Someone please help me...I don't know what to do.

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I’m a college freshman at my community college. I’ve been out of school for a year because I couldn’t pay for anything. Well, I got the money now to be here at least and I’m having so much trouble it really wants to make me cry.</p>

<p>I took their entrance exam and I placed really high. I was so happy the day I got my assessment scores. I did as well as I wanted to. Well the day of registration I show up extra early but so does everyone else and I only get into one class that day. Well, sorta. You have to do a Pre-Req challenge to get into a higher class. I went to the counselor and they said I should get into Pre-Calculus no sweat. I’ve talked to all the counselors and some said I should’ve just went straight into Calculus, but I wanted to be prepared. I had to Pre-Req challenge their requirement, which was only Algebra II. You had to test out of that class and my placement domain was Calculus. Everything is up to the math dean whether I did well enough to test out of that class and I scored a 90/100 on that section and went all the way up through Trigonometry for my placement domain. And the rest of my classes that require any English I got a 99 on the Reading and 102 on the Writing…</p>

<p>But I got denied because the math dean didn’t think I was qualified enough to pass Algebra II. Every class I need to do my Pre-Pharmacy program this semester has that pre-req. </p>

<p>I’ve been getting denied from Biology, Pre-Calculus, and Chemistry so far. I suppose today they’ll call and tell me I can’t take Statistics. They said I didn’t test out of Algebra II, when I obviously did. I put my foot down and told the girl on the phone informing me of the bad news that I tested out of it and to look at my assessment scores. Well she got all her counseling people around her and agreed that I actually tested way out of it. And yesterday was the first time they’ve done anything about this and yet all of the counselors I’ve talked to agree with me. </p>

<p>I keep getting denied the courses I need to take when I satisfy the requirement. I’ve woken up at 4 in the morning almost everyday driving there to get things sorted out but they haven’t been yet. I even drove my first time by myself because I was so determined to get this over with. I’ve been so stressed because I’m so afraid they’ll just kick me out of all my classes and it’ll just take longer to achieve my dreams…</p>

<p>I don’t know what to do anymore. I've been e-mailing back and forth, calling and calling, going to the college (2 hour drive to get there), and I’m trying to keep my head held up high….</p>

2

<p>Thats really sucks, just keep pushing, thats all you can really do right now. If you indeed tested out of the classes and they have the scores to prove it, then its only a matter of time before they let you take the classes you want. Dont give up, it will be worth it in the end.</p>

3

<p>We have a similar policy at my school. Tell them to place you in Precalculus (at least) and tell them if they need proof, talk to blah and blah (The people that have your scores) and once they do, place them into the system. So you satisfy the Algebra II prerequisite and Then you can sign up for the other classes with Precalculus. Did you try that??</p>

<p>Honestly, I didn’t do so well on my placement exam to get into Calculus but I took precalculus at a local college over the summer and I didn’t want to take Precal again. so I insist to get my credits transferred over and now it’s in the system and I was placed in Calculus. You have to fight and tell them what to do to prove that you can take that course. You SHOULD be able to! </p>

<p>And yeah it takes like an hour and 30 minutes but I’m so happy I got it done. It went to school like three times to get everything done. I even wanted them to evaluate my credits on the spot, so I said EMERGENCY EVALUATION please!! No way was I taking Precal again. </p>

<p>Let me know if it works out.</p>

4

<p>The best way to do this, quite honestly, is to get there before 9am on Monday and don’t leave campus until things are fixed. Be there in person, with your documentation, and don’t take no for an answer. These things are MAJOR issues at community colleges especially and don’t let them discourage you.</p>

5

<p>

I know this is frustrating to you, but the good news (even though its hard to believe right now) is that this is going to help you. You’re learning to develop assertiveness skills, to deal with those in positions of power, etc. It’s not fun, but trust me – in your adult life there are going to be plenty of times when you need to stand up for yourself just like you’re doing right now. When your a pharmacist it’s going to be a regular occurence, for example, that the computer says “payment denied” for a patient who actually has coverage for the drug they’re prescribed, and you’re going to need to call the insurance company and straighten it out.

