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January 16, 2003
A New Semester. Woo.
Thursday, January 16, 2003
I don't know what sort of deep-seated insecurities make me grumpy and irritable (and nervous) around the beginning of the semester. I just always have this Sword of Damocles feeling, and no matter how many semesters I start (and GOD it's been too many!) it still happens.
Doesn't help that I overslept for class on Tuesday.
So today, I went to class, and had an appointment with my academic adviser to dot all my I's and cross my T's so I can graduate this spring.
Let me reiterate.
SO I CAN FINALLY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY GRADUATE THIS SPRING.
Insert many happy expletives now.
So I sit down with Dr. Seath, who is basically the only professor on the faculty who does nothing but Aerospace Engineering courses. I've just walked out of his Aerospace Vehicle Design II class, and I've taken two other classes from me, so he knows me pretty well.
(By that I mean he could probably pick me out of a lineup and put a name on my face. : )
He and I start going through my degree plan, which strangely is something I've never done before. The degree plan is basically a roadmap of what classes you need to take in order to BE FINISHED. See, I've been operating on a sort of platonic ideal of which classes I've taken (many transfer classes from UT Austin), but I hadn't actually gotten that plan vetted by the University.
I realized this last night after having a nightmare about forgetting I hadn't taken a course, and that would prevent me from graduating on time. Let me tell you...that skeeved me out.
So anyhow, I've got this idea of what classes I need to take. I know I need to take Design II, Chemistry II, and a "technical elective". So my prof and I start going through my transcript, matching up the transfer classes to the required class, and making sure I had all my ducks in a row.
As it turns out, I didn't. First, this was a good thing. He said "Hmmm...you've got a couple extra semesters of physics over here, why don't we use those for your Chemistry II credit." Uh, OK. You've talked me into it. I was dreading learning stoichiometry again. "Oh yeah, and this fluid mechanics class you retook here at UTA, we'll take the UT Austin instance of that class and stick it here for your tech elective." Now, I'm thinkin' SWEET! Only three hours this semester! Life is good!
Then the other shoe drops. He says "Hey, what did you take for your materials science class? And how about this measurements class?"
Me: "Uhhh, I know I took mat sci...where is it?"
Couldn't find it. We looked on the computer, only to find that the class I'd thought had transferred, hadn't.
Three hours back on the schedule.
Him: "What about measurements lab?"
Me: "Well, that was sort of subsumed in three other classes..."
Him: "...."
Me: *cower*
Him: "Well, it's offered this semester."
Me: "But, I don't want to take that class."
Him: "Want to graduate?"
Me: *crying miserably* "Yes, yes, for the love of GOD, Javert, let me out of this prison!"
Him: "Well then."
OK, so that's the way it played out in my head. In real life, it wasn't nearly that funny.
So I didn't have at all the schedule I wanted. That's bad. But I do have all the classes I need to graduate. That's good. But I have to take two lower-division aero classes, which are designed to weed people out. That's bad. But I get to stop going to school in three months.
That's good.
Jane, stop this crazy thing!
Posted by Lee at 01:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack