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May 20, 2005
Nice Set
Brief history of my academic career - right out of high school, I did what the majority of kids do, and went to college, at The University of Texas. I lived with my cousin off-campus, and was making frequent trips home to Houston to see all my friends, who were either finishing up with senior years in high school, or who had decided to not go to college themselves. Study? Ummmm.... My cousin never did. (This might explain why he was on academic probation at the time, having been dismissed years earlier).
Ya see where this is going? It got worse when I met my now ex-husband in The History of Rock and Roll in my Spring '96 semester. Go to class? But why? There are so many other more enjoyable things to do....
That letter that said "don't come back for 5 years" hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh. You're serious, huh? Well. I suppose one of us should be.
I pretended to go to the local community college for a while (and I mean that, I litterally lied to my parents) but I bascially jumped into the corporate world and stayed there until one day I decided it was time to go back to school.
I can't say I've been properly motivated. In my learning skills class, we had to answer the question, "I'm in college because..." and list five reasons. As usual, I was truthful and blunt. My first one was
"I got really pissed off one day at work, and decided "fuck it, I don't need this anymore, I have a degree to finish anyway" - so I applied for re-admission, and here I am."
When I came in last semester and saw how low my GPA was...funny, I didn't remember having that much fun. I had to get it up to a 2.0 or I was going to get kicked out again, which meant getting all As (HA!) or, the liberal arts college allows you to "work off" your GPA down points, and as long as you make at least a 2.5 each semester, you're fine. I took math and astronomy to finish up my core requirements, thinking I'd be FINE. I had no grasp on the whole "build up the GPA" concept. I needed an A, B, C, and D. I got an A, C, C, D. And the boot again.
I wrote a very emotional appeal letter. John, being the writer, cleaned it up and made it much more professional and rational. I sent it off before I left for Hawaii and tried not to think about it. But as soon as I got back, the first thing I did was log on and check my e-mail.
this is your FINAL opportunity-- there will be no consideration of any further appeals.
I have been living on borrowed time...I've never felt like a "real" student. I've resisted buying t-shirts and sweatshirts even, knowing that there was a very real posibility that they would stand as reminders of my screwing up yet again. I've watched myself improve from last semester, yet still fail to do things that would make me succeed, and I've been so upset with myself for it. I booked Vegas knowing it was either going to be a big reward for myself, or the perfect place to drown my sorrows.
as long as you make a 2.5 on at least 12 hours in the Spring, you will be automatically continued for future semesters.
(9*3)=27+6=33/12=2.75
Who wants a t-shirt? 
Posted by April at May 20, 2005 04:13 PM
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Comments
Congrats, wtg.
I have plenty of shirts, thanks.
Posted by: Mike at May 20, 2005 04:42 PM
Congratulations! I went on a similar journey. I didn't have classes on Friday so the party started Thursday night. They didn't kick me out and I managed an AA degree but when I applied for a BA program I got rejected because my prior GPA was too low. Oh well, I'm kicking ass in community college and could probably get into a BA program if I wanted to.
Good job on the grades!
Posted by: April H. at May 20, 2005 06:47 PM
Come on! A C in a sociology class?
Just kidding, I got a D in intro to socsh. It was my very last class to get enough credit hours, and the prof was PISSED because it was the first summer he didn't spend in Belize because he lost his grant. Can you say scapegoat! It was the least useful class I had ever taken.
But fuck it, I graduated, with a 3.1 even.
Deep dark secret....once you graduate from college, nobody gives a shit what your grade point average was, unless you want to go to grad school.
Posted by: DuggleBogey at May 20, 2005 07:39 PM
Actually, I was asked in job interviews about my GPA, but Duggle's right, nothing since then. And I had to defense mine.... let's put it this way - you know in Animal House, when Belushi says "Seven years of college down the drain!"... well, Belushi was doing better than me...
BSN
Posted by: BSN at May 21, 2005 02:45 PM
Nice job. If you're anything like me, it will just hit you one day how easy it is to start doing all the things you purposely weren't doing up till that point. I sabotaged myself all the time until it was too late to end up with a nice GPA, but not too late to get a degree. I've only been asked for my transcripts once and it didn't stop me from getting the job, thankfully!
Congrats, and keep it up!
Posted by: Bob at May 22, 2005 07:34 PM
I went back and graduated from community college because I was told it would "help me advance". Now the requirements for the job I was looking have been bumped up to a MBA 
Grats on passing though!
Posted by: Drizztdj at May 23, 2005 11:45 AM
Congrats, April. UT booted me out twice. I had to write the same sort of letter to get into a different school, after they flat-out rejected me. Some kind of crap about wanting to make something of my life, etc. I managed to finish everything out a full 8 years after starting at UT. It can be done!
Looking forward to meeting you in Vegas.
Posted by: Jason at May 25, 2005 10:56 AM