By Julia Oller | Echo
My four-year plan was flawless. Better than flawless, actually, because I only needed three years to graduate. Nothing could throw my train off the college fast track..
At least, that's what I thought.
For the last month, I have watched my perfect plan deflate like a balloon until I'm ready to explode.I've run from one university office to another, only to be redirected without receiving any answers. Nearly every door has been sealed with red tape. Over the past several weeks, I've had to spend more time meeting with professors about my class schedule than doing my homework.
The first balloon to pop: Expository Writing.
As a journalism major, I will be the first to admit the value of the written (or typed) word. But also, as a journalism major, I am required to write. A lot. Since the main purpose of the Expository Writing class is to prepare students for college-level writing, I feel that the training I received from other classes as well as working for The Echo is sufficient to allow me to CLEP. So I didn't think it would be an issue to take the test over Christmas break to earn Expos credit.
I took the necessary steps only to discover that the test-taking deadline for incoming freshmen was Oct. 15. This is the only CLEP exam to have a set deadline.
The deadline is not stated in an obvious location, and no freshman is well enough acquainted with Taylor by Oct. 15 to know the rules of the game. At the very least, Taylor should clarify the deadline's purpose. Cut-off dates should be consistent across all CLEP exams and not be subject to change at the whim of a department.
Balloon number two: Spanish.
To schedule my credits in order to graduate early, I planned on taking an online Spanish course through a community college near my hometown. I found a class that seemed to fit all of Taylor's requirements and passed the placement test to register for the community college.
One week later, the Registrar emailed me that my request had been denied because Taylor doesn't accept online Spanish classes. According to Spanish department chair Elizabeth Messer, this is because there is no speaking interaction between students in an Internet-only setting.
If this is the case, why does Taylor allow online public speaking courses? And just how much "interaction" do students experience in a classroom setting in which the professor lectures for 50 minutes?
And since I now have no other option than to take Spanish at Taylor, it is frustrating that the only classes that fit in my schedule were already full when I registered. This means that I can't take the Spanish course I need until next spring.If Taylor offered all four general education Spanish courses every semester, there would be less difficulty getting into required classes at a convenient time.
The bureaucracy I've run up against over the past few weeks has been maddening, but the worst part is that it hasn't ended.
One class I registered for added a prerequisite without announcing the change. Another listed the wrong time on the course catalog.
Too many questions, no coherent answers.
I understand that registration is a stressful time for most students, and that the most carefully thought-out plans often change. But when the changes are on the university's side, they add an unnecessary weight to the burden.
Work with me, and I'll work with you.
Just don't burst my bubble.
(Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user Andrew Magill)
