back to school

Or, “where in the world is my summer going?!”

Seriously!  I just spent ALL DAY yesterday on campus for orientation… I’m not ready for school to start again!  Excited, but not ready.  (And what about the gazillion things I still need to do before it starts in the fall… Like MOVING?)

On the up side, the orientation I thought was totally unnecessary (well, it kinda was–for me, at least–since I’m completely scheduled for fall and totally on top of things.  what else is new?) actually had some benefits:  got my ID and bus pass, met some of the military and veterans’ affairs reps (who may come in handy in the future) and got more familiar with the campus.

The biggest thing I got accomplished yesterday: taking care of some of my “Intellectual Foundations” transfer classes.  Basically, despite taking a whole gamut of gen ed’s at Penn State, Buff State’s IF requirements are a little different, so they are wanting me to take additional classes to fulfill them.  Like, for example, WRITING.  They wanted me to take THREE ADDITIONAL WRITING CLASSES.  Like, BASIC WRITING.  I almost lost it when I saw that.

So, I’ve called around and filled out some papers and think I’ll be able to get most of the classes taken care of, either using classes I took at Penn State (some don’t transfer in as exact matches to classes at BSC, so Admissions doesn’t code them correctly…) or by filing a petition to get a requirement waived, which I was actually advised to do by two different professors.

In a nutshell, I walked ALL OVER CAMPUS (in my new Clarks, no less, which performed beautifully) to myriad different departments (praise God everyone was actually IN their offices!) getting people to sign my forms.  I got about half of the classes checked off yesterday, or at least left the papers with the appropriate office, and have a plan of action for the others.  My goal is to not have to take any non-major requirement classes, but if I absolutely have to take one or two, oh well.  I mean, they want me to take LIB 100–it teaches you how to do research and use the library!  Come on, folks!

Wish me luck with the classes–everyone I’ve talked to has intimated that it will be next to impossible to get everything checked-off, although I feel like I had a good response from everyone yesterday.  I do think it’s sad that BSC seems to have a difficult reputation for something like that.  I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to get some community college credits to transfer into Harvard or something!

At least the campus was small (to me, at least)…  The ladies at Admissions were amazed I made it to so many departments in so little time!  Guess I got a lot of practice trekking all over Penn State…

And speaking of Penn State–I’ll be there for dinner tonight! CAN. NOT. WAIT.