Now I’m Pissed With Advising

So, the TAC (Transfer and Advising Center) refuses to give me my registration PIN because I need to see my advisor in my department. I finally got communication with my advisor today, but my advisor told me that she had not been given my PIN, that it was assigned to TAC. Lucky for my, I have the nicest advisor in department and she dealt with TAC for me, including filing a complaint about my TAC advisor trying to toss me off to the department too quickly. I guess you could say that I have now been advised and have my PIN. I am registered for two of the three classes I wanted, and I’m waiting for a permit for the third. 

I have such strong feelings about the way I was treated by my TAC advisor… it probably isn’t healthy.

Annoyed with Advising

I am at the moment frustrated and annoyed with the advising process. I sent an email 2 weeks ago to the department chair of Psychology, and have yet to receive a response. I declared my major, and it took about a week and a half to get that approved, but once that happened, I was assigned an official advisor. I emailed my advisor as soon as I knew who it was (literally, 5 minutes after getting notice). That was last Wednesday. Apparently my advisor is only in her office on Mondays and Wednesdays from noon until 4pm. I was emailed with notification at about 4:30pm stating my advisor’s name and email address. I kept hoping my advisor would check her email at home or something and maybe get in to give me a PIN to allow me to register. I’ve been watching the registration pages as courses I want to take keep getting more students in them. So far none of them are full, but by noon when my advisor gets into her office, who knows what will/wont be left.

Hot and Yeasty

Lately I’ve been having fun with a new ingredient in the kitchen…yeast. I have never really tried making breads before recently, I’ve always been told that making bread is hard, and that it is difficult to get them right. I have since discovered that while my mother does not seem to posses the bread making talent, I do. I have recently been  making a wide variety of breads (sticky buns, apple cinnamon bread, braided bread, yeast rolls). I am almost as fascinated with making yeasty breads as I am with working with clay.

Lately something has been puzzling me a bit though… the difference between “dry active yeast” and “quick rise yeast”. It is almost an endless wait for normal yeast (active dry) to do its work, but there is almost no wait with the quick rise. A recipe I made last night requires about 2 hours to rise (first proofing, then shaped rise) but when substituting in quick rise, it took 10 minutes for the first proof, and then only about 20 minutes for the shaped rise (only had 20 minutes to let it rise is how I found out), but the recipe ended up being almost the same as with the 2 hour wait. The texture was a little different, but the bread was perfectly leavened. Yeast, its amazing stuff 🙂

My Day: October 31, 2008

What I did today was nothing out of the ordinary, I spent some time looking over academic stuff, trying to prepare for the following semester, only to realize that to this point I have done everything I can. I can’t go any further unless my advisor replies to me or returns my call and gives me a registration PIN.

Upon realizing the fruitlessness of my attempts and my staring at my record in Banner, I opened up GITI’s code and started playing with some things. I didn’t do anything revolutionary, but I did add a few cool features, such as the ability to treat classes that only prospective differently from classes that are registered. Months ago I created a distinction in the storage of the courses, "planned" or "anticipated" courses are 0.1 and courses that are registered are 0.2. Nothing too complicated. Today I added the ability to store and retrieve the registration code information for the classes (the number that lets you register quickly and not have to dive in the schedule to register), and optionally move the classes to "registered" (0.2) while viewing the information. Additionally, I did something I should have done YEARS ago, I can now add all of the classes for a semester from a single institution in one form (only saves me about 2 or 3 forms, but my furry buddy with only one school will only have to enter data one time). In general I am working towards making GITI’s Education management functions a little more user friendly since I am no longer the only user. I will eventually get around to being able to add multiple assignments at the same time, but I’m not quite ready to perform that type of magic just yet. On the class side, I’m also considering create a page that is basically a "syllabus input form", where a student may go once starting the class to convert the mess on the syllabus to a useful set of data (grade weights, assignments, special considerations, perhaps even special grading policies if I get bored). If I truly get bored I can create a mechanism for planning in-person courses… perhaps a little Java or something and I can drag and drop courses on to a calendar to see how they fit.

I haven’t done a lot else in terms of actual stuff, but I have contemplated more fixes in GITI as well as my desire to start bonsai. I might have to write a "horticultural logging" module for GITI to fill in the time while I’m waiting for the bonsai to grow.

