Be Diligent

For high school graduates, going to college is mostly about learning how to manage life on your own without mom or dad or your really smart best friend, etc. doing all the work for you. "If you don't take care of yourself, no one else will do it for you." It was a lesson I learned a long time ago.

Applying those same principles to my college reentry, I have been very diligent about getting periodic degree checks through the Registrar's Office and double-checking with my advisor to make sure all of the requirements for graduation are on par. I'm sure I have tipped a "9" on the annoying meter, but I'd really hate for my graduation plans to go down the drain because administrators who have their plates full didn't notice that I lacked a few hours or one of my credits didn't transfer properly.

Sometimes, being annoying, I mean, persistent pays off.

Two weeks before the fall semester began, I noticed that my total credits were three hours short. I contacted the Registrar for one last degree check (where they look over your transcripts vs. degree requirements and let you know what you have left to complete). They assured me that it was being looked into and I never heard back from them. So, I asked my advisor who was sure we had worked it all out at the end of the spring semester and who was pretty certain that it should be okay.

Guess who's taking three extra hours this semester? Me, that's who.

My advisor said he hated for me to have to pay for another three hours, but I told him I would hate to not get to graduate because I didn't pay for three lousy hours!

Luckily, I am taking three one-hour classes so they are not extremely labor intensive. They are also self-guided which means I can turn in the work whenever I complete it all, but I have until December. I'm thinking about devoting an entire weekend to it just to get rid of it.

So, I'm not super-psyched to be enrolled in 18 hours this semester, but it could be worse. One guy in my class is taking 21 hours...and he' married with two kids under two years old. Yikes!!

Be diligent when it comes to your education, people!