So barring anything catastrophic, I'm back to blogging. I'll give you a minute to cheer so loudly and obnoxiously your neighbors call the police.
Out on bail already? Wow, that was fast.
Okay, so this is my schooling blog so I guess I should write about school here.
Well, I have changed majors. I am no longer pursuing a degree in Business - IT Management. I am now pursuing a degree in IT - Software Emphasis. This is where I really wanted to be two years ago when I started college. Sadly I didn't qualify for the IT College at the time. So, I started in the Business College, took a lot of my general education classes, and got two certifications. Now, I qualify for the IT College.
So, in my third term of school, Grandma died. And I had a ton of things happening, that's why I took a break from all my blogging. It just, well, I didn't have anything nice to say, so I decided it was better to not say anything.
So, third term, I got the two certifications for the classes in which I was enrolled. What I didn't do was get my research paper done. Honestly, given all that was happening, I'm lucky I got the certs done. I was so burned-out.
Fourth term, I quite frankly, worked my butt off. I did my portfolio class, which is useless given the change in my major. An accounting, finance and very basic IT class, which is basically useless given the other IT classes I'd taken. A statistics class, which I'm really glad I took. It was much easier than I thought it would be and really gave me a boost of self-esteem. And finally I took a class that was basically a public speaking class. Simple and easy to get through. I did not, however, go back to the research paper.
So in mid-July, I called Student Services. I asked them about transferring to the IT College. The guy I spoke with asked if I'd talked to my student mentor. I told him I hadn't. He gently suggested I contact her and if things didn't go well, I could call him back. He gave me his direct line and email. I hadn't wanted to talk to my mentor. We'd disagreed at the end of term 3 when I told her I wasn't going to get the paper done. Too much had happened and I was about to go out of town for another family funeral. I was exhausted and it was mid-January. Fortunately, it was now July and I'd completed my work for term 4.
When I called my mentor and explained what I wanted, she was immediately excited. (Not sure if it was cause I'd found what I wanted to do or if it was cause I was going to be someone else's problem, but either way, she put in the transfer request.) So we talked about which program I wanted and what the process to transfer was, so I'd know what to expect.
Within a few days, I'd spoken with the program manager for the IT College, I'd been accepted into the IT college and had been assigned a new mentor. I was so jazzed! And then on the 29th of the month, I got an email from my mentor at the Business College. The program she'd put me in for wasn't accepting students until this fall, it's a new program and would I like to choose a different one or forget about the transfer? So I looked at what she'd put down and realized she'd used the wrong code. I emailed her and and my new mentor and asked for help. My new mentor is a God-send. She immediately took over and started working to get the correction made. She told my old mentor what the code was, how to fix the issue and we were back on track. I was set to start classes around August 1st.
And then, when the transfer still hadn't gone through by the 6th, my mentor and I called records to find out what the hold up was. They were stopping all transfers while a new computer program was implemented. Things should be moving again around the 15th. Okay, I am so pissed off at this point, I'm thinking of transferring schools. I stick it out and start working on my research paper. At least I know what to do for it.
The 18th comes and goes, still no transfer. I'm getting really ticked. I submit my first task for the research paper. It comes back needing a small revision. No big deal. I finally give up and call records again. A very nice woman took my call. I was frustrated, I was angry. I got the same basic run around I'd gotten the previous week. I finally asked if they were holding us until the 1st of September, cause that had been Music Man's thought. She said she didn't think so, but she'd go ask. She came back and assured me that wasn't the plan. I said if it was that was fine, I just needed to know. She assured me again that wasn't the plan. Finally, in frustration, I cried and asked what I was supposed to do? I had certs that I needed to take in this term and I was already looking at being nearly 4 weeks behind.
The phone got quiet and she said, "I understand your frustration and you have every right to be upset."
I asked again, "What should I do? Will we have extra time at the end of the term, what's the plan?"
She said, "Let me put you on hold while I go ask the team."
I managed to gather myself mostly together while I waited for her to return. When she did, she told me, "Okay, we're going to go ahead and push through the transfer. You'll be in the old program and it will need to get updated. But at least you'll be moved and can get started on your classes."
I cried again but this time it was in relief. Finally, I was going to be where I wanted. Within 20 minutes, my transfer was official and I was in the IT College. Within another 5 minutes, my new mentor had emailed me and told me I was showing up as her student and to message her as soon as the transfer showed up on my end and we'd get my classes selected.
The first class I put in was that research paper. I also added the classes for my A+ certification and the class where I build a website. I might actually move this stuff for that website. We'll see.
So, I had resubmitted my first task for the research paper. I looked at it and saw it was 52 in the queue. Then I remembered, I had signed something saying I couldn't go back and finish classes that I hadn't completed if they changed course code. I looked at my new program and the research paper changed course code. So I canceled the submission and submitted my task in the new course. I felt pretty good about it. It came back quickly as passed. I was thrilled to have also learned that the class had changed from 5 tasks with four of them being basically busy work, to 2 tasks. The one I'd submitted and the final paper.
When one of the course mentors for the old course emailed me to make sure I understood the simple fix I needed to make, they also said, they'd noticed I was doing a program change. They then forwarded the email to the program manager and my new mentor to get advice on whether I would need to do the work in the old or the new program.
I immediately, emailed the program manager and advised her of what I'd done. I also said I didn't mind doing the work in the old program I just needed to know which one I was supposed to do. Since it was Friday afternoon, I knew it would be at least Monday before I heard anything. I began working on my other classes.
Tuesday I got an email back. I had done exactly what I was supposed to do. I had submitted where I should and I had done a good job. Yay me! So now all I had to do was to write the dreaded paper. I worked on it a bit on Tuesday night. Wednesday I wasn't home until late in the evening, I worked on it then. Thursday turned out to be another God-send. I normally IM with my best friend at least once a week. It happened to be that Thursday we had our chat. While we chatted, I worked on my paper. I got it finished Thursday night. (Thank you so much for being patient with me on Thursday, DolphinLady! You are the reason I got that paper done!) I submitted the paper before bed.
I went grocery shopping on Friday and while I was in Costco, I got the notification, my paper had passed. I was officially finished with that stupid research paper class! So, so happy to be done with it!
So today, I'm working on my website class and my A+ cert classes. And I get to chat with my mentor. She's such a sweet woman. She really keeps me cheered up and going strong. Her method of encouragement is gentle pushing. She knows I'll get it done. I even told her about my nightmare third term and she agreed, I needed a break.
So all in all, it's been a long few months, but I'm excited about the changes happening and looking forward to the future.
Sorry this was so long, but I had to get it out! Now, go learn something!