If I’ve understood your post correctly, you want to take Pre-Calculus this term but in order to do so you have to have either taken Algebra II or test out of taking it. You got a 90 on the test, which everyone agrees is a passing score, but the Dean is saying “no” anyway. What you need to do is make an appt. today to see this Dean. Meet with him face-to-face. It’s a lot easier for him to say no on the phone to you or some counselor than to you standing in his office looking him in the eye. Stand there and demand (politely) that he look up your scores while you’re in the office, don’t take any “I’ll check into it” to get you out of the office. The way I’d do this is something like “Dean X, I think there’s been a misunderstanding with my test scores and I need you to help straighten this out so I can register for my classes. See, I got a 90 on the test …” When he sees you got a 90, then have him call whoever he needs to and say he approves your getting into Pre-Calculus, Biology, Chemistry. Or have him put it in a letter that he signs so you can take it to the office. But try to avoid leaving the office without him fixing it, via a phone call, email, or signed letter.</p>

<p>And before you go, look up who the Dean works for. He reports to somebody. Don’t make any threats in his office you’re going over his head, but if he’s a jerk and won’t give you credit for Algebra II then you next go see the person the Dean works for and see if they can get things straightened out.</p>

<p>Also, you might want to reconsider if this is the right CC for you, at least for this 1st year. If its 2 hours away, isn’t there one closer? Even if this one has the Pharmacy program you’re looking for and closer ones don’t, I’d bet you can take the intro classes like Chem, Bio, Calculus, etc. at any CC and then transfer the units to this CC. Then take just their pharmacy classes to get their pharmacy certificate. You might not have trouble getting the 1st year classes at a different CC. So start looking into this as plan B, which might be better anyway than 2-hour commutes.</p>

<p>We all have our fingers crossed for you; let us know how things work out.</p>

6

<p>Is there any way you could go to a different community college?
It seems pretty ridiculous they are having you go through all that trouble. All I had to do is provide them my ACT scores and I was placed into classes by that and what I took in high-school.</p>

7

<p>Strange that you are denied from biology when biology does not involve mathematics other than converting in the metric system. My school does not require algebra or pre-calc for bio. Unless you are taking bio for bio majors and not general bio, that could be different…but in my school pre-pharm majors are only required to take general bio. I would look into that.</p>

8

<p>When you took your placement tests, did you receive a sheet of paper with your scores and the courses that you place into? Could you take this piece of paper to the dean?</p>

<p>My recent experience with community colleges is that they are under a lot of pressure due to more students applying due to lower costs and that there are some issues with staffing in some CCs due to hiring freezes and furloughs. It is best to take care of the placement test stuff and course registration at least a month before classes start. Well, it sounds like you’re doing that but it sounds like they’re under pressure already.</p>

9

<p>I went and tried to get this straightened out yesterday morning. I woke up early and drove to campus and got there an hour early. I was the first in line and by the time the school was suppose to open up, they opened their doors 10 minutes late.</p>

<p>I knew exactly who to see to schedule a same-day appointment (these ones were easier to get because calling to schedule one put you on a list where you’d get to see someone two weeks from now). My appointment from the time I talked to the woman was suppose to be 15 minutes later, so I thought that was good.</p>

<p>At least, I thought so until 8 AM came around and my counselor apparently wasn’t even at the school. The only give you thirty minutes of time with a counselor and she showed up 20 minutes late while the third person in line and the fourth person were already being serviced by other counselors on campus. She finally came and then took me back to her office and I discussed with her what was going on. I told her of the troubles I was having with the school but she basically said she didn’t want to hear any of it cause it wasn’t really any of her fault. Understandable, I guess. I signed some more challenge forms, got copies of everything, got my scores ready, and I was told to go to the math department.</p>

<p>Well the math dean wasn’t there and I had to wait 2 hours in a seat because I wasn’t going to leave until I saw him and talked with him. He wasn’t a mean guy at all and he did say my scores were judged wrongly, but he said it’s not up to him. It’s up the math faculty/instructors of the class. Well, you see, the instructors are rarely on the campus because it’s summer (what he told me). </p>

