missing a course, what to do

binarysoul

Just as I'm about to go and get my degree, the university called me saying I'm missing a course while two months ago they gave me the green light that I was done!!! Not only I'm upset, but I'm also confused as to what am I gonna put on my resume now that I've 119/120 courses

This is a wired situation. The university has agreed to at least give me a letter stating I am done except one course. I'm also on the Dean's List and have two letters in that regard. What should I put on my resume. I certianly don't want to write a story on my resume as to what happened, what to do?

Olajuwon

Simple, get that one course done. Having completed 119/120 is no better than 25/120. If you never go back to complete it, you will be considered a dropout.

Go Bucks

Is the course offered the next quarter/semester?

binarysoul

The course is offered in Jan 2007, which means I will get my degree in May 2007. I have no intentions not to do it.

blargoe

Maybe you could find the course at another college closeby this semester and transfer it?

binarysoul

What should I put on my resume now that I have 119/120 courses until I finish the last one?

sir_creamy_

Just curious....but what university do you go to? How vague are the degree requirements? After devoting your life to school for the last few years how is it possible to forget to take a course?

reloaded

Is there any possibility for substitution via your other electives? I had to do that recently and had to wait on the paperwork for 3 months to get my degree. The process sucks, but is worth it.

binarysoul

The requirement is not vauge, I had to switch from a business degree with no specialization to one that focuses on IT. Now they tell me I have to do another math course as the 'system' didn't know I had swithced. It's not my fault their 'system' is not intelligent. (maybe they have outsourced their system to a kid in another part of the world . I'm either the victim of bad coding, outsourcing or bureaucracy.

Is there any possibility for substitution via your other electives? I had to do that recently and had to wait on the paperwork for 3 months to get my degree. The process sucks, but is worth it.

Ohh, that's an interesting idea. Was that a required course?

frankj1247

For all intensive purposes you are done. I would just put that I graduated, they don't know the difference.

Slowhand

You could try writing some kind of appeal. At my college, you can do that for special cases, as this seems to be.

Badger95

My school canx a class on me 2 terms in a row. Made me madder than you know what. It meant my grad date would be pushed back. I talked to the Dean and I requested a directed study for the class, based on that fact it created a hardship and my grad date being pushed back. They agreed. So there is a possible option for you, request a directed study. The instructor meets with you 1 on 1, and the work load may be higher to make up for some class participation. Other option, is it offered on-line.

Badger95

frankj1247 wrote:

For all intensive purposes you are done. I would just put that I graduated, they don't know the difference.

You are not done and if you put it on a resume a company may want to verify it. As a company is doing right now to me. They are doing a background check to verify everything I put on mine is the truth.

drpower555

My college would allow me to challange a final exam for that class if I felt I could pass it. Im sure most colleges will. Check in to it.

bighornsheep

If your school has challenge credits, you should apply for them (or something similar)

Some schools will allow people to challenge courses that they feel they can do and already know without taking the course by writing paper/test or in some cases do a project to prove you have the skills.

Normally you can only do this for a small amount of the courses, so you have to check if your transfer credits from your other program counts towards challenge credits.

ps. 1) What kind of program are you in that would require 120 courses?
2) I dont mean this in any rude way, and I dont mean to upset you further, but from my understanding, at every school I know about in Canada, and probably is a standard policy across the globe;
IT IS ALWAYS THE STUDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY to understand degree/program requirements, and how to go about completing them. The system that tracks your credits and/or advisors that tell you about your credit option is only a guide, you should ALWAYS check, and CHECK AGAIN.

reloaded

Ohh, that's an interesting idea. Was that a required course?

Yes, it was. The college wasn't offering the class at that time, so I got it substituted. In fact, I had to do that for 2 classes. I'd go talk to my advisor to see if a substitution is possible.

Danman32

Let me see if I got this right. You have enough credits (even though you only show 119 credits), but you don't show as completing a major?
If you didn't have enough credits to get any degree, I don't understand how the system could tell you you're finished. I understood one needed at least 120 credits to get a BA, and 128 to get a BS.

I came to a similar situation myself. I took calculus in HS and took the AP exam for calc BC. Did fair on it, but still passed. Brought it in to a local 4 year college to begin my universal classes to be transferred to a more distant university for BSEE. They took my AP and let me take calc C (again). Move to the university and they took the AP but only as general elective credits, since they felt the score I got did not show sufficient proficiency. But they did transfer calc C.
Now for the problem: Engineering college required calc A/B/C but uiversity won't let you take a class that's a prerequisite for a class you passed. So engineering required a class, university won't let me take it.

I had admissions get the math department to work with the Engineering college and we worked this out: I take the challenge for calc A, and get my AP restored to a math credit. I advance and take calc D.

Nobody would give me straight answers or notify me if a communication had gone wrong when I was told it was as good as done.
What set me right was when I was told by Engineering that it was the math credits required, not necessarily the classes themselves that was the problem. So then I could work with the math department to get the credits I needed leveraging with what I already had.

Danman32

Another thing:
Each semester I reviewed my progress and future class plans up to graduation, especially after I transferred to the university. It was a good thing too that I did the review every semester because I had made mistakes on what season courses were offered, there was one string of requisits that was several semesters long, and if I missed a season, it may add a whole year to my graduating.

JDMurray

Danman32 wrote:

Each semester I reviewed my progress and future class plans up to graduation, especially after I transferred to the university.

This is called a Degree Completion Plan (DCP). All universities should help newly enrolled student create a DCP for all the classes they will need to take to graduate. Sometimes it's not possible to know when specific classes will be offered, but at least you have all the classes that you need listed in your DCP. If a university does not require that students submit a DCP to their adviser, then a student should create a DCP for his/her own use.

Danman32

I was a transfer into the university. Heck, I even visited admissions to get a better idea of what to take in the local college and didn't get any substantial advice. For example, I could have taken chemistry at the college. I did take physics there though, and thought I had the math taken care of.

techED

for the purpose of the rsume you could put expected graduation date on the resume.
eg:
Bachelor of Science
Major: Computer Science, Summer 2006

binarysoul

Danman32 wrote:

Let me see if I got this right. You have enough credits (even though you only show 119 credits), but you don't show as completing a major?
If you didn't have enough credits to get any degree, I don't understand how the system could tell you you're finished. I understood one needed at least 120 credits to get a BA, and 128 to get a BS.

That's a good question! Well, I actually have 121 courses, but they turned around and said two course (electives) didn't apply to the program as I had switched programs and in addition they are asking me to take a math course. I know it sounds strange, but bureaucracy is rarely based on common sense

Danman32

Now THAT makes sense. It isn't enough just to take any willy nilly courses to get the required credits, you have to satify the college core requirements and fulfill requirements for a selected major.

Sounds much like my situation I posted.