# I really messed up my academic career. (Caution: Long) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045 "2006-05-16T23:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/21 "2006-05-17T20:56:36Z")
> [@thingnumberone](#): > > **Necros** ’s wife chiming in… > … > Anyways, my real reason for posting is because at least in the Engineering school, you can petition to have your grades for this semester removed from your record because of extenuating circumstances even after you’ve finished the semester. I don’t believe they publish that anywhere and I’m sure they don’t accept all petitions but it may be a good idea to at least talk to your advisor about it. 🙂 This is really good advice! The university I went to had the same policy. It is worth checking this out, hopefully yours may have it also. I’d also add that it might be worth it to go ahead and take a day off to see the instructors in your failed classes. I don’t know, a lot of them don’t wanna hear it, but some of them just might be willing to, ah, “do some things via the back door” that will get those grades changed to and “Incomplete” or something. I had one very compassionate prof do this for a psych class once, and even though official university policy was that Incompletes had to be replaced by a letter grade within a year, in my case, it just stayed there, and is there to this day! Incompletes did not count for or against your GPA. I learned a lot during my stint as an adjunct instructor at another university for 6 or 7 years. I won’t issue a blanket statement, but I quickly learned that in spite of the granite, almost NOTHING was actually written in stone if a prof wanted to take the time to pursue alternate routes for his or her students. (And I completely sympathize with your access problem. Most of my students were adult learners with full time jobs and most of those were in the military. I have lost count of the number of times we had “conferences” at my home, usually with them being a dinner guest of my wife and I as well.) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/22 "2006-05-17T20:59:32Z")
> [@Mouse\_Maven](#): > > 12 credit hours, about 4 classes, and I could get my BS. Is it worth all the frustration? Why does the school make it so hard for non-traditional students? (The irony is that being friendly to non-traditional students is one of their [selling points](http://www.cudenver.edu/Who+Am+I/Prospective+Students/About+CU-Denver/default.htm) . If I majored in business instead of biology I would not have a lot of these problems.) > > Thanks for letting me vent. OK. I’m a prof in biological sciences that has a lot of non-traditional students. I have come across students feeling like you do now. I teach at a well respected community college and run a program in which students earn a degree that can be used to transfer or helps them become lab techs. Anyway. Is there a local CC that might have the classes you need? The tuition will probably be lower and CC profs really do want to reach out to non-traditional students, like yourself. The classes often will transfer smoothly to 4-year colleges, but you may want to check that out. This may have been suggested, I haven’t read the thread yet. ---
**Author:** ![thingnumberone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@thingnumberone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thingnumberone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/23 "2006-05-17T21:16:04Z")
> [@Mouse\_Maven](#): > > Thank you **thingnumberone** 🙂 I thought I was the only UCD student running into these problems. I will look into petitioning the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences about this semester. Another bad thing about being a non-traditional student is that I have only seen my “advisor” three times. He probably doesn’t know me from a field mouse. I feel like the professors and other staff are unsympathetic. I posted earlier that I do research for the University at Fitz (organ transplant immunology) but I can’t get college credit for my work because no UCD prof is interested in sponsoring me. ☹ > > Like you, I get feed up with the whining of the younger students. Makes me wonder how they will react to a **job** were you do the work or your out on your ass. My current “advisor” was a fellow undergrad student when I started my degree…guess I’ve been going to school too long. I would definately push UCD to give you credit for your work at Fitz. Schedule an appointment with the dean if you have to, but there shouldn’t be any reason why someone won’t sponsor your work for job credits. All that was necessary in my degree program to get three credits for my job was to have someone at my job sponsor me (and fill out a questionnaire) and to turn in a paper at the end of the semester detailing what I “learned”. I had the head of the department as my sponsor because I walked into his office and personally asked him to do it. I don’t like paying to do my job, but hey, it’s an easy few credits. