name called. He hadn't checked his mail the two days before graduation, where a priority mail letter sat (sent three days prior to graduation) that outlined 3 credits he still needed to graduate.
The list goes on and on. These are just a few of the cautionary tales I've told freshmen entering Rutgers.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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And this is why I go to a university that is small enough that the dean of my college knows my name.
My biggest problem was that apparently, there is no one in the business college who knows anything at all about honors certificate requirements. And my ADVISOR kept giving me the wrong advice about my common curriculums. I'd make an appointment to see him to set up my schedule. He was all, "You don't need any more philosophy." But we'd always schedule three or four classes and leave two spots open.
Then I'd have to make a separate appointment to go see the honors director about filling those other two spots, and she was all, "You need one more philosophy." Then they changed the format of the honors program, and I think they got a new director. And she was like, "Take what you want!"
Then I went for my graduation audit, and the auditing lady was all, "You need one more honors class!" "But they're not offering any honors classes in Spring II." "Then you're not getting your certificate!"
So I had to go BACK to the honors people and tell them that I WOULD have taken that damn honors philosophy course if Loyola Chicago hadn't barred me from taking any honors courses, so I took the upper-level version of the class instead.
I still have no idea if I actually needed that extra philosophy or not, but I have it. I hope. *makes mental note to visit honors office*
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The one nice thing Rutgers did give me was an ability to work my way through red tape and bureauocratic crap. It also taught me to cover my own tail as best as I could - the only reason I had that signed letter from the registrar was because I knew they'd mess it up somehow, and I had to cover myself.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Yes, whenever you can get someone to sign in writing something they've told you, it's great.
Every public college that I've heard of does stuff like this ALL the time. I called it bureaucratic spelunking. I brought a book to read and limitless patience, and walked all over campus however many times it took to get them to straighten me out. I never pulled a gun on anyone, or otherwise physically threatened them, regardless of provocation. I'm very proud of that.
I've always said that part of what a college degree certifies to a prospective employer is "this student successfully negotiated four years of bureaucratic nightmares with us, so she likely can stomach the stuff at your firm, as well". Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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One more great tip for dealing with bureaucracies. If you rephrase your reasonable request three different times and they refuse, ask nicely to talk to their supervisor and try agian. Repeat as necessary up to the president of the place. The real problem with minions in bureaucracies is not that they're actually as oblivious and heartless and unintelligent as they seem, it's that they have no power at all. Keep bouncing the ball up to higher levels, until you find someone who does have the power to accomplish what you need. Don't waste time arguing with minions.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Boris: Last year I was required to submit a graduation plan along with a petition to allow me to continue taking classes beyond a (supremely idiotic and stifling) 140 credit limit for Bachelor's degrees
Well, just be glad that your degree doesn't require 142 credit hours! (BS in mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.) The LOWEST credit hour requirement is for physics at 133 and the highest is for geology at 152.
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Well, my parents just sent me a scanned version of the letter they received. Aparently the computers on campus don't realize that English 316 and English 316C are the same freaking class (The only difference is that the latter is done in a computer lab rather than a regular classroom). Nor are the people who look at transcripts at this point capable of figuring that fact out. At least it's an easy problem to fix.
Eisenoxyde: The requirements for my current major ask for 110 credits (roughly), plus the minor (26 credits in my case), which comes to about 136 credits total for me. I actually have around 160 credits on my transcript. Partly because I changed majors, and partly because I like taking classes that have nothing to do with my major (I have about 20 credits in dance classes ). This school has something of an assembly line feel to it. There's actually a 500 dollar post graduation scholarship that is given to students who graduate in 8 semesters. *blushes* I took 13. Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I had a frustrating registration issue at one point. You see, for some reason, they renamed "Music Business" to "Music Industry Studies."
They renumbered all the classes. MUBZ350 became MUIN350.
As a result, all of the prerequisites in the computer system became MUIN, and the classes I had taken were still recorded as MUBZ. So I had to get someone to override the prerequisites.
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I've heard so many stories similar to this one, it must be a universal thing.
It scares me to death. I make sure I visit my advisor every semester to make sure I'm on track and have taken the right courses, but your story is proof even that isn't enough.
Hope you get it straighted out soon.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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So aparently the administrative red tape only requires a phone call around here. I called and left a message with the registrar on Saturday, they called this morning and said it was taken care of. Cool Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I have a fine rant at home written about my university's registar (the entire department). It centered around their general ineptness. If I can find it when I get home, I'll toss it here.
Long story short, I actually wound up being placed on academic probation because I took an internship (which I was getting credit for), and had to reapply to the university to resume classes (which I had registered for, and proceded to be dumped out of). Of course, none of this was mentioned until the week before classes began. I was not a happy camper, and it wound up being the Graduate School admin as well as my advisor and associate dean that got most of the bumps smoothed out.
So yes, the Dilbert (or Peter) Principle is alive and well in the nation's universities.
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Both the philosophy and religious studies departments at my school are amazing and I've never had any problems with them. I always thought my school was really great at processing paper work and being accessible to its students. Then I added an econ major.
We have mandatory advising for each of our majors in the spring quarter of every year, so I went in to schedule an appointment with my econ advisor. Turns out, he's on sabbatical this quarter. I was not informed. The admin told me to go back the next week because by then she'd have a new advisor assigned to me. So I did, and but my new advisor was not around. I went the next week and he was miraculously in his office. (Oh, did I mention that they don't respond to emails? The only way to contact any professors in the department is to catch them in their offices.) I explained the situation to him and he was very understanding. BUT, he says, "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving for Sudan in four minutes. I'll be back in two weeks. I'll put your name on this list and get your hold removed. We'll have the conference when I get back."
Interesting. If I hadn't caught him right then, I wouldn't have been able to remove my advising hold, and I wouldn't have been able to register for fall classes.
UGH. I should've stuck exclusively to Arts & Sciences.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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That's . . . rather bizarre, actually. It makes superficial sense, but ignores that the fields really have very different focii.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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). This school has something of an assembly line feel to it. There's actually a 500 dollar post graduation scholarship that is given to students who graduate in 8 semesters. *blushes* I took 13. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
