Twice this quarter I have been told that I will not graduate, resulting in an emotionally exhausting first three to five weeks. The first time that this was told to me I was upset, and rightfully so, but I only needed six more credits of my choosing. I signed up for three more credits this quarter and decided to take on the other three during the 2019 summer quarter. There was no rush and I could still walk without a problem, it only cost me an extra $150 and weeks of catching up in unfamiliar topics.  I am now an unofficial music student, which is not a half bad class for two credits. Though as an English major I am struggling with certain concepts like scales, melody, meter (that is unrelated to poetry) and anything having to do with another person’s vocal capabilities.

I should have kept track of my own credits, which would have nipped this problem in the bud before it even started. The first time that I was told that I would not graduate went over well enough, better than the second time anyway.

About a week after finding out that I would not graduate my advisors told me that my minor was incomplete. An unexpected issue that came up, blindsiding me with five extra credits.

The five credits missing from my minor could easily cover the remaining three credits for my graduation requirement. It does not seem like such a heavy-handed blow without mentioning five things.

1. This time was not something that I could help. If I had kept track of my credit as I should have, this would have happened anyways. No matter what I did, I was never going to graduate this spring. There was a simple glitch that made my credits look completely fulfilled, if not slightly wonky. My advisor didn’t notice this glitch last year nor this one and I suppose it appeared to be the blind leading the blind.

2. I was given this information at a point in this quarter, about week four, when I could no longer add hundreds of dollars’ worth of classes to my schedule.
3. I was given this information at a point in this quarter that made summer quarter feel too close. I needed to breathe, not to force myself into going to a commencement ceremony. Besides completing a linguistics minor outside of an academic school year, i.e. during the summer quarter, would have been an extra hoop to jump through. A hoop that I did not and still do not want to deal with.
4. It caught me off guard and I cried for somewhere between two days and two weeks. I was hurt and angry. I felt as though CWU had let me down.
5. I still have to sign up as a full-time student if I hope to get in financial aid for fall 2019. I cannot just take the five credits necessary and be done with it because I cannot afford to live on or off campus while taking only one class.

There was no neat ribbon that I could tie over this “lesson learned.” I had to get over the feeling of losing something that I’ve worked so hard for twice. It all happened so close together and so fast I had to reset myself in the middle of the quarter and accept that I cannot control everything, not even the timing of my education.