Looking for suggestions, input, whatever

[candyman]

Ok so, a little infor here. I was going to join the Army right after high school but decided to go and get my Associate Degree in Automotive Technologies first. I got that, easily, but then instead of going to the Army I saw that Ferris State offered a B.S. in automotive engineering. So now I talk to them, they look over my transcripts and tell me that not only will my transfer work well, I will even be overqualified for some classes. Then, I get my grade lowered for having a mohawk. Ok, speedbump but not that bad. A little while later I go to my advisor to sign up for my second semester and he tells me that not all of my classes transfered over. Alright, another speedbump but according to him I only need to take a few classes over the summer and I can still finish in the normal two years.

Now I have a bigger problem. So first I see that I am on academic probation because...well, apparently my GPA did transfer over, but they either didn't take all of it or they lowered it when it got here. Sure, some of my classes here have not gone perfectly but...none of them should drop me to a 2.1 at all. Then, I go to see my advisor, who now has no clue who I am, and he changes what he promised before. First, he says that I need to take a shop course. That means three days out of the week I get to play shop with a few other guys working on customer cars. Before, he had assured me that my 6 hours a day in the shop over at my Tech school meant I didn't have to take this class. Now I have no choice. Second, now they suddenly don't accept a few of my classes AND one of the classes I took here.

Apparently I need to go back and take more pre. req. classes. So, now he totals it up and, if the summer classes work they would extend my time here, not make it shorter. I would have to spend a total, including this year, of three years up at Ferris paying full tuition. They also said that if I do not go to work for any of the Big Three that they cannot see why I need to attent this institution. Every office that I ask for help sends me to another one...I am headed back to where I started tomorrow to see what they have to say now.

So, I know alot of people in the Army, Marines, Navy, and Airforce...and no matter how many horror stories I hear from people about military service...it looks like a fucking party boat compared to this shit. I have no problem being told what to do...in fact I would love, just for once for someone in charge to make up their damn mind and to tell me what is up! The recruiters I have talked to have said that with two years of automotive in my background there is a great chance that I would get a job in that field. Keep in mind, the recruiters have never promised me anything, I am cool with that because that is some truth that I need right now. Frankly, I don't care if they throw me in a mess hall somewhere in the swamp or stick me in a 130* desert.

Anyone have any advise here? Honestly, I have never, ever had this many problems with teachers and staff at any institution. I have never had grades like these in English, Math, or...well...anywhere. Is it worth the time, money, and effort to stay here and earn this degree?

[freydis]

I'd stick it out at *least* one more semester.

Often, probationary grades can be straightened out with just a little patience.

[Guest Megalicious]

Do you want the blunt honest answer or the sugar coated honest answer? I ask because being bluntly honest is sometimes offensive, I want to make sure you want to hear it first.

[candyman]

Do you want the blunt honest answer or the sugar coated honest answer? I ask because being bluntly honest is sometimes offensive, I want to make sure you want to hear it first.

I don't mind blunt...I can be blunt too...

[Guest Megalicious]

Stop the blame game. Even if they are assholes and are being asshats you are an adult step up and take responsibility for your choices and actions or you will never get anywhere. That being said if you LOVE cars (and I know how you feel TRUST me) just do it. Take the extra classes, if it is something you LOVE to do and can get paid for. So what if it is a few extra classes, that is nothing compared to a life time of LOVING what you do for a living. Why would you let some asshats get in the way of your dream - fuck that -- fuck them.

[candyman]

Stop the blame game. Even if they are assholes and are being asshats you are an adult step up and take responsibility for your choices and actions or you will never get anywhere. That being said if you LOVE cars (and I know how you feel TRUST me) just do it. Take the extra classes, if it is something you LOVE to do and can get paid for. So what if it is a few extra classes, that is nothing compared to a life time of LOVING what you do for a living. Why would you let some asshats get in the way of your dream - fuck that -- fuck them.

Yeah I know that...which is why I do not plan on leaving or joining anytime soon.

However, it may just be the way things are but, I have never had problems like these with anyone in general. I had liberal teachers at my other campus and although we got into fights about politics and such, it never entered my grade. I got in a huge shouting match with one prof. and I still got an A in his course, he said that I had the balls to do that so I have the right to get that grade.

