02 Feb
School Kinks
Yesterday I applied for BYU for the 3rd time. The first was when I was a Senior in high school. I opened my acceptance letter in the kitchen and screamed. The second was shortly after I had recovered from the pneumonia that forced me to withdraw. I filled out another application and worked the rest of the year as a waitress, nervous I wouldn’t be able to go back again. When the letter came I didn’t scream, but there was a huge sigh of relief.
This go-around was a bit or a surprise. I thought I had worked everything out with the BYU counselor I conversed with back in August, but she failed to mention that I couldn’t just go back to BYU (silly me). After being gone for almost 4 years I had to reapply. This I discovered when I woke up at 1:00 am to grab spots in my Summer term classes, and was told that I couldn’t register and needed to contact admissions. The next morning I was shocked when I was told that I needed to fill out a new application and go through the acceptance process once again. I scrambled to get in touch with two different ecclesiastical leaders, and feel lucky that I was able to get it all in before the deadline (yesterday, February 1st).
Now, I wait 3-4 weeks and hold my breath, hoping that everything I’ve been working toward will go as smoothly as it has in the past. If they reject me, I plan to petition, and I think I have a good case so right now I’m planning to return in June and walk in August.
Yesterday I also took my first Statistics midterm. I never feel good after tests, and I’m a notoriously poor test-taker, but I’m proud that I made it from starting the class to the first midterm in less than 10 days. If I work fast, I may be able to take the next one next week as well. I actually kind of like the class, but I’m very much looking forward to the day when school is behind me and life doesn’t have to be a constant stream of “Honey, you’re home? Okay, I’m going to lock myself in the office now,” and “Can’t talk right now, the baby is sleeping and I need to do be working on my math.”
T1 last night. 2012 is going to be my year for seamless flash experiences at weddings and portrait sessions, so help me Saint Veronica. My goal is to set up everything 10x in a row, with no issues. Those killer cake cutting photos will be MINE. I’m having issues with my CyberSyncs, and so I think I’ll move back to my PocketWizards. Any CyberSync experts reading and want to help me troubleshoot my issues?
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
I hope everything works out for the best!
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1Good luck…
I am also dying to hear more about your Awakening Series.
Is it one post per week Ms. Jenna? Seriously LOVE this series.
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 8:33 am
I skipped this week. The next one will go up next Wednesday
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You are back now? What happened the past week? It seems like you fell off the face of the earth! I missed your posts.
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3I hope everything is ok. It felt like you disappeared there for a while. Was it just the scramble of reapplying that took up your time?
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Remember when I said I was going to cut back on blogging/internet time because of school? Last week I was *really* good at it, and I made good progress. I guess we’ll see if I can buckle down again
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Jenna- that heart stopping “omg-there-is-a-deadline-&-paperwork-no-one-told-me-about-despite-all-of-my-organization-&-planning (>BREATHE<) i-will-KILL-whoever-didn't-do-their-job-to-tell-me" moments i have lived several times! I hate those moments. And like you i have barely skimped passed them despite my heart dropping and all the frustration and evil stink eye i give to the universe for the un necessary aggravation! Ha. See perfected stink eye
(O_o)
Anyhow. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that this is the last minor bump in the road.
And you know how you described the whole husband coming home and you going to study whil the baby is sleeping thing? Doesn't your hubby do he same thing too? Lock himself up to study/put himself in a solitary corner to focus? Just curious. Cuz he is in school still right? So the BOTH of you are now studying right? Talk about a hectic household of studiers!
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:33 pm
He is (luckily) not working and just going to school, so with all the time he spends away from the house he gets everything done. He does most of his studying at school
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Katy Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:57 pm
I work at a university so perhaps I’m a little sensitive, but it’s our policy (and every college’s policy as far as I know) that the onus is on the student to be responsible for knowing the deadlines that apply to their educational goals. It’s easy to blame someone for not “doing their job,” but that’s usually just an excuse.
/rantover
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Katherine (a.k.a Sparkles) Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 7:40 pm
Ha Katy.
Ya i know. But sometimes the most OBVIOUS questions a student has is sometimes overlooked. Wouldnt you say? And while i am not BLAMING anyone, it’s just one of those student frustrations of “oh crap- i didnt think to ask- but why couldn’t they brin it up in case I forgot to think about it” type thing.
Plus i wasn’t taking a stab at college workers. Except i could name the time at UCLA where they messed up on my student loan filings which landed me on like FIVE WAIT LISTs of required courses because of ONE BUTTON the loan counselor didnt press to submit to release my funds from his end caused all my courses to be dropped… Very much one heart un neccesary heart stopping moment.