Again I Wait Patiently

Yesterday I emailed my advisor, thinking that she would certainly get back to me sometime today. The day passed, and no email from my advisor. I wouldn’t be this concerned with getting in touch with my advisor, except I need for her to retrieve my record and send me an email and tell me the secret 6 digit code to unlocking my registration for Spring. I have now called her and left her a voicemail, but I am afraid she will not call me back or reply to my email in time, and I will be stuck in this process of waiting forever. There is some good news though, even if I don’t get my PIN until next Tuesday, only seniors can register before November 10th. As long as there are 15 seniors wanting into all of the classes I want, then I’m ok Open-mouthed

Still no chair, but I have an advisor

I still have not heard back from a department chair (or the online programs coordinator), but today I was finally admitted to the department of psychology and assigned an official advisor.

Just in time it would seem, because I am starting to wonder if the transfer advisor that has been assisting me up to this point is dumber than a box of rocks. I asked a simple question about whether or not the articulation agreement (the NCCCS-to-UNC CAA) would cover a “speech education” requirement in the general education requirements, more specifically I asked if it was a “lower-division requirement”, to which, she replied “I assume that will be addressed, then, once you have completed the degree.” What does me not yet having my A.A. transferred have to do with that requirement being in the lower division or not?

Anyway, I have emailed my new advisor and I am eagerly awaiting a reply from her, but unfortunately I still have to deal with the transfer ditz for a little while longer until my gen-ed stuff is taken care of.

Potential Spring 2009 Courses

  • 012636 – ART 114 – Art History 1
  • 013259 – PHI 210 – History of Philosophy
  • 012680 – BIO 155 – Nutrition

 

  • 31387 – BIO 168 – Anatomy and Physiology
  • 31822 – DBA 120 – Database Programming
  • 32305 – FRE 111 – Elementary French
  • 33237 – SGD 113 – SGD Programming

 

  • 2389 – PSYC 310 – Theories of Personality
  • 2550 – PSYC 421 – Cognitive Psychology
  • 2411 – PSYC 342 – Clinical and Counseling Psychology

University Job Descriptions

Department/Title Primary Job Function
Admissions To make applicants feel small, because they are small, and to make them sweat bullets for months at a time. All of this is done in a complete shroud of secrecy and myth. You have no accountability to anyone, so make it up as you go along.
Counseling/Central Advising Provide students a misguided view of the universe, and tell them all of the things they want to hear. Tell them how simple something is, and make 120 hours seem like a walk in the park, but don’t forget to tell them about those 6 examinations they need to take any course in English, Math or Zoology.
Registrar Tell students what courses they can’t take during registration for whatever reason, then when they want to graduate, tell them what they should have taken, but never divulge this information early.  For all other requests, send students on a goose chase looking for the signatures of their advisor (who they have never met), their department chair (who they avoid), and their dean (who they fear). If all else fails, cover your trail with typos in the record.
Graduation Analyst You know students only as numbers. You match the catalog information, with the record of the student. Perfect students get their degrees by having you find a perfect match for every course  on their record, in order, for the catalog year they graduate with. When things don’t go well in your work, put on your black hooded robe and grab your scythe from the tool shed to delivery the bad news to the unlucky ex-potential-graduate.
Transcript Analyst You receive all of those wonderfully sealed, fresh, virgin transcripts from other institutions of the transfer applicants, then you spin the wheel of doom, located beside your desk and assign with great ease, any course equivalency you like.
Primary Advisor of Record

Correct everything that the student has ever been told by Counseling, or Admissions. Suggest “easy” solutions to all  of the students problems, they are best if they are unobtainable. A waiver signed by their best buddy, the Dean, is always a nice choice. If there is a question you don’t have an answer two, duck it until after registration and ask the student to clarify what they mean, repeat up to 8 times if needed.

Provost/VC Academic Affairs Shadowy figure in the corner. You are almost as much a mystery to students as admissions. Tell students what they will be learning in their programs, and then give them a boat load of courses that will get them somewhere close.
Instructor Tell students what they will REALLY be learning in their program, and introduce yourself as God when they first meet you. YOU and only YOU control their fate.
Dean Scare children and heard your faculty like cattle.
Dean of Students Find the bad bad students and make them fear you. If you run out of bad students, scare the rest of them for good measure.
Chancellor Such a pretty face. Stand around and look good, you are the face of the university. Shake some hands, drink some coffee and enjoy your soft, leather covered chair of power, Sir

 

*intended as humor. I love (almost) all of the university employees I have ever had to interact with.

Surrogate Registrar

“The Office of the Registrar cannot issue alternate pins  nor will we serve as surrogate advisors. “

The office of the registrar will not serve as surrogate advisors? Why not? The registrar’s office will tell students what courses they CAN’T take (pre-reqs,  status, etc), and the registrar will tell students what courses they SHOULD HAVE taken (final degree checkout),  but the registrar will not tell students what courses they SHOULD take. Got to love the irony that is the academic cycle.