Powder Witch & Company

So I'm going back to college! I toured the local community college on monday, and, after double checking their application requirements, tried to pull all of my paperwork together on tuesday.

One of the things the college asked for was a copy of my high school transcripts, something that I don't know if I ever recieved a physical copy of, or if was long gone, sent off to my first college attempt. I called up my old high school and asked for a copy, and their price was a reasonable 5 dollars. But, they could only take cash or check.

I've moved states a few times in the decade and a bit since I graduated, and that place is a 2 hour drive, each way, from my current home. Compaunding the problem, I had to get to work later that day, so I had to trust the post office to get it there.

It took 2 days for my check to arrive (as expected, but every delay in the process left me doubting if I could make this happen), but thankfully the guidance councilor was prompt in sending me the transcript.

My college transcripts were much simpler, just fill out a form online and tell them where you want it sent for the price of 6 dollars (they take card). I sent off the application knowing that I was going to be haunting their offices the next day.

See, most colleges couldn't give two shits about transfer students. Its tedious to process, and they know they won't make as much money off that student. So a lot of those applications tend to be ignored.

When my uncle was going back to college for his engineering degree he practically had to hand deliver all of his papers just to be sure that someone would look at them before dumping them in the trash. Because all of this is done digitally now, I can't do the same. But I can be a pest hanging out in the office and constantly asking questions.

As I was walking in I got a notification that they had, at the very least, opened my college transcript. At time of writing that was about an hour ago, so now we wait. They have until I finish my coffee to make a decision before I descend upon them.

My expectation is that a community college, like the one I applied to, will be less likely to ignore an application for being inconvienient. And a quick Google search suggests that they have a 100% acceptance rate, but I have to cast doubt on that.

So of course I finished my coffee, and immediately wandered off through the historic buildings towards the park in the other direction. I don't know how long it takes to process an application, and I hate to get into fights unnecessarily. The college borders the Allegheny Commons park, where Lake Elizabeth is. There's a lot of good photo spots around here, but I wasn't lucky enough to have a train go by while I was here.

Finding my way to the right person to ask was fairly simple. I went to the college administration building first, and they directed me to student services in another building. Admissions was easy to find, and within a few minutes they found my application. Apparently the hang up prevention me from already receiving an acceptance letter was my high school. It's in another state, and thus not in their systems, but that was a simple matter to work around.

And so I waited, I was told to expect an email in the next 15 minutes or so. In reality it was more like an hour, but an acceptance letter had arrived.

This was, of course, just the first step. I had placement tests to take and advisors to meet, and the slow crawling wait as Thanksgiving weekend passed to survive before I could register for classes.

And budgeting. So, so much budgeting.