May I Rant for a Moment?

Earlier, I blogged about my latest job drama. In order not to close my options by running out of time, I decided to get cracking on the possibility of taking a few basic science classes in the Fall semester. At many colleges around here, classes begin next week, so there's a bit of a rush if I don't want to wait until January. And I figured I can always drop the course if I decide to pursue another route.

Amazingly, SJC, the local lower-level college (in my day it was called junior college) has on-line application. So I filled it out late last night. Once again, I have to request transcripts from my former places of education: LaSalle in Philadelphia where I earned my BA in 1983 (yikes!); College of the Mainland, where I took some programming classes in the late 80's; and University of Houston-Clear Lake, where I am still eligible to register for graduate courses this semester (just not science ones, because I don't have the prerequisite lower-level courses). Whew - that's convoluted.

I spoke with an admissions rep at SJC today to see if it is even possible that I could make late registration for Fall semester (they start class in 2 weeks). She said the application process would be done in 48 hours, they would just need the transcripts. But, Texas law says that you must take some type of skills test before you are admitted (in addition to the SAT/ACT). Have I taken any of those Texas tests?

Umm, no, I'm claiming an exemption because I have a friggin' BA already. Well, she knows that's OK if your BA is from a Texas school, but she remembered hearing that out-of-state bachelors degrees might not count. Might not count?????

OK, you're telling me that I have a bachelor's degree, GPA of 3.86 out of 4.0, from an accredited United States university, but that might not qualify me to attend a little podunk junior college in Texas? I have attended another little podunk college in Texas and aced every course. I have taken the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and aced the verbal and did well above average on the math, and I have received straight A's in graduate studies (well, I got one A minus) - and you are going to make me take a stupid study skills test???

I hope hope hope she had incorrect information. She said she would check on it.

In the meantime, I called my alma mater in Phila. and greased the skids with homegirl Barb in the registrar's office so that they would send out my transcript as soon and the check arrived. They are so behind the times - the only way you can request your records is in person (yeah, right) or via mail. And make sure you send your $5.00 check - no credit cards. Fortunately, Barb was sympathetic to my situation. I think it helped that I consciously reverted back to my yucky Philadelphia accent while speaking with her. She's going to have the paperwork ready to go for when my mailed request arrives.

In some sick way, I'm getting excited about the thought of taking classes again. I'm not worried about the first courses in chemistry or biology. At my college-prep high school, I had 2 years of biology, along with chemistry and physics. I didn't struggle with them at all, and I'll bet SJC's classes are at about the same difficulty level.

I'm still going to buy Chemistry for Dummies anyway....