That was one example I was drawing from where it was completely out of my control despite all my organization and open communication about my endowment funding for my education with the financial aid officer.
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I hope you’re able to get back into BYU (even though I went to the U
I know how stressful that can be. We missed you last week!
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6Glad the Stats midterm is behind you. You’re going to work out all the school kinks, I know it. Might be some curveballs along the way, but T1, TH and your families will be so proud when you walk!! That degree is forever.
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7Oh man, how scary and frustrating to discover you had to reapply! I guess it makes SENSE, but I kind of also figured that if you got into a school ONCE, you’d be in for life!
Glad you got everything submitted. I hope things go very smoothly and that you ace your midterm!
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8Last I heard, BYU is open enrollment for spring and summer terms…meaning you do have to apply, but that everyone is accepted. My husband used to work at the admissions office, and that was the policy a few years ago anyway… maybe it’s changed. Oh well, good luck!
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Apparently my application has me pitted against everyone reapplying for BYU for fall semester as well, which made me so nervous (there was no space to make it clear that I was going to graduate in August). Keeping my fingers crossed!
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AmyLynne Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Oh wow! Yeah I was looking at the website to see if I could find what I was talking about, but it looks like they have majorly changed the deadlines and the way they do things since he worked there!
I’ll keep ya in my prayers! I HATE when I get “kinks” in a major plan I have!!
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I’m sure will you get in
3rd times a charm, right? T1 is so cute in that picture!
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10I hate that feeling of realizing there is something you have to do so last minute! The semester I was graduating with my masters I went to talk to the department graduate coordinator and he asked if I had my second language classes done (apparently I had somehow gone TWO years without anyone telling me that it was necessary to do a second language requirement to the 300 level) and I sat there like a deer in headlights. I told him I knew Spanish and he said “well certainly you have taken a Spanish class that would count then, correct?” But I hadn’t. He told me I could either take a class exemption test the following week or I would have to enroll in a Spanish 202 and 315 class which with graduate tuition would have been an extra couple thousand dollars. I hadn’t taken Spanish since high school but I decided to take the test since I had kept up with it through traveling and talking with my friends who are from Spanish speaking countries. Long story short I took the test a week later an passed, but that knot-in-your-stomach feeling is the worst thing! Fingers crossed for you that everything works out!
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11No worries Jenna! I worked with the admissions office after graduating from BYU, and former students (who reapply and have their endorsement) are essentially automatically readmitted. You have to go through the formalities, but it’s basically automatic. I worked with the students who had been suspended for having poor grades, and they were always stressed when I explained that they had to reapply, then reassured when I told them I’ve never seen a former student rejected, even when they had a 0.08 GPA
. Hope that eases your worries a bit.
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Lisa Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 9:49 am
I meant to also add that it’s in BYU’s best interest to have you graduate because it looks better for their statistics.
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Sophia Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 10:53 am
This is true!
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:34 pm
This brought me SO MUCH peace of mind. Thank you thank you for taking some time away from that sweet little girl of yours to let me know this.
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No wonder you’ve taken a leave of absence from the blog! Best of luck to you.
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13Oh you’re right — I totally forgot about the two semester rule. I bet you get an answer pretty quickly because you will be in a different pile of returning students.
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14I hope it goes smoothly (from here…). I can’t believe they made you reapply after you were sick. That’s weird and cruel.
As far as the BYU statistics, I think they usually look at the number of students that graduate within 6 years, so Jenna doesn’t really help that…
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15Just curious, I know you never really dropped out, it was more like you switched to web classes and then never followed through if I remember correctly. Anywho, when you stopped pursuing the degree, did they reach out to you? Did they encourage you to come back or to finish? Do they offer support or outreach for students who leave campus before they graduate?
Also, what happened with your college girlfriends? Did some of them stop going too? Did you miss being there with them senior year?
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Jenna Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 7:12 pm
BYU has a pretty large number of women leaving without finishing after they get married, but I’ve never heard of any sort of “outreach program”.
My college girlfriends have all graduated by now! Most did so shortly after I got married.
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one more thought. if you walk when you graduate, you should have a big college reunion party! We have a friend who had to graduate a year late and we had a big party back on campus for him. Of course, maybe that’s easier to pull off one year after graduation…
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17Good luck, Jenna
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18Wow! How stressful. I think everyone has one of those experiences in college at some point. I remember going from office to office fighting to take a certain upper-division class slightly early (there was a stupid rule in the biz school) only to be told no repeatedly because I was a business major. Then I found a loophole (no time restrictions for business minors), so I dropped my major, changed to a minor, got into the course no questions asked, and picked up the major again next semester.
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