College at the 5 year mark

To my wonderful family and friends who have supported me in my education, thank you, and the end of this chapter is in sight.

According to my academic councilor, I have but thirty six credits left. Thta’s a little more than three full semesters left(as the crow flies) and I should hopefully be done at the end of fall, 2011.
Personally, I am exited by the prospect of putting on a cap and gown for the first time in my life. It’s been a long, hard slog, and I am glad that I will be done soon.

Looking back on it, I have a few comments.

Things I wish had been different:

• Better communication with people who knew what I needed when I didn’t. New Media is a new major for IUPUI, and I feel like I should have been in CSCI to do what I really wanted to do. It reminds me of my year in Natural Science at the Children’s Museum, save for the pinched arm, being peed on by a marine toad, and the ability to switch to something more interesting.
• Cooperation between the schools at IUPUI – Let’s face it. Many colleges are just collections of schools, all competing for money and students. IUPUI is no different, but I found myself stuck in the feud between New Media and CSCI.
• Standardization of use of Oncourse – I’ve had about two dozen teachers, and each used Oncourse differently. Some didn’t use it at all. Can’t there be some sort of standardization of procedures within oncourse?
• I got a D in one class because I didn’t want to hang out with other students when I wasn’t in class. Seriously? It was hanging out; not study time, not working on projects. Some students passed the course by going to Jillian’s downtown.
• Introductory courses should be introductory. One into class I took, the teacher had a grading scale so tough that I missed one assignment and she dropped my grade a full letter. Not to mention that she changed what the class was about from the stated course objective. It was a crash course in the subject, instead of being an introduction. The first time I took it, less than half the students stayed in the class until the end… and I wasn’t one of them.
• Irrelevant courses should not be required. Electives are all well and good, but requiring courses for a major that have little or nothing to do with the major is annoying and pointless.

I have left some of these purposefully vague. Such is life.

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