I am planning on going back to school to get an associate's degree and since I already have my bachelor's degree, I figured enrolling into a technical college and getting accepted into any associate's program of my choice would be piece of cake, considering a bachelor's degree is a higher degree than an associate's. You would think that right? I thought that. In actuality, I think I have more headaches enrolling into a technical college for an associate's degree than I did as a high school student applying for a bachelor's degree for a university. I was so not expecting this.

From classes having different symbols on my transcript that mean the same subjects that they offer, to new staff in admissions who are not used to seeing someone who already has a bachelor's degree apply to a school that specializes only in associate's programs and certificates, I had to make a lot of phone calls and visit many offices. I was expecting an easy pass since graduating from a higher degree should demonstrate my competency in all general education classes and beyond. I was wrong.

The first headache was that my previous university's symbol for what most would call "English" classes is not "ENG", it's "RWS" which stands for Rhetoric Writing from Sources but it is essentially an English class. Because of the technical college's confusion about this and the lady who reviewed my bachelor's degree transcript didn't see an "ENG" on my transcript, they sent me a letter to say I didn't fulfill the admission criteria. One call later, I got it straightened out and the lady on the phone spoke to her superior and he confirmed that RWS on my transcript is the same thing as "ENG" for them. Great, glad that got straightened out and now I am admitted.

Then, I went to enrollment day to get my classes selected with the help of the university as a first time student at their college. The lady who was helping me assigned me the wrong biology class. Since I already completed 2 biology classes and have a bachelor's degree, she was supposed to put me in a higher level biology class because I didn't have to take the lower ones as pre-req's. Anyway, I figured I'll get this squared away when I find out later if I got accepted into the program of my choice. You see, even though I got accepted into the school, it still doesn't mean that I got accepted into the program of my choice. They are entirely 2 separate application processes but without admission, I couldn't apply to the program. Confusing and a lot of work, I know. 

Anyway, time passes and I find out that I didn't get accepted into the program of my choice. Even though, they only select 20 students every year, I was super bummed out and thought it was a mistake! There is no way a high schooler gets higher on their list than a bachelor's degree holder. It really made me feel like a bachelor's degree snob. But gosh, does that make sense?  So after leaving 2 voice mails for the program advisor and not getting a call back, I decided to march into his office to get clarification. Before he even opens my records on the computer, he went straight to the defensive answer as "there were so many applicants this year so we had to base it on existing students with highest GPA's". In my head, I was thinking if they want to compare my high school transcript to another person's high school transcript, mine was 3.9 which is super high but because I didn't have to submit my high school transcript and only my university transcript because I was a college grad, that might have dinged me since my GPA at my university that I graduated from was not that high. Now, that sucks. I guess having a bachelor's degree screwed me on this one but that still doesn't make sense! 

Anyway, the advisor said to come back in July or August to make sure the program criteria doesn't change so I can ensure I get in next year when I reapply. Since they only admit 20 students every fall, I have to wait a whole year to reapply. He did correct my class schedule because he confirmed that I didn't have to take any lower biology classes and advised me to take 2 specific biology classes and reapply next year. He said I should be in the "right direction". I have a theory that he might be asking me to come back a month later because after he opened my records, he probably realized he made a mistake and maybe a student will drop out of the program and I can get into their spot. I'm praying that he's thinking that. I also wonder how many students come to his office and ask for clarification on not getting accepted into his program, probably not often. Don't be fooled by those bachelor's degree holders, they think they are entitled to be the best. :P

Well, I'll be marching into the advisors office in a couple of months. We'll see what happens. In the end, I really feel that things are going to be in my favor. If he doesn't change his mind in a couple of months, maybe by getting accepted a year later into the program than planned will help me find a better job when the economy is for the better. Let's hope the odds are in my favor.