I had a problem.
Life hasn’t been all roses and gravy since I graduated college with a BS in CS. Yes, Computer Science is a hot field. But my journey through that field has been not straight forward.
I graduated high school when I was 15. As impressive as that may sound, graduation came earlier in the year than did my birthday. So the year I graduated, I turned sixteen, just later that annum.
Sixteen may still sound a little young, but I can account for an additional year by telling you that I was homeschooled for grades 6-12 and the last year I was in “high school”, I did two years of work in one year. So now we’re at 17 years old, adjusted.
I’m not sure if I was able to start “a year early” because my birthday was above the cutoff date or not. Nor can I remember if I did two years of high school in one year back to back. Despite being 15 when I received my high school diploma, I’m not really that smart.
Case in point: my recent return to college to start work on a BA in History.
As those of you who keep up with the news know, student loan payments are coming due in October. Despite having had two good years in a row, I had several bad years in a row after graduating from college the first time: it’s one thing to know a field, another to have skill in a field and yet another to have connections that allow you to get started or level up in a field.
it’s one thing to know a field, another to have skill in a field and yet another to have connections that allow you to get started or level up in a field.
When I read that student loan payments would start in October, I thought, “If I go back to school at least part time, student loan payments will be deferred.”
At first, I thought about taking more computer science classes because there are a handful of classes I wasn’t required to take to graduate that I really need to have on my transcript if I ever decide to pursue a Masters in Computer Science. I wanted to take Computer Graphics this semester, but that requires Linear Algebra…which I never took. And I couldn’t get ahold of the professor teaching Computer Graphics to see if I could get a waiver and take the class without taking Linear Algebra first.
That then led to the thought, well, why not take History courses? I’ve wanted to pursue that subject, here’s an opportunity. So I signed up for Alabama History.
Well, actually…I wanted to sign up for American Government. But in order to register for classes, you have to copy the course number…and, it turns out, that despite having worked with computers for over 20 years, I copied the wrong number and wound up in Alabama History.
Now, I’ve lived in Alabama for over 20 years. I’m not saying that I know all there is to know about Alabama history. But let’s just say I didn’t think I’d have to work too hard in that class.
Well, it turns out that assumption was in error.
I’ll write a separate post about it because I want to expand on the reasons and remedies, but suffice it to say that the first of three books that was required reading in that class was not easy to get into–so much so, it was the reason I dropped the class.
Now, having attended a few colleges in my lifetime, I thought I had 2 weeks to drop a class and get a full refund. But it turns out that the institution I’m attending only allows you to get a refund (and even then, I think it’s a partial refund) if you drop within the first 6 days of class. (For those of you from Cal-i-forn-i-a, The People’s Republic Thereof®™, that means during the first week and then the first day of the second week of class.)
So now, I’m at less then half-time, owe the full tuition for two classes and will have student loans resume in October.
FML.