The Inconvenience of Convenience Services

[42_42_42]

The University I am attending to get my RN, registers all new students in their first semester classes for them, including folks like me who've done this before (I have a BA from a different Uni) as a "convenience service". To facillitate this, they have at hand my prior transcript and a survery I had to fill out, including a list of the classes I needed. I need 5 classes: 2 in math and 3 in science, to meet the nursing program's prereqs. They registered me for 1 of the maths I need, 1 of the sciences I need and then FRESHMAN COMPOSITION and FRESHMAN WORLD CIV.

What.The.Fuck!

Let's look at my transcript...oh, looky, a major in ENGLISH and a minor in Anthropology! So, they've enrolled me in two courses I could friggin' TEACH!

Tomorrow's orientation and I am supposedly going to get to meet with my advisor. What a lovely mess to straighten out.

On top of all this, my HepB titer came back as negative for immunity, so I'm having to get the series redone, which is delaying my immunization form from the doctor, which means I have a hold on my registration account. Otherwise I could get in there and fix all this my own damn self. Urgh!

[lupo pazzesco]

I saw the title and read "the inconvenience of convenience STORES", and thus was EXTREMELY confused over the content.

I blame sleep deprivation... >.>

However, yes, frustrating, and very much so!! I hate when there are holds, it takes jumping through numerous hoops to get them removed in 5 seconds, so you can take another 10 seconds to fix 1 thing you should've been able to fix in 10 seconds WITHOUT wasting 12 hours. gaaaahh!!

*hugs and tea*

[Amina516]

Definitely straighten that business out. IDK how old your classes are, but if they deem them too old (anywhere from usually 5 to 10 years) then they may not accept them...just a though, hope im wrong.

What kind of program are you attending? ADN? BSN? Accel. BSN?

[Sapphire Silk]

They registered me for 1 of the maths I need, 1 of the sciences I need and then FRESHMAN COMPOSITION and FRESHMAN WORLD CIV. <snip>

On top of all this, my HepB titer came back as negative for immunity, so I'm having to get the series redone, which is delaying my immunization form from the doctor, which means I have a hold on my registration account. Otherwise I could get in there and fix all this my own damn self. Urgh!

I can understand your frustration. Sounds like someone was working on automatic pilot when they registered you for English courses and basic history.

You shouldn't need the Hep B until you are ready to start clinic. And you should be able to sign a declination form on the Hep B and enroll anyway (students can at my school, anyway). Ask if you can sign a declination form.

Although, if you're going into health care, you are at increased risk of getting Hep B and getting the series is considered advisable. Many people fail to sero convert: I'm one. After getting the series a 2nd time, I still failed to sero convert. I declined a third go round, and it has never caused me a problem with going to school or getting a job.

Definitely straighten that business out. IDK how old your classes are, but if they deem them too old (anywhere from usually 5 to 10 years) then they may not accept them...just a though, hope im wrong.

Basic English and history are usually good for an indefinite length of time. It's the sciences that usually need to be repeated because the fields change so much in short periods of time. If it is Chemistry or Bio, you're pretty much out of luck. But since she has a degree, she should not be forced to repeat English.

When I went for my BSN, it had been 10 years since I'd had a math class (Non-parametric statistics). I went to the Chair of the Math department and got a waiver. He had no problem granting it since I already had a BA in History.

[Greenday]

I'm sure your advisor should be able to sort out your schedule. Though now that I think about it, one of the problems might be that some of the classes are pre-reqs for others so that's why you weren't scheduled for all of them. Then they just filled your schedule.

If the Hep thing is really going to mess you up, I might say do the waiver thing, but get the Hep B shots anyway. This way you'll be immune, but it won't hold you up in the meantime when it doesn't matter anyway.

[jedimaster91]

They registered me for 1 of the maths I need, 1 of the sciences I need and then FRESHMAN COMPOSITION and FRESHMAN WORLD CIV.