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/24 "2006-05-17T21:18:46Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Some of my friends: > Dress up. > Leave all money and credit cards in dorm. > Go to posh store with dumb saleschick who won’t give you the time of day if you aren’t all dolled up. > Make her take out one of this and two of that and don’t-you-have-it-in-another-color, and generally be a bitch but in a sweet, sweet voice and looking at her like she’s the greatest source of style and fashion in the whoooooole wide world. > Once you’ve had your fill, leave. Without buying anything, of course, since you didn’t bring anything to pay with. Look, I’m not with **Trunk** here; I don’t know where he got his notion, especially since you said “some of your friends”, not you yourself, but I’m not sure what’s the purpose of this. This almost sounds like it belongs in a Pit thread about PITA customers. Unless it’s some kind of payback on behalf of other customers who didn’t get the time of day from these saleschicks because they weren’t all dolled up? But I’m here to tell you, that’s one of the funnest things in retail (not!): people who monopolize you for half an hour or more, then don’t buy anything. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/25 "2006-05-18T07:07:09Z")
It is possible that you might be able to get some funding from the Colorado Departmentment of Vocational Rehabilitation because of your history of OCD. I had a scholarship from them while I was in college because of problems that I have with my vision. They fund people with other disadvantages. (I’m assuming that there is such an office in your state as there is in mine.) Keep your great sense of humor! And _yes_, the degree is worth it! Be as easy on yourself as you can be. Don’t worry about what anyone else says. (My daughter graduates from law school this month and she is in her forties!) We think _you_ are a child! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/26 "2006-05-18T07:47:14Z")
I have nothing much to contribute to this thread beyond wanting to say that I, also, am from the Denver metro area. Props to us all. And good luck with the UCD. Please stick it out for your BA if you can. We’re pullin’ for you. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/27 "2006-05-18T10:11:42Z")
Stick it out and finish your BS degree, which I’m sure you’ll do anyway. I had the same problem in fall of 2005. Alot of things happened in summer that triggered a depression and it fucked up my school rhythm. I’d skip class or lose the ability to concentrate well. My usual GPA per semester is about 3.1 but in fall I got a 2.3 and I flunked one of my classes (calculus III with a D+, which sucks as I had a B- before the final). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/28 "2006-05-18T10:33:41Z")
I’m hoping this keeps up for when I graduate next year “College grads back in demand” [http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060517/ts\_usatoday/collegegradsbackindemand;\_ylt=AhQVo8LV5q2ZlEfsGWipYras0NUE;\_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-](http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060517/ts_usatoday/collegegradsbackindemand;_ylt=AhQVo8LV5q2ZlEfsGWipYras0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/29 "2006-05-18T11:59:42Z")
I’m majoring in business (accounting) at a college that specializes in non-traditional students - 90% of its classes are at night. Yet, they haven’t caught the clue bus: 1. Group projects. Most students work full time and take two or more classes a semester. A lot of us have families as well. Homework is often done at 2:00am…and you want us to get together for GROUP PROJECTS! Are you insane? Getting six people who are already overbooked together is not easy. (Last group project I did I asked the prof to do solo). 2. Currently I’m in a half semester course. Instead of three and a half hours one night a week for fourteen weeks, we have three and a half hours two nights a week for seven weeks. Its an advanced course. So between Monday and Thursday, I need to fit in all the homework for a week worth of classes. Insane. 3. The prof’s vary from trying to be hard nosed to being complete pushovers. The complete pushovers are impossible to learn from. But the hard noses are worse. What part of “teaching non-traditional students” don’t you understand? The students in the room don’t have time to do three hours of studying for every hour of class time - so don’t give us busywork. My current accounting prof of the advanced insane course said “most of you won’t dedicate enough time to this course, I suggest you take steps to make time as your college education is the most important thing in your lives right now” No. Kids. Marriage. Job. School falls somewhere below those. That’s what being a non-traditional student is about. It isn’t the “study or beer” decisions I was faced with in the dorm. Its the “study/kid school event/ bathrooms growing mold/no food in the house/ lawn overgrown enough to lose small children/ boss would really like me to turn around this information overnight” decision. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/30 "2006-05-18T13:51:50Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Look, I’m not with **Trunk** here; I don’t know where he got his notion, especially since you said “some of your friends”, not you yourself, but I’m not sure what’s the purpose of this. It was the other part of her post I couldn’t believe. What it sounded like to me was, “yeah, academics are tough, but if your pretty little head ever gets sad about it, I’m sure a construction worker will still want to fuck you.” I’m not a woman. Maybe all you women agree with her. . .feelin’ blue? Just dress up like a slut, and get a man to whistle at you. Although, I thought the part you cited was pretty reprehensible, too. Basically, I read it as, “if the world gets you down, go demean someone.” ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/31 "2006-05-18T15:39:34Z")
