almost a soap

a certain uni i will not name is being a real pain. granted DIMIA had a part to play, but everyone who has ever had to deal with DIMIA knows it is completely un-uniformed anyway. [epiphany - maybe DIMIA is this dumbass uni's inspiration, adminwise]

screwups, in no particular order of severity, just according to timeline:

1. the reputation for being practical as opposed to some other more academic universities must have been paid for. with big money. their courses may supposedly be, but their admin system is completely oh wait what admin system?? i had two student accounts with them since i applied for entry some four years ago, then rejected it. not that rejection makes for anything - why not charge me application fees this time round times two just for the hell of it, nevermind the name order on the two are different [chinese english last vs. english chinese last] or that they have two sets of completely different details, or that i never knew let alone used the first account for any purposes at all when applying the second time.

2. i obediently make my way down to the outskirts of zone 2 from the buzzing happenings of the city to enrol. i get enrolment paperwork filled out and submitted at international student admin department. then i go to other end of campus to student services to get student card and other such wonderous things, and create username and password for access to all blessed things uni online, to be selfdone on computers provided. c'mon computer, work with me. attempt. attempt again. again. and again. c'mon, c'mon. come bloody on! ok screw this. back in waiting line. complain. get redirected to online help. go to online helpdesk. complain. perseon behind desk gets up for her shot at an attempt. the fact that i tried every possibility and told her so counts for nothing. so she tries every possibility, filling in exactly the same things i did before, then, when it still doesn't work... she brings me back to the helpdesk, to - get this - call someone somewhere whose job is to do this because oh what a surprise this has been known to happen so they've set this dude on the line up, and i give him my details in exchange for my username and password!!! wth?? so now it's time to fill up the compulsory questionnaire as instructed by the government. to be done to ensure enrolment doesn't get zapped. long story short, couldn't do so because -wait for it - i'm not enrolled. OKAYYY. back in line. kick up a fuss and oh me oh my, you aren't enrolled cuz you didn't go see someone in your faculty to get enrolled. but but--
and then, because everything has taken too damn long, and it's now closing time, please come back tomorrow to recommence what you began today ie see the course coordinator to arrange your subjects and timetable. ok - breathe.

3. day two: the whole trip down i'm thinking, why in the world can't i arrange my subjects and timetable on my own?? i need someone to do that for me?!?! but nevermind, maybe this uni is... different. i see her, she tells me to see the internationl arts coordinator at the arts faculty first to get enrol. she does that, not me. i - i coordinate the actual course dynamics. but wait, she has a lunch appointment today and won't be back lateeerr, so i'll have to sit it out and wait. now i'm thinking: just how many people do they need to do one simple thing???!?!!? fastforward: i see international arts coordnator, then course coordinator, who does everything i could have well done myself, and gives me "compulsory" [because she didn't ask or say i had a choice] elective subject to do. (refer to point 8 for further details)

4. i discover discounts awarded for paying fees annually must be applied for because i guess they can't tell from the glaringly big sum that it totals up for more than one semester.

5. to apply for said discount, you need to fill up a form. ok fine, they need paperwork/trail to follow through. but no, we can't send you a copy, please come in all the way from the city to get it. it is only an hour away each way by train then bus, and we know you have to spend effort time money to get here, but the form is free, so that should even it all out.

6. discount form comes in the mail. right. in beyond decent condition as far as i'm concerned, even by whatever lowly standards for an international university organization. the form is amateurishly produced - complete with home-made style photocopied touch, as is uni logo (a letterhead would have been asking too much), at an arty semifaded print, and text in twenty-oh say-four degree angle. not that i care, elated that i hadn't actually been down there as yet to get it. but i just thought i'd let you know.

7. in the meantime, i can't do the questionnaire, OR get a CoE cuz the system needs time to record my enrolment. when i finally scream bloody murder about getting a CoE some long time after i am enrolled and longer time i'd been trying to get it, guess what i get told. you got it - we don't believe in the post. print it off your email, which we will now send upon your request. no prizes for guessing what the postman delivers two days after. [isn't a CoE a given for uni students anymore??!]

8. uni finds out that oh no! we have a 6 point slot to fill, which, for some reason or other, is the case despite the fact the course has been running for almost a decade now. no matter, we'll conveniently slot them in to a fastpaced, highly professional course under business and commerce. piece of cake for art students who have no clue abt clues at all really. of course we only find out about this way after we're swimming in the world of marketing sharks infested waters.

9. the other 6 point core subject we're doing [with 8 necessarily bringing it to the needed 12 points] will be 12 points next term. the workload - exactly. the same. i'm willing to bet my pinky on it.

10. another saga cut short, i decided to withdraw from the said 6 point elective. right before the deadline too, indicating how much i chewed over it. so i call the uni, tell them i want to do such and such, and am told i can't do it over the phone. i gotta come in. again. only after asking if there was any other way, i'm told i can simply send an email to the coursework department to get it sorted. which i did.

11. great dismay was in order when i am reminded (thanks to fellow sufferer for the torture elective) that our visas require us to be full time students. shitshitshit. all hope is lost when i call the international arts coordinator and she tells me things look bad but that she couldn't make a decision because another waste of employment payouts coordinator such as herself was in charge, and wouldn't be back til the coming week. [what can she decide?, i wonder. better yet: why does the uni even need her then??, i protest] really, it was within uni regualtions, and mostly up to her discretion to approve so as to make this a non-issue. if you ask me, it was only 6 points and an elective and a mistake on the uni's part with which i cannot handle anymore anyway, so the answer was obvious! as a general rule, there is usually a standard number of points needed to be considered ful time - as there is a minimum number of points one needs to still be considered fulltime. i wanted to know, so i asked, but no one can give me a straight and simple answer. general admin staff have no clue since masters is very much a case-to-case thing; the lecturer in charge doesn't know because he isn't even a fulltime staff of the uni nor is it his call to make anyway; the international coordinator wouldn't say [repeatedly pointing out the usual number or points i needed instead]; the course coordinator said it was ok. i checked with her. but in my panic, i didn't mention to the international coordinator i had already discontinued the subject.

12. incontrolable shaking gastric and hyperventilation are in order the first thing that next week, when i find out i cannot withdraw. in nervous breakdown mode, i call the lecturer in charge of my program to appeal. he then calls this woman, and then calls me back to tell me all is ok. there are several annoying but doable things to get done for this to follow through.

13. next i see my lecturer, he told me ms coordinator wasn't too pleased. honestly, i just don't get it. if she had been more complying to begin with, she wouldn't still be dealing with me now. and i'd be more than happy to not deal with her. i sent her an email asking her to confirm i was still considered a fulltime student, and got no reply. should i be surprised?

but this is only my first term. the adventure's bound to get more interesting with two more to come. on the flip side, i am very thankful my lecturer is on my side, having taken me under his wing and providing much an encourging word. kudos to him. better yet, i dodged more assignment work, a presentation i was dreading beyond explanation, and an exam, all for the said elective. never in my life have i experienced such severe physical symptoms of stress just thinking about a subject.