I am pissed.

I’m pretty serious about this Vet thing now and have been trying to figure out how exactly I can do it.  I really don’t want to start my bachelors degree over again.  I also make a lot of money at my job and really can’t afford to quit it and go to school full time.  So, I made a list of all the classes I need as pre-requisites for the two programs I know I want to apply to, UPenn and Cornell.  Here they are:

Bio100
Bio101
Bio230 (Microbiology)
Bio300 (Biochemistry
Chem100
Chem101
Chem120 (Organic Chem)
Chem222 (Organic Chem)
Math150 (Calc)
Physics101
Physics110
Stat750 (Biostatistics)

Lets forget for a minute that the above course listing probably isn’t even possible…  There are about 4 classes you are supposed to take inbetween Bio101 and Bio230.  Problem is, I only need these very specific classes and I don’t want to spend 4 more years of full time study taking every Bio and Chem class inbetween.  sigh.

Plus, I also need to take Algebra since its a prequisite at Hunter for Calc.  In my head I thought, “oh, I’ll take Bio100 and Algebra this semester to start things off and see how it goes.”  That would have worked if a)Hunter’s online registration hadn’t crapped out on me and now all the labs are full and b)Algebra is a prerequisite of Bio100!  Awesome.  I even went to talk to this really nice guy in the Bio department and he was going to squeeze me into a lab… but thats not even going to work because I haven’t taken Algebra yet.  Lets not think about the fact that I took Algebra twice in High school.  That doesn’t matter, obviously.

So.  I decide to TRY not to freak out and figure I’ll take Algebra and a french class (oh yeah I need four of those too) this fall and go from there.  It sucks that Bio100 is only offered in the fall but maybe I could take it at another CUNY school that isn’t so rediculous?  Or maybe I’d do my Physics and Stat classes before the Bio… it sucks but I’ll have to figure it out. 

THEN.  Hunter online registration won’t even let me register for Algebra.  There are ZERO prequisite classes listed for Algebra.  It says something about a placement test or entrance/exit exam.  What the hell does that mean.  I took a basic Math class at BCCC so in my opinion that should suffice as a prequisite to Algebra… I mean how more basic can you get??  I called the registrar’s office to ask and SURPRISE SURPRISE the person I spoke to had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.  He mentioned I’d have to take some sort of placement exam maybe but that I should call Student Services and the Math Dept.  No answer at either line.

I think my real problem is that when I transferred to Hunter a whole bunch (basically ALL) of my credits transferred incorrectly.  My Math class is one of those.  My US History I and US History II classes transferred in as electives!  It was if they had a trained monkey look at my transcripts.  They really couldn’t have done a worse job.  I talked to an Academic Advisor my first semester and while he sort of explained the GER (Gen-eds) requirements he said I’d have to go to each individual department to get the credits switched to real classes.  Hey guess what, I work full time!  I haven’t even been able to declare my History major properly yet because the History Advisors office hours are Thursdays from 2pm-3pm. 

I am at such a loss right now.  There are supposedly three academic advisors on-call in the Advising office today after five so I will scoot over there to see if any of them can tell me what the hell I should do at this point. 

 I enjoy school but I really don’t want to go forever.  I just want to do these pre-requisites has quickly as possible because then I have another FOUR YEARS of full time school ahead of me for my doctorate.  And if I have to talk to another person in an administrative office at Hunter College I will probably gouge my eyes out.