It looks like the old saying of “If you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself” is true.
Let me explain.
The end of the school year is fast approaching. On June 3, many students will close their books for the last time, finishing their studies at Antelope Valley College and leaving for greener pastures.
I will be among them, waiting for my last class to end so I can get on with my life. Cue the “Pomp and Circumstance,” right?
Wrong. This will be the second time I have “finished” school at AVC, and it looks like there may be a third time.
In the spring of 2009, I graduated AVC with an Associates Degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences. I had also taken all of my California State University transfer units. Or so I thought.
One year later, as I applied to graduate from California State University, Bakersfield, I was told by the counselors at CSUB that an AVC science class I had taken way back in the winter of 2008 did not meet their requirements for science.
I was completely shocked, because the counselor I had seen at AVC had said it would count. The counseling office had even “CSU Certified” my transcript before sending it to CSUB.
On a return trip to the AVC Counseling Center, I asked to speak with the counselor who made the error. I learned that AVC no longer employed the counselor. Gee, I wonder why.
Flash forward to this spring. I have since taken the appropriate science class, which still bugs me because the first science class I took in the winter of 2008 means absolutely nothing. I am all set to finally move on from AVC for good, and even graduate from CSUB. Cue the “Pomp and Circumstance,” right?
Wrong. I am now learning that one of my transferable communications classes might not be transferable after all. There is a debate about which articulation agreement this particular class falls under. I took this class in the summer, between the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 years.
If the administrators use the 07-08 agreement, the class is accepted and I will be done with AVC and will graduate from CSUB. If they use the 08-09 agreement, it means more school for me, and probably more angry rants like this one.
What are they doing in that counseling office? It is their job to know things like which classes can transfer and which cannot. Savvy students will want to check and double check with whatever school they are planning on transferring to, just to make sure there are no mistakes.
The bad counseling issue does not seem to be isolated at AVC. A search of the internet will return dozens of stories where college counselors unintentionally misled students.
One such instance, according to consumeraffairs.com, has a University of Phoenix student complaining that an enrollment snafu caused by a counselor resulted in that student losing three hard-earned credits.
I worked retail for many years, if any salesperson had made claims that were false, there would have been severe consequences. But at the end of that day, a consumer could just return the product and get a refund.
I also tried to get a refund for the extra class I had taken. It turns out that they don’t give refunds for counselors’ errors. Someone, somehow, sometime, must hold these people accountable.
Until that time comes, I will wait in a chair at the auditorium of CSUB on June 10, dressed in a cap and gown with my fingers crossed. I write this anonymously, but it may be easy to figure out who I am. I’ll be the one whose name isn’t called during the commencement ceremony.
Cue the “Pomp and Circumstance,” right?
-By Anonymous
