Thursday, September 22, 2005
Getting Through School
By Angela Generoso, Online Managing Editor
Finishing college in four years is the ultimate phenomenon.
Those who have done it, have done it with special circumstances. Meaning, they have had help, and they had a lot of time dedicated to their future planning.
According to an article last spring in xpress.sfsu.edu lack of advising is holding students back from successfully graduating from SF State in a timely fashion. In a study done a few years ago, only 38 percent of freshman who entered into SF State in 1998 graduated in 2003.
This means that SF State students need to start taking control of their advising. They need to see multiple advisors throughout their semesters to double check and make sure they are still on the right track.
I remember going to see an advisor last semester in the admissions office about my general education requirements. The woman honestly couldn't get through our session fast enough, and told me I would definately be able to graduate in the fall of 2005.
However, as I was filling out my own graduation application yesterday I happened to notice I was four units short of graduating this semester.
As journalism majors we are all required to have 83 non-journalism units as well as 37 journalism units to complete the 120 unit requirement for a bachelor's degree.
I had 79 non-journalism units and 50 journalism units.
The irony of the situation is so increadibly thick: I have too many journalism units to graduate with a journalism degree.
It takes the average student longer than four years to successfully complete their college education. Students are working more, jobs are becomming less available, and schools are toughening their requirements.
The majority of college students don't know what they want to do with their life, and for the most part, are aware that it isn't imperitive for them to know right out of high school.
San Francisco State University is notorious for holding students back an extra semester because of poor advising.
It's up to us as students to take control of our advising and make sure everything is accurate, have this accuracy double-checked, and then checked again. I blame no one but myself for the miscalculation in units, and am now suffering the consequences by adding two extra classes at the last minute.
No one wants to be held back an extra semester, and no one should have to. But if you're not taking control of the situation in your own hands, then it's no one's fault but your own.
Finishing college in four years is the ultimate phenomenon.
Those who have done it, have done it with special circumstances. Meaning, they have had help, and they had a lot of time dedicated to their future planning.
According to an article last spring in xpress.sfsu.edu lack of advising is holding students back from successfully graduating from SF State in a timely fashion. In a study done a few years ago, only 38 percent of freshman who entered into SF State in 1998 graduated in 2003.
This means that SF State students need to start taking control of their advising. They need to see multiple advisors throughout their semesters to double check and make sure they are still on the right track.
I remember going to see an advisor last semester in the admissions office about my general education requirements. The woman honestly couldn't get through our session fast enough, and told me I would definately be able to graduate in the fall of 2005.
However, as I was filling out my own graduation application yesterday I happened to notice I was four units short of graduating this semester.
As journalism majors we are all required to have 83 non-journalism units as well as 37 journalism units to complete the 120 unit requirement for a bachelor's degree.
I had 79 non-journalism units and 50 journalism units.
The irony of the situation is so increadibly thick: I have too many journalism units to graduate with a journalism degree.
It takes the average student longer than four years to successfully complete their college education. Students are working more, jobs are becomming less available, and schools are toughening their requirements.
The majority of college students don't know what they want to do with their life, and for the most part, are aware that it isn't imperitive for them to know right out of high school.
San Francisco State University is notorious for holding students back an extra semester because of poor advising.
It's up to us as students to take control of our advising and make sure everything is accurate, have this accuracy double-checked, and then checked again. I blame no one but myself for the miscalculation in units, and am now suffering the consequences by adding two extra classes at the last minute.
No one wants to be held back an extra semester, and no one should have to. But if you're not taking control of the situation in your own hands, then it's no one's fault but your own.
# posted by Phil Deez @ 12:12 PM 