Hey there.
So....there is news. :)
First of all, I did not flunk Spanish II. I got a D, but I did not actually get an F. However, the D was not good enough for admittance to UCF (duh) so I am currently still enrolled at CFCC/CCF/CF/Whatever-they're-calling-themselves-now.
After many visits, phone calls, etc., they have finally gotten financial aid worked out and I am taking a full schedule of courses. Interestingly enough, to get the AA degree that they offer to prep students for transferring to a 4-year college, I only need 2 semesters of coursework so it looks like that is what I will do, Fall and Spring at CF and then transfer to UCF for next fall.
My schedule for this semester is as follows:
Microcomputer Applications. This is basically a Microsoft Office 2007 course. I already know this stuff, but it's a requirement and hopefully an easy A class. It meets in one of CF's computer labs and their labs are 8 million percent better than anything Rasmussen had to offer. I still feel so ripped off by Rasmussen. If there was a way, I'd try to get my money back. The teacher is an older lady, but seems super nice and the coursework should not be too hard at all. I never actually took any classes on Access so I'm hoping I might learn something there. We shall see.
Freshman Composition II. Another required class. I always enjoy English and writing classes so this should be good. The teacher is another older lady who also teaches at one of the local high schools. She's been teaching close to 30 years and it shows. You can tell she's the teacher the high school kids hope they don't get. All in all though, should be a good class, I hope.
Spanish I. Back to the Spanish drawing board. Same teacher as my online Spanish II class last semester and it actually meets in the same classroom I had Statistics in (little bit of trivia there). Looks like it's going to be intensive, but I found some books she recommended at the college library (which, incidentally, is an AWESOME library!), so I'm feeling good about starting over here.
Introduction to the Humanities. Yet one more required course. While waiting for the classroom to open, myself and another older student noticed this skinny, ponytailed dude in all black being led around by an administrative aide explaining things to him and we both had a sinking feeling he was going to be our instructor. Yep, he was. When he wrote his name on the board, I got another sinking feeling as he is a Rev. Dr. and has a fruity, hippy name. Turns out he's a "minister" at "an interfaith church" where "we love everyone equally" and I....threw up a little in my mouth. Ugh. He's a real space cadet this one. He thinks he's amusing and gets upset when people don't laugh at his not-funny jokes and comments. There are a LOT of young kids in this class (I feel so old) and so this is going to be the hard class this semester I can tell. Surviving these lectures is going to be hard. Just the first intro meeting class was the longest hour and a half of my life. I hope he gets organized and can get things on track, otherwise I'm going to have to invest in no-doze. The class has the potential to be interesting, and the book looks very interesting so....we'll see if he can step it up at all. And also as a side note - a ponytail? Really? Dude, the 60's called - they want their look back.
So....that's the situation currently. CF is actually more like a "real" college than anywhere I've attended before, so I think these two semesters will help me transition better to a four-year college. Now that the financial aid seems to be all squared away, I was able to get my books and have everything I need. As with Rasmussen, I'll post and share what I can as the semester continues. But things are looking up and I'm really feeling much better, more motivated, and more excited about learning again. Yay! That's the latest! Cheers!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Educational Update
So....it has once again been a considerable time since my last posting. There's a lot to go over so....let's get to it.
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
My meeting with CFCC, which is now CCF (College of Central Florida) went well and I was admitted for the summer semester. I managed to get the Statistics class I wanted and also registered for Elementary Spanish II. The semester was just a six week semester and has just come to a close for me today.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, math is not my strong suit so I was very worried about the Statistics course. However, it turned out to be a great experience. The instructor was fabulous and the material was similar to things I did doing data analysis at various jobs. As such, I managed to complete the course with a B+. Not too shabby at all and I'm proud of myself for that accomplishment.
I wish I could say that things with my Spanish II class went as well. Unfortunately, they did not. I had the sinking feeling that my Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen had not properly prepared me for anything, but since CCF offers Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Spanish classes, I thought I might be in pretty good standing for Elementary Spanish II considering I got an A in my Conversational Spanish class. I thought wrong. The Conversational Spanish class at Rasmussen was a joke and did not give me anywhere near the foundation I needed for Elementary Spanish II. The class workload was insane and EVERYTHING, the book, the instructions, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. I only took the two classes this semester, but the workload ended up being like the quarter I took six classes at Rasmussen.
Despite constantly working my ass off in the class, I ended up failing it. I did the best work I could and everything I could, but without the proper foundation from the first class, I was always three steps behind. It took forever to translate the instructions, then to do the work. The workload was also rather ridiculous really and the instructor seemed to think that the students had nothing else going on but that class for six weeks. There were four websites with work you had to do on them, and every week covered two chapters. I did well on the discussion posts and the vocabulary quizzes, but the verb tenses and changes, as well as the workbook and audio work, completely threw me and I never got above a 53% on any of it. Add to that the fact that I only got a 52% on the final, and my final overall percentage was 59.61%. So....F. I failed. Which sucks and makes me feel about 2 inches tall.
As such, I'm pretty much screwed. I will still submit the transcript to UCF, but without the second foreign language requirement being satisfactorily completed, I doubt they will allow me admission. :(
My next problem, however, is that I cannot move forward with taking any classes at CCF right now. Though I was fully packaged with financial aid at Rasmussen for summer, and for a great deal more than CCF charges, CCF is still dragging their feet on getting any financial aid awarded, so I still have a balance on my account for this summer semester. That, coupled with no financial aid awarded for fall yet, means that I cannot register for any classes. I have been round and round with them about this, submitted all the transcripts and paperwork they wanted, and now they are telling me that they need all of my transcripts entered into their system before they can award anything, and the girl doing it is 2-3 weeks behind. So....I'm screwed.
I don't know what is going to happen now. Monday I will go back to CCF's financial aid office and try to get someone to get something happening with awards. If that is accomplished, I will then move forward with trying to find some classes to take and hopefully find a place in their Elementary Spanish I class so I can get the proper foundation I should have had. I now completely hate the Spanish language by the way.
As I say, I will continue on with submitting my CCF transcript to UCF, but I don't think they'll let me in without that other foreign language requirement. So....I'll just have to do what I can to get it. If CCF cannot get my aid squared away in time for fall semester, however, I have no idea what I am going to do.
So....things are in limbo right now. UCF is still the goal, but some roadblocks have been thrown in my way. I feel like complete and utter shit right now, a real total loser because of failing that class. But at the same time, what more could I do? I did everything I could and worked as hard as I could. I just didn't have the foundation I needed to understand it. Live and learn I guess.
So that is my current status. I will keep y'all apprised of any forward movement. Any good thoughts or energy that could be sent in my general direction would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all!
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