Wow! You guys are great 😃😃 I didn’t know there were so many Colorado Dopers or so many non-traditional students. From my experience, I have sworn that if I ever have the money I will set up a scholarship for non-traditional students. For those that don’t know, I work as a Research Associate for the same university system I attend. This is a favorite story of mine: I took a physiology class that had a group project. I was lucky enough to team up with another older, working student so we could meet on weekends and evenings without all the complaining. The day of our presentation, we needed to make a last-minute change to our poster. As I was working on the change, the professor came up to me and said,“Well, I see you have a time management problem.” I looked at him and said,“I have seen many phd’s FedEx their grant applications the day they’re due. Don’t give me crap about ‘time management’” Well, I passed the class. (Since I work with phd’s I’m not imtimidated by them, I think my profs are a little freaked out by this.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/32 "2006-05-18T15:46:03Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Look, I’m not with **Trunk** here; I don’t know where he got his notion, especially since you said “some of your friends”, not you yourself, but I’m not sure what’s the purpose of this. This almost sounds like it belongs in a Pit thread about PITA customers. Unless it’s some kind of payback on behalf of other customers who didn’t get the time of day from these saleschicks because they weren’t all dolled up? But I’m here to tell you, that’s one of the funnest things in retail (not!): people who monopolize you for half an hour or more, then don’t buy anything. It’s payback for the time they had been at the same store and been snubbed by the same specific saleschick. It’s not something done to salespeople, only to specific “saleschicks” who these girls considered deserved it, for “discriminating against badly dressed customers who are, after all, willing to pay to get better dressed”. As in: you go to a movie downtown after class, wearing jeans and a tee on your way back to the bus, you see a nice blouse on a store window. You can see the size and it happens to be yours you go in and start asking saleschick but, before you can even say what is it you want, she, looking at you like you smell bad, informs you that they don’t have anything in your size and turns her back on you Any woman in full Dior makeup, Moschino suit, Valentino blouse and Prada mini-handbag is unrecognizable as being the same woman’s “I had a biology lab this morning” version. Some of my classmates could afford that kind of getup. A friend of my mother’s was once informed by a saleschick that the Mango store didn’t have anything in her size. Mom’s friend left the store at that point and later informed her size-ultra-thin daughter that “apparently, Mango foulards aren’t one-size-fits-all and I am not allowed to be there looking for something for you, either” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045/33 "2006-05-18T15:59:15Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > It was the other part of her post I couldn’t believe. > > What it sounded like to me was, “yeah, academics are tough, but if your pretty little head ever gets sad about it, I’m sure a construction worker will still want to fuck you.” > > I’m not a woman. Maybe all you women agree with her. . .feelin’ blue? Just dress up like a slut, and get a man to whistle at you. > > Although, I thought the part you cited was pretty reprehensible, too. Basically, I read it as, “if the world gets you down, go demean someone.” Sigh. We seem to be having a bad case of culture clash. It’s understood as a kind of trade… I would make their day, they would make mine. They get to pound their chest in front of the other guys: their remark shows that they noticed an appreciable female passing by and that they’ve got wit which is part of the whole male-bonding stuff so what makes their day isn’t just “seeing something nice around here for a while” (as a mechanic once put it) but the whole social stuff with the mates. You’re a lot more likely to get a remark from a group of guys than from a lone guy. And I was reminded that the time I spent in front of the books wasn’t eliminating my possibilities of ever hooking up with a male of the species or turning me into a tub of lard. That’s important when you’re 20-something, you know, even if you’re 20-something and not sure you do want to hook up with anybody. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-really-messed-up-my-academic-career-caution-long/357045.md?page=1)