I am thinking of switching majors from Computer Science to Bioinformatics. I sent the Biological Sciences advisor an email asking about the program, and she emailed me back stating that I need to have at least a combined 3.0 GPA in BIOL141 (Intro to Biology), BIOL302 (Cellular Biology), CHEM101, CHEM102, CMSC201 (Computer Science I), and MATH151 (Calculus I).
Okay, makes sense. It’s a demanding discipline. Here’s the kicker, though: If I’ve retaken any of the courses for a better grade (which I have), then both grades are factored into the required GPA.
So seven years ago when I was a lazy and careless student, I got a D in BIOL141 at community college. Four years later when I learned to straighten up and study, I got an A (and a very flattering letter of recommendation from the professor). Yet they still want to count that D.
I was a much different caliber of student seven years ago (I’m a B+ student now). I can’t see how it has any impact on how well I’d do in their program.
I took a first aid course in yr ten. My teacher told us it was impossible to blow air into someone’s stomach while administering cpr.:smack: I corrected her on it, and she didn’t believe me, even showing a book explaining how it happens. :smack::smack:
I am not very good at math but with a good teacher I can muddle through. For the track I was on I needed to take math through Calculus with Analytic Geometry. To start I had to take Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra and then College Algebra. I also had to take Trigonometry, which I think was a prerequisite for the Calc class. Anyway, as I said I’m terrible and had to retake both the elementary and intermediate (got D’s). I took them in a lab class where everyone works at their own pace and gets individual help. Then I got to College Algebra and we had a tenured instructor who started writing crap on the board that wasn’t in the book, a math nerd in the class said he was teaching calculus. I wasn’t ready for calculus! I tried to study on my own from the book but I had no one to go to for help -the old instructor was no help after class - and learning on my own wouldn’t help me pass his tests.
Most of the class dropped, I tried to stick it out but I changed to audit so I wouldn’t get a failing grade. I hoped that sticking it out might help me when I retook the class. We had about 5 people left near the end, 4 math nerds and me. Then they hand out evaluations, since the remaing nerds liked him I knew evaluations weren’t any good. I was so upset by his methods that I spoke to a Dean. They said he always gets good evaluations, I said that’s because he only has 4 people left at evaluation time and they understand him, 90% of the class drops before that. Well, he was tenured so they wouldn’t fo anything. Some others suggested he taught the way he did because he knew he wouldn’t be fired and he wouldn’t have as much work to do with only a few students left in his classes.
I retook the class with someone else and passed with a C. Then I took Trig with a good teacher and got an A. I finally got to calculus, had an excellent teacher that was always available for extra help and I got a B. I made sure to give those instructors good evaluations.
My university decided to stop accepting credit/debit cards for tuition payment starting next semester. Which strikes me as the stupidest, most backwards-stepping decision ever.
Oh, come on. Surely you can find greater stupidity by college professors/administrations than THAT! Try this one on for size:
After enrolling in our Nursing program, we were informed that there would be an additional 8 tests (called HESI tests) that we’d have to pay to take. HESI tests are assessment tests, and they’re designed to be predictive of a student’s ability to pass the NCLEX - the licensing exam for RNs. Most schools offer their students HESI testing so they can see where they need to brush up on their knowledge before taking the “test that counts”, the NCLEX. A few schools factor in one or more of the HESI tests into the classroom grades.
Our school makes passing the HESI a requirement for graduation. So they have a wonderful pass rate on the NCLEX, because they don’t let anyone graduate who might struggle with it.
(That’s not the stupidity part. The stupidity part is coming up.)
So about 3 months ago, a few weeks into our first semester of second (final) year, we’re told that The Administration has decided that the final comprehensive HESI exam will be a whopping 18% of our grade in Nursing 225 (classroom tests are worth 12%), and yes, we must still pass the HESI in order to graduate.
And the final comprehensive test will be administered at Midterm of the final semester. No retakes.
…
…
(Think about it.)