What.The.Fuck!

Let's look at my transcript...oh, looky, a major in ENGLISH and a minor in Anthropology! So, they've enrolled me in two courses I could friggin' TEACH!

My freshman year of college, I got roped into college algebra. The last math classes I took in high school were AP Physics and AP Stats. I was told I absolutely could not test out of algebra because it was required for my major. I later found out that wasn't true and I could have tested out if I'd wanted to. Me not happy. I hated loathed that class.

On top of all this, my HepB titer came back as negative for immunity, so I'm having to get the series redone, which is delaying my immunization form from the doctor

Papa Jedi is a non-converter. Meaning his HepB always comes back negative for immunity. Hopefully you're not one of those. I don't remember what his employer did about it though.

[Kogarashi]

Ugh, that's frustrating. Good luck getting it straightened out.

I had something similar my senior year of high school, actually. Each year we got to fill out a list of which classes we wanted to take the following year, with our individual guidance counselors sitting in on the selection to make sure we got all our required credits squared away. Now, seniors in my school were required to have one full credit of English in order to complete the year (and graduate). A full-year class counted as one credit, while the one-semester classes (pretty much all the electives) were each worth half a credit, so you had to take two of those to get the full credit.

When I filled out my class request form at the end of junior year, I chose AP English (full-year, therefore one credit) to complete the requirement, and because I liked the AP English course series (took Lit & Comp junior year, and was signing up for Lang & Comp from the same teacher). Then, because I wanted to, I selected the electives Creative Writing (half credit) and Mythology (half credit), rather than end up with five or so study periods my senior year. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Cue the first day of senior year. I get my class schedule. AP English is right there in first period all year long. Creative Writing is slated for my second semester schedule, but I don't see Mythology anywhere. What I do see is Public Speaking (another of the half-credit English electives) slated for third period during the first semester. I hate Public Speaking, and have no clue why they stuck it on my schedule. I figured they must have gotten something mixed up with the course number or whatever. So my first available study period, I headed down to the office to try to get it straightened out.

My regular counselor was busy, so I ended up meeting with one of the other counselors. I ask her about the mix-up on my schedule, she skims over the sheet, then blithely informs me, "Oh, there was a time conflict with Mythology and we couldn't put you in there, so we put you in Public Speaking to make sure you get your English credit done for graduation."

I must have had a confused, dumbfounded expression on my face for a few moments, because she started to explain it again, as though I didn't understand I needed that full credit in order to graduate. I politely interrupted her and pointed to the first period line (literally the first thing on the sheet; how did she miss it?), and explained back to her that my graduation credit was covered by my AP course. It was her turn to look briefly confused, then a bit chagrined, before saying, "we'll get that fixed."

I had to go to three days of Public Speaking before they were able to switch me into a study period. I never did get to take Mythology that year, even though I later found out that one of my other study periods coincided with a second Mythology class I could've taken. Oh well.

[Eisa]

I got lucky about math. Stats is required for Psychology majors, but to get into stats, there is an algebra class you're supposed to take. When the honors adviser got around to me, I told her I was taking Calculus in high school [the one that got you college credit] and she was like "Um...yeah, I think that counts, just go ahead and sign up for stats." Which is good 'cause I would have done awful in the algebra class.

Kogarashi: I did something similar for my English classes in high school! In tenth grade I had taken journalism as well, so by twelfth, I really only needed one more English class. But I ended up taking AP Lit and then second semester, Sci Fi/Fantasy and Mythology as well. Everyone thought I was crazy when they found out I was taking 3 English classes in one semester but it was actually a lot of fun.




I really hope they get your schedule straightened out. Unless they're hinting they want YOU to teach those two classes...

[Amina516]

Basic English and history are usually good for an indefinite length of time. It's the sciences that usually need to be repeated because the fields change so much in short periods of time. If it is Chemistry or Bio, you're pretty much out of luck. But since she has a degree, she should not be forced to repeat English.

