The past few days have been stressful thanks to my current college. Actually, the past year or so has been really stressful because of my recent college experiences. Being a dedicated veteran to the art of being a dedicated student has had its pitfalls at times, but the usual experience has been an overwhelming positive one. That is up until now. As of late, if it hasn’t been one thing it has been another. From financial aid to bothersome students, I think there has been an issue for me in every single area of the educational system this past year.
Let me begin by saying that I believe I do a pretty thorough job preparing myself for classes. I have spent many hours pouring over the university’s website, especially my department’s webpages. I have attempted to be as prepared as I can be for just about anything. I know pre-requisites for courses by heart, I have memorized student loan obligations, and have visited many people at the college. All in an effort to be accustomed with everything there is to know on the topic of being a successful student, and how to navigate the now shady waters of college life.
I should also mention that I have graduated at summa cum laude status (4.0 GPA) with two degrees, and I’m a pretty confident guy. I might even go on to say that you could describe me as an effective driven student. I think my GPA reflects the idea that I have had a good grasp on things when it comes to my education. In the past I have known what’s going on, but now that I have changed to a different college, it seems there is a new issue every time I turn around. Unfortunately, these problems aren’t just limited to one department either, they are wide spread throughout the entire campus.
Early this year I experienced several problems while trying to get an appointment with an adviser, and even then the adviser was less than helpful. At my current college you register yourself for classes online, which I also had to figure out with little to no guidance, as the adviser had not really gone through my schedule well, nor was he directly involved with my program. I eventually had troubles with the financial aid department, as they were not being clear with what documents they still needed from me, and each time I talked to them I would get one of the rudest ladies this side of the Mississippi. Another department contacted me, and offered their advising services, but I was reluctant. When I visited them to declare my major a student worker was the only person on staff, and she did not have a good idea on how I should fill out the declaration form. On top of the stresses from these departments, I also obviously faced the difficulties of my classes, dealing with fellow students as well as difficult professors. At the same time my friend was having problems with housing on campus, and I heard horror stories of his first hand experiences as well.
Over the summer there were not too many issues, aside from some strangely worded syllabi, and some students online who were out spoken about their weird ideas on how social media represented them, and how the majority were too afraid to post a picture of Garfield on their FaceBook. The cat was having a “case of the Mondays”, and they feared it might represent them as poor unmotivated workers. If an employer saw they had posted this then they would never get hired. I rolled my eyes as I read their posts over summer session, but I was too busy worrying about what would happen next in school.
I planned extensively for the current semester, as I would be renting an apartment, and I was also helping my girlfriend figure out her college schedule. I enrolled her in classes, and everything else that went along with attending college. Before the semester even began we had trouble with financial aid, as they required a few documents which proved a bit hard to acquire. We spoke with someone in that department for a significant amount of time (who I tried to prove wrong), however they did not let up. A few days later we received the documents at the last possible moment, and upon arriving in person at financial aid, we were told they did not really need them, and it would all be okay. This of course should have been good news, but after all the trouble, it was only more frustrating.
During the first day of class I was actually quite pleased with how relatively simple everything was going, but I should have known better. By the first night I found out that there was an alcohol education test that you had to pass (with a 70% success rate), as well as an anti-rape program you had to go through. The kicker? It was due by midnight of that day. Of course I had never even heard of the programs, let alone did I realize they were mandatory. After four hours of cursing, mocking the program, and extreme frustration, my girlfriend and I finished them, only to prove that we still don’t drink alcohol or rape people.
The second day of class proved just as discouraging, as I realized I had to drop one of my classes, and we now had more financial aid woes. At the same time I was still trying to make sense of my new classes, and I was also trying to adapt to the new apartment we had just moved into (which was now in jeopardy due to financial aid, or lack thereof). The cherry on top of the figurative shit sundae was also the negative attitudes of nearly ALL the students that I encountered. Out of the hundreds of people I saw only one or two who smiled or held the door for me. All the others had negative demeanors. The first two days proved to be some of my most difficult I had experienced thus far in higher education, but Lord knows other students had more atrocious things occur to them during the semester (such as losing their entire scholarship because of a misunderstanding).
Recently I started to reflect on my experiences as of late, when I realized that the negative experiences were not just coming from one department, but almost all outlets that I interact with on campus. In the past I had some negative dealings with a minute amount of professors, or had some minor issues otherwise, but now negative situations seemed to overtake my experience as a whole. Why wasn’t financial aid easy to work with? Why were students acting so strange? Why wasn’t anything simple or easy?
Well, yesterday evening I finally had a breakthrough moment. A single thought popped into my head, and I had sudden clarity. The reason why everything had been a negative experience recently was simple. The reason why financial aid was so hard to deal with was easy. Why the students had poor outlooks on life, why housing was screwed up, and why I had to take a rape test for school, it all seemed so clear. The reason why everything seems so bad, is that I was comparing my college to the way I thought a school should be ran. It should be simple, efficient, and friendly. However, in my epiphany I understood one thing: that school doesn’t exist.
This entire past year I had been basing my experiences on what ought to be, and how I thought the college should be handling things. This entire time I had expected things to be straight forward. I get my classes, I get financial aid, I attend classes, then after a few years I graduate with another degree. I should not have to worry how financial aid will screw me, or the like. I want things to run smoothly. I want the college to work for me, and I want them to be efficient and to the point (because after all it is a service I’m paying for, and at a premium price). I don’t want any bull, just the facts, and after that less is more.
In the past few days I’ve spoken or heard from people from all over the United States, and it seems they face almost the same situations I have encountered this year. It turns out I am not the only one displeased with how schools handle things, and that my feeling are shared by a great many people nationwide. Yet with this new understanding, I don’t know how I should feel. Should I perhaps feel better that I’m not the only one, and that many universities face the same problems? And in this I should perhaps be more understanding of the difficulties they face? Or on the other hand should I be even more frustrated that these problems are widespread, and that things could be much simpler, but they are not.
Therefore I’m really in a predicament. I cannot decide if I should continue to be a disgruntled student who can only think of how things should be, or if I should create entirely new opinions considering how bad (or good) things might be at similar institutions. Should I hold on to my imaginary college where things run smoothly, or should I give into the idea that a place such as this doesn’t even exist? Should I let go of my dream, or give into the world?
Zach McGeehon's Blog 