Dear CS163 prerequisites: In your face!!
Dear PSU add/drop policy: Please die in a fire.
Dear friends and family: I'm still alive, despite your fruitless attempts to contact me.
That's an attempt to summarize what I am sure could easily spiral completely out of control and span multiple pages into something that can be read without needing a break halfway through. I tried to keep it short but that seemed too short. So here's a slightly longer explanation:
School is kicking my ass this term. My advisor (who also happens to be the department head, and thus essentially decides if I get into the masters program) told me to take an advanced-level programming class this term, for a language I have no experience with. He said I would have to work a bit harder than the other students, but that I should be ok. When I emailed the course instructor to explain my situation and ask what material I should review she told me (in slightly more words) to drop the course, that reviewing the material from the previous courses is not a replacement for taking them, and that PSU “would frown upon” what I am trying to do. Which is funny, except for the part where—for all intents and purposes—PSU instructed me to do that.
To make matters even more awesome, when I started to figure out what my options were it quickly became clear that actually I didn’t have any. This is because the course add/drop policies at PSU are completely asinine. Classes can only be dropped with in the first two weeks.
• First week: 100% tuition refund, no “W” recorded on transcript
• Second week: Whopping 0% refund, completely with lovely “W” on transcript
• Third week: Census. Financial aid adjusted to reflect current course load.
It should be noted that the first lecture of the course in question was on a Friday, so I had exactly 10 hours to drop the class if I wanted my money back. Unsurprisingly, I missed that deadline. Also, had I dropped a class, I would have become ineligible for financial aid, and had to pay my summer aid back immediately.
So actually, when I said I had no options, I lied a little. I did have two options:
Option 1: Attempt the class • Con: Potentially end up with an F on my transcript. • Con: If I fail, I will be about a year behind academically. • Con: Making up 20 weeks of prerequisite material while in an accelerated programming class might be deadly. • Pro: Keep financial aid, aka I get to eat and I can pay rent. • Pro: If I pass, I am still on track to start grad school in a year. | Option 2: Drop it • Pro: W on transcript is likely better than F • Pro: More time to focus on other classes • Con: I will be about a year behind academically guaranteed. • Con: No eating or rent paying |
I know, pretty awesome set of choices, right? I decided to go with option 1, because it involves eating.
So I have been incredibly busy. My ass has been saved multiple times by the fact that the professor teaching the course (aside from being less than helpful with that first email I sent) records all her lectures and posts videos online along with all the lecture materials, from all her previous classes. Also I have incredible friends that have been helping me figure all this stuff out. And I think I am actually going to make it. The class is only 8 weeks long. I only have 3 or 4 weeks left. And so far, I have completed both assignments and feel like I actually have a shot on the midterm this Friday.
Anyway I have homework to do (imagine that!) but at least now those first two lines should make more sense.
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