Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Chaos at it's Finest.

So I would like to begin with a general explanation fo the "situation". Due to the fact that I have taken a plethera of classes at WSU and UT alike, the University College 'kindly' informed me yesterday in a letter that I was being denied financial aid starting next quarter if I did not declare a major.

Today marked the application deadline day for the Social Work department. [AKA, University College, I'M TRYING!]

So last night when I recieved the letter and was struggling to figure out all the details that I seemed to be uninformed about, that officially marked Monica's 1st breakdown of the quarter. [Oddly enough, I really didn't think my first breakdown would come from my major, but then again... breakdowns don't really tend to warn you about their arrival.] Despite being locked off ROX (my access to register for my classes for next quarter) and despite slim chances that I will be able to meet the requirements that will allow me to be accepted to the Social wrok major because of the dwindling number of open seats left in my needed classes, I came to a
peaceful conclusion. And thanks to three wonderful friends, I made it through breakdown 1 with impeckable "delight".

I went to University College this morning to ask them, basically, to have patience and inform them of my current efforts toward the Social Work major. There I discovered that the advisor I have been seeing fo rthe past 2 years is not my official advisor [odd that that never came up in our meetings] and that my official advisor was not going to work with me at all. I was then handed a piece of paper and told that my options were either to continue to be in University College without a major and without financial aid or to find another major. My official advisor then told me that Sociology best fit my current stack of classes, so I should change my major to that and then work from there between the Social Work departments and the
Sociology department to transfer into the Social Work Major. [Confusing you? AMEN!]

So I signed the paper because without signing the paper I could not schedule for my social work classes for next quarter and I headed to the social work department.

Upon walking into the social work department I #1. turned in my application, #2. put my name on a waiting list to talk to the SW (Social Work) department chair, and #3. noticed that my current SW Professor was on the phone in her office. I decided it would be in my best interest to swing in and ask her if I could speak with her after class. I popped my head in after she hung up the phone.
"Hey!" She welcomed my familiar face.
"Hey. I was wondering if you might have any time after class today to talk with me? I mean, I'm sure you have a lot to do..."
"Of course," She cut me off, "I mean it's crazy around here, but sure, sure...what's it regarding?"
"Um," an unexpected lump arose in my throat, "so, I got a letter from the university that says I can't be a social work major and my financial aid is going to be cut next quarter if I..." I couldn't finish.
"Ok, well, let's see..." She spoke with concern. "I have an apointment at 10:30 [my watch read 10:26] but it should be fairly quick and my next apointment's not til 11 so do you have anything to do or can you hang around for a bit?" She openned a doorway of opportunity.
"Yeah, sure I can just hang here and study."
"Great." Came her response.

So breakdown #2 of the quarter occured in the hallway as I was going to get a drink of water in waiting for Dr. Baker's apointment to conclude. I guess the stress and the events of the morning caught up with me. But thanks to mom, I was able to walk back into the department with, granted, red eyes, but with a restored determination.

Despite the possibility of adding an additional year onto my graduation date, I left the Social Work Office with two people on my side; Dr. Baker, my Professor, and Dr. Brun the chair for the Department of Social Work [AKA, the Big Cheese of the SW department]. And I also left the office with one other thing; a piece of paper signing me into the closed SW 271 class.

There battle is far from over, but I am at peace that God is obviously handling this one.

~ Soli Deo Gloria. ~

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