Things went rather swimmingly with my Biology class. I had the course material finished in two days, and I understood it rather well, as my brain doesn't wrap around that stuff considerably well. My Doctrine and Covenants class was more of a challenge, since each lesson takes at least three hours to properly complete. From forcing myself to stay on my goal so I could go to Disneyland (Telling myself I couldn't go if I didn't finish the class seemed to work for my brain, even though I knew that I would go even if I didn't finish it. Silly brain.) I managed to straggle to the finish line on wednesday evening.
I got up early the next morning, got ready, and headed down to the Y. The traffic was fine until I got to about Woods Cross, where there was some sort of metal spill on the freeway, which caused all but one lane on the north bound freeway to be functional. This caused considerable problems, as everyone had to merge into the very left lane. The process wasn't helped by the considerable amount of drivers who don't know how to merge in the state of Utah. In all the places I've been in the west, no state is worse on it's merging skills than Utah. After the train of traffic got through that tight spot, everything flowed rather nicely, even through construction. Of course, this could be because I was listening to the ten at ten on 103.5 and the year was 1972 (which was a very good year), and I wasn't bothered by the extra time it took to get to my destination because it enabled me to listen to all ten songs before I got to BYU.
When I finally reached my destination, which was not without considerable danger, as the cars that fight for a parking spot in visitor parking could be the equivalent of a crowd of fangirls each trying to touch and get a piece of Orlando Bloom's clothing, I headed over to the ASB building to have my name changed. Once done, I asked about changing my registration. They told me, that despite the fact their sign also said Registration on it, that they could not change my status for me and I would have to walk all the way across campus to get my eligibility corrected so I could take classes for Fall semester. This should have been foreboding to me, but, happy with forty dollars in my pocket from selling back my Biology textbook (Which was more than I paid for it, so I actually made a profit, so you can see why I would be perky.), I headed off with a Jamba Juice Strawberry Whirl All Fruit Smoothie in hand towards my destination.
Within the tall glass created building that has a name too long worth remembering, I came to the Independent Study office, where I was told that I would have to contact Admissions to see about my status change. I thought, "That's no big deal. They'll switch it for me and all will be dandy." Well, that wasn't what happened. After navigating through the ridiculous recording that precedes every BYU phone line connection, I got to talk to a very unforgiving woman about my registration status. When she looked up my account, she said, "You are no longer a student at BYU. You would have been, but you did not take your classes through the AIMS program and did not participate in semesters for the last year, so you are no longer a student and cannot come to BYU."
Rather in disbelief of what I just heard, I said, "I took classes through BYU Independent Study and they show up during the Winter 2009/2010 semester. They show up on my transcripts. Why can't you just change my registration status?"
"Because ma'am, you took courses through Independent Study, but not through BYU."
"The courses I took were BYU Independent Study Courses."
"You didn't take them through the right channels."
"But I received credit for them that is showing up on my BYU transcripts!" I exclaimed, choked up with tears pouring down my face. My father had got housing for me for the fall, and now what was I going to tell him?
"You will have to reapply to come here to BYU."
"Thanks for the help." I replied, rather sarcastic and upset, and hung up the phone. By this time I had walked over to the Morris Center where I was supposed to be taking my tests, but was too upset to even walk in the building, so I was slumped over miserably on the front steps of the building, crying my eyes out in horror of what I had just found out. Only one thing came to mind. Call your dad. He'll sort this out. He always helps you when people are jerks about things like this. So I called him, gave him the phone number to call, calmed myself down, and went in to take my three tests (My biology final consisted of two separate tests. Strange, I know, but that's how they do it there. A peculiar people indeed.)
Significantly calmed by the time I had taken my first test, I got a B- for my final grade in my Doctrine and Covenants course, which I am quite proud of, because it was really a tough class. I don't know how my final went for Biology, but I got a B- on my multiple choice exam. My essays are yet to be graded, but I am confident that I will have an A, mainly because I have got an A on every single other essay exam for that class.
Walking out of that building thoroughly satisfied, I turned my phone back on to discover that my Dad had pretty well worked things out. It's amazing how when the person forking the money out to the University calls about things the tone changes a full 180 degrees. I just needed to go back to the ASB and see how to apply for re-acceptance, which was supposedly a quick and easy process. I was to talk to the girl he had talked to: Macy. Unfortunately, it had been an hour and a half since he had spoken with her, and she had left for the day when I got there, so I had to talk to a girl named Hannah. She was nice enough and showed me where I needed to go to reapply, which was really quick and painless, because it only required saying what semester I was reapplying for and a new ecclesiastical endorsement.
However, she told me that the deadline for applying for former students for fall semester was March first, and I was well past that deadline. Hell, I didn't even know that I was going to be in Utah on that date, let alone divorced and headed back on campus! My circumstances didn't matter to anyone. I was just another stupid girl with a sop story that no one wanted to hear. She told me that if I didn't get accepted for fall semester I may be able to take evening classes if I spoke with an advisement counsellor. Oh joy, just what I want. The one evening class I ever took I never went to consistently because it was three hours long. I got an A- in the class, but that was because I already knew what she was teaching. Also, this would mean I couldn't register for any honors courses, which was the plan as soon as I found out I was going back to BYU. I can't take any more generals that aren't honors courses, or I won't graduate with honors. So, this severely limits my abilities to excel here. My hands are pretty well tied.
In essence, I won't have an account at the BYU Library either, which is a terrible thing, since then I cannot access any computer there to work on independent study classes, which would be the one solace to my terrible state if I do not get accepted for fall semester. Which, in a part of the conversation I did not add into the little mock one I had earlier in the post, she told me that "we are absolutely full for fall semester and there is no way you can get in." Driving home, I was dejected and upset with the overall accomplishment of my goals.
The entire point of this post is to ask myself, "Am I a complete Space Cadet?" Everything I do seems to go awry. When I get scholarships, BYU loses them or doesn't correctly follow up on them, causing me trouble. When I submitted my original application for BYU, I had to go up to the campus for a tour only to find out the reason that I hadn't received an acceptance letter was because my principal had failed to fax an official transcript of my records from my high school, so they thought I was home-schooled and were iffy about taking me. Then, when I got in and started classes, I was persecuted by my supposed own for supporting a democrat for president (which I still do not regret) and for being raised slightly different than other LDS people. My religion professor publicly humiliated me weekly in class, to the point where I didn't really want to come anymore, I nearly failed calculus because of the stupid final which didn't cover anything we learned in class, and no one would help me get started with the honors program. I was alone there and had to do everything through the School of Hard Knox. No one else I met had these types of problems with BYU. Am I doing something completely wrong with my life, like not paying attention to what I am supposed to be doing to stay on top of things on campus? Really, my end belief is that when you go to a University this big, no one cares what happens to you as long as they get your money.
You are not a space cadet. BYU is just stupid. Go somewhere else; you will have a much better experience.
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