…
Yes, the teachers did point out to The Administration that this meant we’d be tested on material we hadn’t covered yet. The Administration doesn’t care. They refuse to move the date of the test, despite the howls of outrage among the students, calls from lawyers and the Board of Higher Education (remember, this all came up as significant changes to the course catalog AFTER we’d signed on as students) and the pleading of the faculty. Nope, not gonna change. And the kicker? The real fucking kick in the throat? *Other *schools in our district (City Colleges of Chicago) don’t have to pass HESI to graduate, and their grades can only go up from a good score, not down from a bad one. :smack:
We’re still in the middle of it. By which I mean, the students are still howling, the teachers are sympathetic, but claiming their hands are tied, and The Administration has refused to move the date.
Our final semester begins January 18. Midterms are somewhere in March, I believe.
But as I am a college administrator, I must work hard to keep our most egregious acts of stupidity to myself. And now I’m holding your university in my heart as the gold standard of stupidity to live up to (or stay away from).
And tehy were never able to apply the scholarship I earned toward tuition, which was the pull of the thread which lead to my life completely unraveling.
Get ahold of your state board of nursing and tell them what’s going on. While they are vicious old battleaxes, they are FAIR vicious old battleaxes, and they scare the bejeebus out of any school admin when they frown.
I guess this isn’t too horrible, but it hit close to home and makes me angry.
My friend had known for years she wanted to go into teaching, and she had excellent marks through both high school and university. You need two years of study to apply to the College of Education. She went to her academic advisor and was told she was missing one class to be able to apply. The same advisor was the one who told her which classes she needed to take earlier to be admitted!
It totally shattered my friend. We joke she’s like an ice queen, never showing a negative emotion, but she was so upset she wouldn’t even entertain trying to get around it. I mean, she had exceptional marks and might have been able to take the class during summer school. Or she could have gotten a conditional acceptance from the Dean.
She’s one of the smartest people I know, and now she’s a glorified telemarketer because she had never ‘failed’ anything in her life and didn’t know how to deal with not having all her ducks in a row.
LOL, I know, right? It’s just so stupid as to be unbelievable. Even my 10 year old niece saw the problem with it when I was telling the story at a party, before I got to the point after the …'s in my post. :smack:
The thing that gets me is that generally speaking when schools do stupid shit like this, you can kinda see their point of view. Making the test mandatory for graduation? Stupid from a student’s point of view, but look at it from an Administrator’s, and you see why they’d do it: they want to keep their NCLEX pass rate very high, because that’s something prospective students look for. Averaging grades from multiple attempts at a class? Again, stupid for a student, but Adminstration wants to account for all of your coursework, not just the stuff you’re proud of.
But a comprehensive final at midterm? I just can’t get my head around it, even if I put on my old School Administrator hat. (I used to be the Chief Admin at a small private vocational school.)
We had a Dean that pronounced specific as “pacific”. Whenever she said “Let me be very [pacific].” We’d say stuff like “Why do you want to be an ocean?”. She had other words she mispronounced, too, which we also teased her about. I can’t remember them all. It’s a wonder we weren’t expelled.
WhyNot, I’m wondering if your school gets money for administering the tests. Thus, the more HESI tests the students take, the more money the school makes. Just a thought.
This is a good example of why I have always felt that advisors are not to be trusted. When I was still in high school I had a couple of friends in college that got screwed over by listening to their advisors, though not that badly. So I decided that I wouldn’t bother with advisors during my college career. Entrance and degree requirements and such are clearly printed in college catalogs, anyway.
During my entire college career, which now spans more than 20 years of going on and off, the only times I have ever gone to an advisor is when I needed something signed. I think that’s happened four or five times. And during that time I’ve seen more people get told the wrong things by their advisors. FTR, I’m in my second year of working on my Master’s, and I’ve not seen “my” advisor at all. I don’t plan to unless I’m forced.
Not only is it a demanding discipline, but it’s in high demand, and they need some way to cap enrollment. The same thing was happening in computer science twelve years ago.
Do you as well?