My grad school is run by morons (long, probably boring)

The BBQ Pit
1

I am not cut out for school. After I finished my BS, I assumed I would be done forever. But no, my chosen profession, librarian, has a strict Master’s Degree requirement. So over the last year and a half, I’ve been slowing working my way through a Master’s of Library Science. But the people that run this school are not making it easy.

First, I was sent a “new student orientation email” detailing the hours when the student ID office was open. So I drive the 75 miles to the school to get my ID. But silly me, those hours don’t apply in the summer, even though the “new student orientation email” said they did. But eventually, that was all sorted out.

Then the next semester I wanted to sign up for an on-the-job “Special Project” that would give me credit for creating a website for a local book group. Signups for Special Projects can only be done in person, so I trudge the 75 miles to the school again only to be told that there is a double secret registration date for Special Projects that is well after the registration date for classes. But seeing my plight (and after plenty of begging), they agreed to hold onto my application and process it on the double secret registration date without me being there in person.

My third semester went off without a hitch, but this week has been a true kick in the teeth from several different directions.

I signed up for a video distance learning class that would take place locally. So on the night of the first class I trudged out in 10 degree cold to the building where the video center was (and had been for years). But wait! The building is completely locked up and the office workers that I (and the two other very cold students) coaxed to the door told us that nothing was scheduled in the video center for that night. But this was the location listed on the school’s website. And I checked my email before I left. There was no notice of any change to the schedule.

So the next day I call the school to find out what the hell is going on. Apparently the location was changed and “Didn’t you get the email sent out to all the students?” No, I didn’t and I double checked all email I got for the previous month just to be sure I hadn’t missed it. Nope, no email, no contact, no nothing. But at least now I know where the class is held.

Then I get an email from the professor saying he’s sorry about the mixup and that he won’t hold it against us (how fucking generous!). He then sends a copy of the syllabus to us in Word 2007 format (which is unreadable with the version of OpenOffice I’m using and to anyone that doesn’t have a previous version of Word) and informs us the book is available at the bookstore (again, 75 miles away).

I could order the book on Amazon, but it wouldn’t arrive before the next class and I really wanted to catch up. So (on my day off) I trudge 75 miles to buy the book at the bookstore. Nope. The book is out of stock because my moron professor didn’t order enough copies for all of the students that signed up for the class.

So here’s a hearty fuck you to the morons that run my grad school. I know modern librarians are all about busting “librarian stereotypes,” but the stereotype of a librarian as an organized, put-together person is a good stereotype.

I don’t even know how to end this other than to say I really wish I could quit school right now and pay someone to take the classes in my place. It’s just a stupid piece of paper, I’m not even learning anything. Can’t I just fire up ye olde laser printer and make a degree myself?

2

So you’ve completed your BS and you’re just now discovering that the education system is run by idiots? :dubious:

3

I developed these nifty rules for dealing with the university about halfway into my second semester.

  1. Don’t trust what the computer tells you, get a live person, even if that takes extra effort.

  2. NEVER accept the phrase “It’ll probably be fine.”

  3. If something someone in an office tells you sounds weird ('bout 100% of the time), ask the question “So if this turns out to be wrong, its your fault, right? What’s your name BTW?”.

This last one works surprisingly well, but I’ve never used it without a touch of humour. Gets them on the phone and computer double-checking for you.

University bureaucracy people aren’t human, they’re some cross between bastard and orc.

4

Library school is a dumb thing that you have to pay for and sit through so you can have the job you want. Once you accept this, it goes a little smoother. (Don’t worry, you won’t learn anything there you need on the job anyway. Trust me on this one.)

5

I feel for you, my friend. University and college administration issues can be a nightmare of brobdingnagian proportions.

Still, if i lived 75 miles from the campus, i’d probably get on the phone and call someone before i made the trip to the office or the bookstore.

6

Yep. It’s time to stop blaming the university for future mix-ups (because it won’t do you any good) and start verifying things before you make the trip.

7

Thirded. It’s your own damn fault for not calling ahead.

Why are you going to a school 75 miles away?

8

Because it is the closest school with a Library Science program.

As for why I didn’t call ahead, well…

In the case of the ID, the email I received was from an administrator who’s sole purpose is to get new students acclimated to the policies and programs of the school. It’s her job to know these things, why should I second guess it?

As for the book, again, I was contacted by the professor. He told the books were in stock. The professor orders the books, so if he tells me they’re in stock, wouldn’t a reasonable person assume he ordered enough for the entire class?

9

Just to be clear, I don’t think it has been his fault, but I do think that future occurrences will be.

And he’s probably going to a school 75 miles away because he’s working.

10

Up to now (or a little before) this attitude is fine.

From now on, this attitude is foolish since you already know (or should) not to make these assumptions.

11

Agreed.

12

Justin;

I don’t know how it works at your school, but at mine, while the Professor does indeed order the book, in no way, shape or form does he/she decide how many copies are actually ordered. The number ordered is determined by someone, somewhere based on secret calculations, ritualistic sacrifices and/or the mulling thru of the entrails of fowl or possibly flounders.

In my 20 years of experience the number of books ordered vs the number of students enrolled wishing to purchase said book has never come close to being equal.

sinjin

13

As a program administrator and professor, I can empathize with your annoyance. But at the same time, chalk it up as a lesson. ID offices and the like are notoriously odd to work with in the summer or during intersession - call ahead next time. In fact, when you’re heading out 75 miles to campus, call ahead to make sure you’re not wasting gas.

