Gruul SMASH!

So, today you get an old art piece as I try to get back into a sane enough frame of mind to even think about artwork again.  And I think this piece is appropriate to my mood toward CSUB right about now.

Now, I've been working toward getting a teaching credential in Social Science for a while.  I have an engineering degree that I don't feel terribly confident with.  For one, my GPA wasn't very high, especially with the last few classes I took.  A lot of B's and C's in there.  However, I knew when I was in college that I wanted to shift gears and focus on History.  I loved the classes that I took relating to it and I did really well in them.  So when I got out, I started taking classes at AVC.  Part of this was so that I could pass the CSET test, and also to boost my last 90 credit hour GPA.  Not bad, yeah?  

Meanwhile, I tried to get an advising appointment at CSUB, and was told that I'd have to apply in order to get one.   So, I did, although I was planning on attending CSUB,  I paid them 55 dollars to apply.  I spent a year at AVC boosting the GPA for 25 of those 90 hours.   I thought I was pretty good because I'd already been admitted.    Fast forward a while forward.  I passed all three CSETs (California State Examinations for Teachers) which makes me highly qualified to teach Social Science.  

So, two days after I passed the CSET, I started my application process to CSUB again, since my previous enrollment had expired.   I called to ensure that I had to turn in my transcripts again.  I sent an updated transcript from the local school, and I requested that the University of Oklahoma send me two copies of official transcripts, then also one to CSUB.  The application is for graduate work for a single subject credential. I  figured I would apply, get in and then I would get advised.  Like last time...

But...two weeks went by and I heard nothing.  I called CSUB only to find that they had not received my OU transcript.  Ooookay...  At first I thought it was OU that screwed up.  After all I had ordered three transcripts - one of which was to go to another place than the others.  Maybe they screwed up their paperwork...

So I freaked out and the next day I drove to the CSUB main campus, which is 2 hours away.  I could have gone to CSUB-AV, but that would be relying upon the mail system between the two schools.  So I walked in to admissions and records myself and handed the transcript in.  This was last Tuesday.

This Monday I called CSUB again, worried that I wouldn't get admitted before April 1st, when the quarter officially starts.  I also wanted to ensure they had the transcript.  . . . they said they didn't.  I almost lost it right there and said "Uh...no!  I handed it in in person.  You should have it."  So the girl on the phone stammered that it was probably still being processed and that it takes time to do these things.   She also told me to call back Thursday.  

So, this morning I called back to see if they had my transcript and if it was humanly possible to get into the school before the quarter starts.  I found out that they had not one, but two OU transcripts, and that I had to call back Renee, my evaluator about being admitted...after 1.

So a few hours I call Renee.  Answering machine.  I leave a message and in annoyance, I call the admissions office again.  I give them my CSUB ID and they tell me that my evaluator is Dena and transfer me to talk to her.  Dena tells me that Renee has my file and will call me about it by 3pm.  . . . 

3 o' clock rolled by.  I called back at 3:20 to get the answering machine again.  I waited 5 minutes and called again.  Renee:  "Oh hi!  Funny thing that you should call right now, I have your file right here."   I ask her if there's time to get in for the spring semester and she sort of makes that sound and goes "Welll...your GPA for the last ninety [quarter] units is considerably  low.  We cannot currently admit you to the program unless you get special permission from the Single Subject Evaluators.  Now I'm surprised by this.  I've boosted my last 90 Quarter hours (60 semester hours) by taking classes at AVC so that I could put behind me a REALLY BAD semester at OU where I bit off more than I could chew.   It surprised me but I thought, Well, I'm in a different program... maybe the reqs are higher I have to doublecheck... 

FYI:  CSUB's requirements for the program said this:  "GPA must be at least 2.67 overall or 2.75 for the last 90 qtr. units."  I've been taking semester units.  So that's 60 units and calculating my AVC GPA in there, I have a 2.9.  I'm starting to wonder if Renee really knew what she was talking about, or did she just not count my AVC grades?  Why wouldn't those count?  They're more recent coursework.  Perhaps they were nontransferrable, but I'm pretty sure most of those units were.  

Still, at that moment I was nearly crushed.  But she told me to call Amanda - this single subject evaluator.  She gave me the extension, I hung up, had a meltdown worrying what I can do with my GPA to actually pull it out of the gutter and then I called up Amanda.  No answer.  I left a message, rattling off information about letters needed to be admitted and all this garbage.  I tell her to call me back.  

Then I start wondering.  Did they even transfer me to the right person?  I pull up the CSUB-AV site and look at single subject credential requirement evaluators.  I read them off to my mom, who knows the program from the multisubject perspective and suddenly a name rang a bell.  Eric, she says.  There's no Amanda on the CSUB-AV site.  My mom told me  that Eric is the go-to guy.  Extremely helpful and no-nonsense.  Sounds like my kind of advisor.  I called the front desk and without any further ado ask for him up front.  They transfer me. 

Immediately Eric picks up.  As I try to explain my mess to him, he seems very confused to what I'm talking about.  "Well I don't have your application here, Briana. It's not in my system."   No nonsense off the bat.  

Me: "Really?  I filled one out?  Although I had to submit a form to switch it from main campus to AV campus..." (there was some early trouble with my app process...I should have known)

After a quick questioning he realized that I had no clue that there was a second application process to get into the credential program...and it has prereqs.  I explain my hiccup with the GPA.

"Have you attended the workshop?"

"uh...no?"

"Have you been advised?" 

"I was told in the past that I'd have to be admitted for that.  And I've been dealing with lost transcripts for the past month."

"oh no!"

me: "Haha..." *TWITCH*  "Yeah!  I brought it in last week and they told me on monday suddenly that they had two."

"Really?!"  He seems a bit shocked.  I'm not at this point by anything.  Once he realizes that I haven't been advised, he goes "so thaaat's your problem.  Okay come in first thing tomorrow and we'll get you with the right paperwork and prereqs for spring.  Then if you get good grades there we'll recalculate your GPA and get you into the credential program."

Hope flooded back, but the stress and anxiety is still here.  How are they calculating my GPA?  Was my time at AVC a total waste?  There are so many things I have to go over that I still want to scream.  Tomorrow I will be going in and working with either Eric or Ryan on all this crap that is going on.   I think I will go down to AVC to pick up another official transcript, barring anything ELSE should happen and bring my last spare OU official transcript with me when we go to talk - along with unofficial paperwork.

At least I can get the ball rolling.  I cannot believe the crap I've had to go through.  

Oh yeah, and remenber that letter bit?  Amanda called me back.  And was going "A letter?!  What letter?"  I didn't explain it was GPA related.  I just said I had worked it out with Eric at AV Campus.  She immediately goes "Oh!  Yeah, then Eric is your guy.  He's the one that you will be solely working with." 

I thought to myself, Good!  He's the only one who gives me straight answers!  ...I hope. 

I've been lied to, transfered to the wrong places, talked to people who don't know what they're talking about for two weeks.  The nuts are running the nuthouse there!  

Hopefully tomorrow will be good news and not bad.  I'll keep everyone posted.