<p>He kept advising me that I’d take College Algebra and Trigonometry instead of Pre-Calculus, which I didn’t want to do. I can’t take College Algebra until next semester because all of the classes were full and it’s really frustrating that the math faculty won’t let me take the classes I want to take already albeit being qualified. And I know he plays a big role in this math faculty, so he’s of course going to throw in what he thinks. I could tell he already had his mind made up when I stepped into that office, but the funny thing is the math faculty (including himself) thought I wasn’t even ready to take Algebra II and then he goes and says there are no problems with my algebra skills. </p>

<p>I’m only going to have one class this semester. Is that even worth it? </p>

<p>He even shot my backup plan down, which was to take the CLEP Exam but they don’t administer it at that college. The only accept it from other places. Well, today after I woke up I managed to find out that they don’t accept any math CLEP’s except College Algebra. This is going to be a waste of a semester for me, I have the skills, and I know I can handle the work. I’m being forced into a Trigonometry class and I am super certain I can score well on the CLEP test for College Algebra, so that’d get me into Calculus next semester and I can take Calculus 2 over the summer…</p>

<p>Most of my classes I need to take (science-related) recommend that you have Algebra II skills at the very least. Biology requires that and I was turned down for that despite my test results. For being here, it’s not General Biology that I’m suppose to take but Molecular Biology…unless that’s the same thing. </p>

<p>I was polite for all this, even though I did choke on emotion sometimes cause he kept asking me some personal questions (the dean)…yeah, I’m pretty poor, trying to get a college education, and it’s even harder because you’re holding me back…basically what was going on in my head.</p>

<p>There’s no CC close to me, but there’s a University of Phoenix. That’s the only place they administer the CLEP test around there and I live far away from my CC already. </p>

<p>I showed my proof. I said my piece. It did nothing.</p>

10

<p>Can you register on-line? </p>

<p>People are going to drop out of the full classes, and you may be able to then get into the classes that you want that were closed before.</p>

<p>I take classes for fun at my local community college and public university, and never have had problem getting into a class this way. I hope this is possible for you to do.</p>

11

<p>So I take it you live in a fairly rural area? This sounds like a pretty crappy situation and some pretty incompetent people who don’t care at all about you. I wonder if at this point you should contact local newspapers and TV stations. Seriously, this is exactly the kind of human interest piece they’d be interested in covering this time of year. You write quite well and I bet your letter would be publish and your story would be told. Publicizing the inequities and failure of this kind of system may really help get you access to someone who can really help you.</p>

<p>This may seem extreme to some people, but honestly, I think it’s a great idea and would be very effective. You need some kind of more poewrful advocate.</p>

12

<p>Wait, I’m confused. </p>

<p>So, if he wants you to show the score to someone else, could you go to that someone else and show them the score? That is, the higher position people. Also, you could try going to the faculty on the first day of classes but that is ridiculous that he expects you to go to a professor, it’s supposed to be him. Sounds fishy. </p>

<p>So, right now I think: </p>

<p>A) Take only one class this semester and work full time to help pay for the classes, the winter later. I really don’t think you should ever give up on college. It’s worth it even if it means taking the slower path to a successful future. And yes, you can take the other classes in the spring and summer. Then you’ll catch up. Do you need to take liberal arts for your major? If so, you can take those this semester too if you want. </p>

<p>B) Go to the faculty on the first day of classes and try to sort everything up. Usually people do drop on the first day of classes or so, so you can always ask the faculty or go online to check which classes people drop.</p>

13

<p>

I agree: something like that. If you can’t get the system of the college to work for you, maybe the individual professors will be able to help you.</p>

14

<p>Sweetie, in my college days classes were ALWAYS full at registration. Just show up and stand along the wall if there are no seats available. Most profs will try to dissuade those trying to add into the class, but will eventually relent if you keep showing up. If you need to, follow the prof to their office after class and explain the necessity of you getting this class, share distance you are driving each day and that you have financial considerations…bring all your paperwork showing scores and prereq’s from the school’s catalog. Tell them very bluntly you are there to do the work, that this is not HS part II for you. Remember the ‘squeaking wheel gets the grease’…don’t take “No” for an answer. Good luck!</p>

15

<p>You also can bring all of your paperwork and go to the dean of students.</p>

<p>Really – the squeaky wheel is the one who gets what they want!</p>