Packrat’s Payoff
In some minor ways, particularly narcissistic ones, I am a bit of a packrat. Occasionally, the habit pays off, however. When I went to the UW on Wednesday to be advised, I learned, much to my dismay, that despite all of my credits being transfered, very few of them transfered to anything specific or useful. For example, my Physics 121, 220 (formerly 122), and 123 courses turned into generic “UW 1XX” and “UW 2XX” credit. Great if I’m looking for credits, but useless if I want to take any more physics classes. That example is especially vexing because the courses are, as near as I can tell, exact equivalents of UW’s Physics 121, 122, and 123.
However, the problem does not stop there; rather it is systematic: My Math 112H and 113H classes at BYU turned into only 124 and 125, even though both classes are 4 semester credits and cover everything in the three UW 124-125-126 series. But I’m not resting on that laurel alone – I also took Math 227, Multivariable Calculus, as BCC. This, if anything, was my sole weak point in completing the 124-125-126 series. So I have certainly covered the material. Furthermore, I took Math 208 and 238 at BCC, which translated into 300 level classes at UW, both of which require Math 126. So I have credit for classes that I am not allowed to take, because I haven’t fulfilled the 126 prerequisite. The same story is repeated for Computer Science (BYU’s CS 142 is exactly the same thing, as near as I can tell, to UW’s CS 142), Biology (I took major-course Microbiology at BYU, along with Biology 250 at BYU, yet I don’t have credit for Biology 180 yet), and Chemistry (I took major-course Chem 111H and 112 at BYU, which cover at least UW Chem 142 & 152, and I would argue, 162 as well, since the next step at BYU is OChem [I took 351 and got credit for it at the UW], and at UW, OChem comes after 162, so once again I have credit for a class that I can’t take yet due to prerequisites not matching up).
My Bioengineering adviser informed me that she thought the credit evaluator was having a bad day or was being lazy, but the result was that I would have to go around to each of the departments where I am seeking credit and talk to advisers there. I talked to several after my advising, and discovered that they wanted to see course syllabuses before making a decision.
Finally, to bring this article full circle, I just happen to still have every syllabus from every college class I have ever taken. There is yet hope that Ryan will be a Bioengineer and not an English major. Sometimes, being a narcissistic pack rat pays off.
September 9th, 2005 at 03:20:32 pm
I would have to agree that your credit evaluator was being *very* lazy. Well here’s hoping that someone there will pay a little closer attention and get you the credits you rightfully earned. Best wishes!
September 9th, 2005 at 08:33:51 pm
A nice lady from the UW admissions office called me today and helped smooth over a few things. First of all, she fixed a couple of the most glaring mistakes – namely, Physics credits showing up as generic UW credits, and Physics 121 not transfering over. However, she stalled at making any additional changes, stating that she would be overstepping her bounds and knowledge by giving me credit for classes outside of specific rules set up by each department for transfer credit. So while my task is now slightly smaller, I still will have the distinct pleasure of talking to advisors from at least 3 different departments before I can register for all of the classes I would like to register for, and another 2 departments before I can make sure this isn’t going to happen again in the future.
March 25th, 2006 at 12:18:30 pm
I am having the same problem, yet I did not save the syllabi. If you have them in electronic format, would you be so kind as to send them my way?
thank you, Erik Bjorn
bjorntrung@yahoo.com