01.24.05
Dumb School
I find it interesting that, after sitting untouched since August of 2004, I received my approved Program of Study today.
I went to campus last Friday to pick up my books for this semester and to apply for graduation in May (Whoo Hoo!). I went to the Graduate College who told me to go to the Cashier and pay my fee. The Cashier’s Office told me that after paying my fee, I needed to fill out a graduation survey and then head over to the Graduation Office to finalize my graduation “stuff”. So I took the survey and headed over to the Graduation Office.
I arrived at the Graduation Office to find out that the director of my program had signed it at the end of August (which I already knew) and that it had been returned to the Graduate College for their approval??!! “So,” I asked the woman, “what do I do now. She told me to wait for them to approve my program of study and come back then and finish the application process. Yeah, riiiiight! I’m going to wait for the office that lost my program application, twice, to approve my program of study. HA!
So I headed back over to the Graduate College and asked to speak with someone about my Program of Study (POS). I don’t take my classes on the main campus, and I don’t spend time on the main campus if I don’t have to, so it was completely inconvenient for me to come back later. I had to wait a little while to speak to Roxanne, who very nicely told me that they were “a little backed up” (since August is “a little backed up??) and that I would have to wait for them to approve my POS before I could go back to the Graduation Office. I was really pissed!
In spite of my pissy-ness, I took a deep breath and very politely explained Roxanne that I work full time and I don’t work anywhere near main campus, and that I can’t really take off more time from work to do all of this. “Hold on a minute,” said Roxanne. Roxanne disappeared for about 30 seconds (okay, maybe a minute) and came back with some papers in her hand.
“Here you go,” she said. “This is your Program of Study. You can take it over to the Graduation Office without our approval on it and they will process your application.” (Huh!?) She handed it to me and said that I could leave it with the woman at the Graduation Office and that they would mail it back to the Graduate Office. HA! I told Roxanne that I would bring it back myself, just in case.
So, I went back to the Graduation Office, went throught the “exit interview”, got my name changed back to my legal name, which somehow had gotten screwed up(??), got my diploma case and was done. The lady handed my POS back and said, “now don’t stop anywhere in between here and the Graduate College.” You have got to be kidding me!? She is worried about me getting the POS back to the Graduate College? I THINK NOT!
I very carefully walked the POS the 20 or so yards back to the Graduate College, and left it with the receptionist whose last name is the same as mine (so you can bet that I would remember her if the POS got lost!) and hoped for the best. And here we are today with a copy of the signed POS. Dumb school!