Interestingly enough, I had a classmate of mine who was close to 50 years old with a BA in business that they made take english over again because she couldnt produce her close to 30 yr old class syllabus. But then again, my school had issues.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Interestingly enough, I had a classmate of mine who was close to 50 years old with a BA in business that they made take english over again because she couldnt produce her close to 30 yr old class syllabus. But then again, my school had issues.

My brother had to go an extra year because he had to take pre-reqs... for classes that he transferred with no problem from his first college...

[Seraph]

Let's look at my transcript...oh, looky, a major in ENGLISH and a minor in Anthropology! So, they've enrolled me in two courses I could friggin' TEACH!

That happened with one of my math classes I took in college. Knew it all backwards and forwards, but the teacher....not so much. he kept having me go up to the board and work out problems. I realized what he was doing eventually, and just ended up using the class as reading/drawing/sleeping time. Drove him nuts, but no matter what pop quizzes/tests he threw at me, I always aced them.

Hopefully though, they get your mess straightened out, and they give you credit for them...or SOMETHING. I mean...wow.

[42_42_42]

Ok. So things are sort of straightened out. At the very least, I have a workable schedule of 4 courses (13 hours, which as I am going back for the first time since graduating in 2000, and one of the classes is chemistry, which I last had as a sopomore in HS, so 18 years ago...) that are ones I actually need.

I still need to meet with the registrar because even my advisor couldn't figure out why my transfer evaluation was so messed up. There are conflicts all over it. This is what caused me to be put into 2 classes that I shouldn't have to take.

I think the problem is that my BA is from Duke Univ and the Univ I am now attending is part of a state univ system and the people there are used to having people transfer within the system but not come in with a degree from a private university. I'm not sure how it is at other private universities, but Duke doesn't require all students to take the same basic set of classes, just to take X number of classes from a list of certain subject areas, whereas the state colleges tend to have a set list of classes that everyone has to take. PLUS, the names of the classes I took don't match up exactly to what they're expecting to see so it's confused the hell out of them. If they'd just taken the time to call up the registrar at Duke, it would have solved a lot of it.

For example, with the "Comp 101" situation, Duke has such a class, but it's not called that. It's (at least when I was there) called "Undergraduate Writing Course", which is abbreviated as "UWC" on my transcript. My transfer evaluation has it down as a non-transferrable credit because they couldn't figure out what it was.

Also, since my AP scores from HS are on my Duke transcript, but they weren't counted b/c they weren't from the agency that runs the AP. So I have to have those scores sent over. Strangely enough, my AP English score will take care of the Comp 101 situation, whereas my advisor strongly felt that they wouldn't accept the UWC, even though I had taken Advanced Comp the next year. Whatever.

The really irritating thing is that the college requires it's students to take a GA history class. WTF. State history is what you learn as an elementary/middle school student. It has no place in college as a requirement! Fortunatley, I can test out of it. So that's what I'm going to do. I still may have to take a world history class, though, despite having a minor in Cultural Anthropology and having taken 3 upper level history courses, because I never took a survey course (this is because Duke doesn't really offer survey courses, they assume you know the basics from HS, all the courses at Duke are more specific than that, so, being the Anglophile that I am, I took all British history classes). At least my US History AP score will get me out of that survey course. If I have to take the world history class, I can (thankfully!) take it online and I know it'll be an easy A. Just don't like have to pay for a class that I shouldn't need, IMHO.

Going into this, all I thought I was going to need to take were 2 math classes and 3 sciences to get "caught up" for the nursing program. I guess because I'm going to a public Uni and not a private school and because I'll be getting a BSN at the end of this, is why...but in the long run it'll be worth it as this program is in the top 3 in the state, has a 93% RN license test pass rate on the 1st try, and being so close to Atlanta, we'll be doing most of our clinicals in the hospitals up there. For example, the peds clinicals are done at Children's Hospital (part of Emory Univ Hospital).