Silly me. After talking about how nice it would be to only have to take 3 classes I finally sat down yesterday to figure out if that was possible. At this point in my college career I have more than enough credits, and needed 1 more school-required-non-major course as well as any 2 other electives to fulfill the core requirements as well as the mandatory 36 courses to graduate.
I was registered for 4 classes. The core class, the grad class, a communications elective, and 1 psych undergrad course which is also an elective. The course in question was the psych course. It is at our other campus on Monday and Thursday mornings at 10 am. This means that essentially I lose Monday/Thursday AM between class time and traveling. In addition, the course requires a 1 hour (minimum) per week spent working one on one with a mentally ill child or adolescent. In addition to my course load I already have, I am also working a research study this semester and trying to maintain my 8 hours a week at the day care. I decided I had to drop this course. It would open up my Monday/Thursday mornings which is when I could do the day care. It would also be a substantial decrease in work.
Unfortunately, dropping this class meant I would fall to 11 credits. The school minimum is 12 to be considered full-time. The biggest thing students think of when you are no longer full time is - no housing. So for me- no big deal. That, however, is not the biggest thing. You also lose your scholarship and in many (mine included) cases you lose your health insurance. Not an option.
I was faced with the annoying decision of - what class can I take that will be easy to do well in with out needing a lot of attention, as well as not being in a time slot that would interfere with either of my jobs? I had 1 time slot available - Tuesday/Friday at 11:30. The only class that would work - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology.
Now I will be adding 3 hours of class time as well as homework, readings, papers, tests, and a final to my semester work load all because of one lousy credit that changes everything. After leaving my first class today I realized something - I could convince the professor I am working with on the study to submit my position to be a credited internship position. In doing so I would then be able to keep my 3 course schedule and not be overwhelmed/forced to waste time on a pointless course.
The problem: today is the last day to drop a class without penalty and it is 4 pm and everyone is going home in 1 hour. I had to skip my 4 pm class in order to set things in motion. I contacted the professor right before he left to teach his 4 pm class and asked what he thought. He approved the idea and sent the request in to the department chair. Unfortunately I was no copied on the email and until he got out of class I would not know. 6 PM came and there was no email. I realized he must not have heard back from the Chair and went home for the day.
I took it upon myself to email her. After a few emails back and forth, and to the Senior Class dean I was given the green light. As long as I get the official paper work in by tomorrow I will be in the clear. As of right now I am technically a part-time student as I had to drop that Anthropology class before the drop period ended and I would be forced to Withdraw from it in order to get out.
This year alone the Senior dean has helped me get into the Senior Values class that I wanted to be in, get me in to the graduate psychology course that I wanted to be in, and now give me credit for the internship study I will be working on. I might be a big pain in the ass for him, but I am incredibly grateful.
Off to bed. And happily to - with the way things transpired tonight I only have to worry about one class tomorrow instead of two. How nice.
Sorry for the long blog - fitting for the exhausting situation this was.
Picture today: my suit hung out for tomorrow - Senior Portraits.
