The end of the world

As most of you know, whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, or real life social interactions (do those even exist these days...?) I just finished applying for grad school!

Halle-freakin-lujah.

It's grad school. I knew I was going to have to sacrifice my blood, sweat, and social life in order to complete my applications, but no one EVER warned me that I would be required to surrender every ounce of sanity I possess. Some would argue it wasn't much to begin with. 

Want to know why it was such an ordeal? Great. Let me tell you all about it.

So...last semester I was in a political science class. Halfway through the semester my professor found out that he was being fired. For what reason? No clue. It's a lot easier to put the pieces together now though...anyway, I felt like he stopped caring. He went on a gazillion more tangents than usual (that is REALLY saying something if you know this professor) and he wasn't entirely motivated to grade our work. Thank goodness for a wonderful TA! We had an 8 page paper due at the end of the semester, and we also had an essay, plus 2 shorter essays as part of our final. In Layman's terms...there was a lot of reading that needed to be done before grades to be submitted. He told us that our grades wouldn't be finalized before Christmas, but that they should show up around New Years. I knew that I needed to send my transcripts in sooner rather than later, so I shot him an e-mail that essentially said, "Hey, I'm applying for graduate school...I need to send my transcripts in...can you take care of my grade before you dive into the rest of them?" He replied right away and said that he would take care of it the next day, so I never gave it a second thought. 

DUN. DUN. DUUUUUUUUN.

Always- ALWAYS give things a second thought.

New Years rolls around, I check my grades, AND I HAVE AN "F." (Technically I have an "E" but it's the equivalent of an "F" in BYU terms.)

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT "F" DID TO MY GPA?! IT KILLED IT. Destroyed. Dead. Shot. Kaput. Goooooone. 

I found this out about...a week and a half before my applications needed to be turned in? I sent him an e-mail asking if he took care of the grade, and it just hadn't shown up on the official records yet, or what was going on. Wanna know what was awesome. He never said anything back! I sent him one more e-mail a couple days later, and when I still didn't get a reply I called my mom officially freaking out. She suggested that I call the Academic Vice President and 6 phone calls later, I was finally talking to the right person-not the Academic VP if you were wondering. As luck would have it; my ONLY stroke of luck last week, the person I ended up talking to just happened to be one of my professors who is also the Assistant Dean in the College of Life Sciences. She was an absolute doll, and did everything she could to reassure me that things would be worked out. Apparently I sounded pretty distraught over the phone. She told me that a stack of grade requests had been taken to the registrars office that day, but there was really no way of knowing if mine was one of the ones that was in the stack. She said if it was my grade would show up on Monday, but until then I would just have to cross my fingers, pray a LOT, and hope for the best. In the mean time she said she would begin composing a memo for the Social Work admissions committee explaining the situation.  

I was pretty convinced that my transcript situation wouldn't get fixed in time and that the admissions committee would think I was a terrible student with no chance at a masters degree, instead of a decent student with half a chance at a masters degree.     

It would be pretty fitting to say my stress levels were through the roof. And I DON'T get stressed. I'm the cool and collected type remember? I was the most frustrated that the situation could have been completely avoided. I knew that I needed my grade to be turned in, I tried to take care of it, but the cards just weren't playing out right. I called my dad to complain....yeah. That didn't help me. At all. The most helpful things he said during our whole conversation- very sarcastically mind you- was, "Ooooh. Sounds like you need to get a stiff drink and relax." Thanks dad. Thanks. 

Monday rolled around, I checked my grade, and what do you know, nothing was there but that big fat F. I called my professor back to find out what the plan of attack was going to be, and guess what? No answer! At that point, all the panic, frustration, stress and annoyance completely left me. I felt beaten. I had done all I could, and it just wasn't enough. I began to question the choice I had made to even apply for grad school. I thought I had made the right decision, but what if somewhere down the line I had ignored a prompting, or misinterpreted a feeling I had. I WANT to further my education. I WANT to make a difference in people's lives, but it obviously wasn't worth it....all the time spent writing essays, filling out paper work, requesting letters of recommendation, it was all for nothing. I didn't feel like pulling my hair out and screaming. I just felt like slowly sliding down the wall and crying. It was a hard time for me. 

My professor called me back eventually and asked me to come to her office at noon on Tuesday-the day applications were due. I had NO clue what to expect. Honestly, I wasn't hopeful or expecting a lot. I had come to terms with the fact that although I was graduating, this year would not be the year I applied for grad school. My professor sat me down and explained everything.

That lady went to bat for me. Holy smokes.

When she wasn't calling me back, she was busy writing the memo to the admissions committee. This memo needed to include what my grade should have been, as well as my adjusted GPA. Whelp, thanks to a wonderful law called FERPA, my professor wasn't legally allowed to tell her. I don't know what kind of magic she worked, and frankly I don't care, but she somehow convinced him that my world was ending and that he NEEDED to tell her what my grade was. And he did. Who needs laws and privacy policies right...? When she finally extracted that information from him, she called the academic advisement center and explained to the head lady what was going on, and asked her to recalculate my GPA. 

Here's where the silver lining begins to shine.

Not only did the academic advisement lady figure out what my GPA should have been, but she took it a step further. She told my professor that she had a meeting at 3 o'clock that afternoon and the head of the registrars office would be there. For all you people (like me before this whole experience) who don't know what the registrars office is, or what they do. THEY ARE THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE OF GRADES. This saint of an academic adviser said that after her meeting, she would take my information directly to the head of the registrars office and ask him to personally submit the information. Now, get this. While all of that was going on, my professor would also have a meeting with non other than....wait for it...the head of admissions for the MSW program. WHAT?! Unreal. She talked to the very lady that will be reviewing my application and explained the craziness that was going on, as well as put in a good word for me ;)

It was noon when I found all this out. I still technically didn't have a grade, but things were looking up. At 5 o'clock, 5 hours before my applications needed to be in, my grade appeared. The stars had aligned, my prayers had been answered, and things managed to work themselves out. 

I got an A- in the class. Not an F. Not even a B which is the grade I was expecting.

So...all's well that ends well. 

I signed my electronic signature (I've never really understood that), I paid my 50 dollars, and I saw the beautiful words "Thank you for submitting your application to the BYU School of Social Work. Your application has been received." It was DONE. Finally.  

After only one major melt down, and of course a few minor ones...I finally have that weight off my shoulders. Lauren and I celebrated by getting shakes and onion rings at JCW's-our fat food of choice. If you are a lover of all things onion rings, you NEED to get them. 

Now...the waiting game begins.

Stay tuned. April 1st.

If you are wondering what happened to the professor who made this whole ordeal possible, he is in BIG trouble. Other students applying for grad school fell into my same position and had to jump through hoops, students who normally qualify for financial aide or scholarships couldn't get the money because according to records, they got an F and as we all know, F's don't get scholarships, and worst of all, some students were not able to graduate. When December graduation rolled around, their transcripts still showed an F with no credit received for the class. I am thanking my lucky stars I didn't fall into that category. 

PS: Today I delivered a Thank You card and German Chocolate fudge to the wonderful professor that took it upon herself to make sure my transcripts were submitted with the right grade on them. I owe her my life. Or my future education. Whatever. 

PPS: For those of you who had to put up with my melt downs, or saw dramatic self pitying posts on Facebook, sorry bout that. I've reached my quota for the year.