Administrators are human and do make mistakes. No one will take offense if you call more than once, or ask to speak to the people directly in charge of what you’re trying to accomplish. All universities have layers of bureaucracy and very few people know how it all works together. As someone far away, it would make a lot of sense to make some friends in your departmental office (the secretaries) and the important offices (financial aid, registrar). As well as a buddy who is close to campus and can run the occasional errand for you.

I don’t know how it is with your professor, but I have office hours and students rarely come by. Stop by and get to know him/her, explain your situation, and see if he/she will help. I had a student who commuted from another city for classes, and I made a point of getting her everything she needed online, just because I didn’t want her traveling back and forth for minutiae that residential students could pick up easily. I’ve lent books and equipment to students simply because they asked. Don’t ask that the prof do anything special; just see what he/she says, given the distance you have to travel, etc. I know my colleagues in my department (for the most part) would do quite a bit to help out if they knew the situation - and it’s a office hours kind of conversation, not an e-mail one.

As someone noted upthread, profs simply inform the bookstore of the course readings. The bookstore uses the class cap to decide how many books to order. Sometimes, there’s problems with the book up the food chain and everyone is put out. (I ordered a book published in 2006 for a course last semester - from a large publisher. The book was out of print! I even called the author and he was surprised the book couldn’t be tracked down.)

Check to see if the book is available at your library or a local one, or if a classmate will let you borrow his/hers and copy the first few chapters, then order via Amazon. Heck, if you called me and explained the situation, I’d let you borrow my copy and do what you needed to do.

The complaint about the syllabus being in Word format? Come on, you could have sent an e-mail asking for it in PDF format. NBD.

14

What a bummer. Am I the only one who enjoyed library school a lot and learned tons? (Mine did have a rep as a practical, hands-on program.) I had neat professors, mostly, and was better at grad school than I was at undergrad.

15

I hate every minute of it. I’m learning nothing (everything I’m being taught I learned long ago on the job) and everyone I work with tells me it’s something I have to put up with until I get that piece of paper that the state says I need to do the job I’ve been doing for the last year.

It’s exhausting.

16

Also, distance ed is very common in library science programs, as many people choose librarianship as a second career and tend to work while in school.

17

I am current attending school for a Master’s of Information Studies degree and I fully agree with the OP, library school is run by morons!!!

Small list of examples from my school:

Class where each student needs a computer. Computers in classroom, 30. Class enrollment total, 50. First day of class, appeal from professor for students to drop the class.

In August, constant emails reminding us to look at the course schedule and to sign up for class as soon as the signup date arrives. Done and done. Go to signup the minute registration is open, OHHHHH! some moron changed the timetable the night before. WTF?!

Now on to stories from my faculties library.

Pay $1.50 fine. I pay it there because on my campus the library you pay your fine to keeps the money. Today, go to take out a book, librarian reminds me I have a fine. hun?

Go to take out a short-term loan. Confusion. Why? Computer says the book is in, it isn’t. Yep, the librarian library lost a book.

Take out a short-term loan today. Hour later librarian approaches me and kindly asks if she could copy down the book’s barcode. Apparently she never actually lent it out to me.

Oh, and for summer registration. Well, there is no timetable posted yet. Only a tentative draft, subject to change. And even if there was a final timetable available, we can’t enroll until mid-March. Yeah, that is reasonable. I can either plan on going to school in the summer, not knowing which class are going to be offered and when, or I can try to get a summer job and extend this hell of librarian school another term.

18

Here, you tell the bookstore what books you want, and how many copies they should order. Which is how it should be.

Our campus bookstore is a major national chain, and is essentially granted a monopoly over the student population. The very least they can do is make sure that they order the number of books that the teacher thinks is necessary for the class. I’m teaching a course this semester, and i’m not interested in having some bookstore employee second-guess how many people might be in my class. If they don’t like the idea of having enough copies for everyone at the start of the semester, they shouldn’t have gone after the campus bookstore contract in the first place. I’d prefer that they have to send ten copies back to the publisher than that some of my students spend the first three weeks without their books.

I sort of agree, although i think that college teachers should actively seek to ensure that all their digital materials are available in a format that does NOT require expensive software. I make sure that my syllabus and all other downloadable files are available as OpenOffice and/or PDF documents. I realize that Microsoft dominates the market, but i’m not interested in aiding them in their virtual monopoly.

19

You assume that other campuses let the prof control the room size, the location, and the number of students! I don’t know how many times I have had to walk around to find the class I was teaching because it got moved at the last minute to accomodate more students for me, or I was under-subscribed so they gave me less room and the other more popular prof more room. Ordering enough books is an art, sadly. It COULD be run better, but that would take hiring some decent employees at a good rate to run the prediction engines.

BTW - there is a patch for the older versions of Word that lets you read Word 2007 files. To make a PDF, the professor has to buy the software - it isn’t created for free. Assuming that all of your students have Word is not that evil of an assumption in this day and age, especially since you can buy them cheap from the bookstore as part of MSFTs “hook them young” strategery.

20

But, as you mentioned yourself, you can get it on Amazon. If the professor ordered a copy for every student in the class, there would almost certainly be some unsold ones.

Amazon will do Next-Day shipping. Surel the extra cost is well worth not having to waste several hours and however much gas it takes to travel 75 miles there and back, no?

I’m curious how that works. Can’t the students work Amazon’s website?