I do love cars, hell, in a perfect world my friends and family could tell employers what I do and I could get hired. But, today and especially in this economy a degree would make things better. I am trying just as hard as I always do here at school, and I am not expecting a pat on the back either, but it seems like they could care less. They carry around this attitude that I cannot find a reason for. They keep calling me out for not being professional, and although I am sorry for it, I am also not sorry for it. If they want me to be professional, they need to be too. And being professional is informing me or confronting me as soon as possible and facing the problem before it goes anywhere. However, they wait, reduce my grade without saying a word and I have to come to them and deal with their attitudes. They make me feel like I am approaching a god or something.

Right now I am buried in books as I have been all year round. I leave my room only for class, food, and the occasional cigarette. They tell me to study more yet, unless I go without sleep for days on end I do not see how that is possible. Yes, I already do go without sleep for days. I have not been to a party since being here, I do not drink, no do I take any drugs.

I am willing to fight, and very willing to prove myself. However, this whole thing sickens me because after an entire year the only people giving me support are my parents, and the only people willing to help when shit hits the fan are my parents. I could forge my own way, but I decided to do it the official way...all I ask in return is, well at this point I would take a mere handshake or a "good job" from anyone. If someone is going to call me out on shortcomings, they should offer a solution, some way to resolve my situation. I get none of that here, and frankly, when I give these people here, that are doing this to me, all the credit that I do I would expect something. My teachers are truly brilliant and gifted, they have experience that I could not learn in a short time on my own. But that is only half the battle...

[candyman]

And about the blame stuff...I blame myself for a whole lot of things. I run over this stuff night after night and figure out a way to fix it. I have sat for days trying to figure out where I have gone wrong. I have had therapy because I was contemplating suicide once. I know I have alot to blame on myself, my grades could always be better and I could always study harder. It's just the way that the education system is built, effort needs to be put in by both the student and the teacher. Even the hardass teachers I have had told me that they were proud at the end of the class, these ones just yell at me or tell me that I should never have passed the class.

[Homicidalheathen]

I'd stay in for now. Just finish and get it over with. Otherwise you throw all your hard work away.

[Rev.Reverence]

..don't go!

STAY!

It'll get betta'!

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I say finish the semester out and join the Army. Ferris is a crap ass "prison" school anyway. That could be a reason that your profs are being such asshats, they are used to dealing with a large number of cons and ex cons.

Think of it this way...

You are not giving up on school by joining the Army nor are you throwing anything away. All your college credits will still be there when you get out. While you are in, you will also get the benefit of added training.. bonus if you do get a mechanics job while in, work experiance and leadership experiance. No matter what any bleeding heart liberal tells you... service and a honeralbe discharge look damn good on a resume. You will also be able to earn some cash to help pay for that degree when you do get it. The iceing on the cake, you get to serve.

[candyman]

I say finish the semester out and join the Army. Ferris is a crap ass "prison" school anyway. That could be a reason that your profs are being such asshats, they are used to dealing with a large number of cons and ex cons.

Think of it this way...

You are not giving up on school by joining the Army nor are you throwing anything away. All your college credits will still be there when you get out. While you are in, you will also get the benefit of added training.. bonus if you do get a mechanics job while in, work experiance and leadership experiance. No matter what any bleeding heart liberal tells you... service and a honeralbe discharge look damn good on a resume. You will also be able to earn some cash to help pay for that degree when you do get it. The iceing on the cake, you get to serve.

Thats what I was thinking. There are a few good students up here, but there are a ton of assholes. I hate American cars now...not because of what I have learned, but because of the students. My highschool had fewer clicks or whater you call them. I told a prof. that even though I paid for this class so that he could teach me, that I knew it was still a privaledge to be there...and it seemed to piss him off for some reason.

I probably should have stuck with my plan of joining FIRST and them using that experience and money to finish my education...if I needed to that is. And the prison part is kinda funny too, I was just thinking that today. Its just the way that they treat you when in class or in an office...you never, ever get it right. Its either too much or too little. I would expect rules like some of these at a highschool...but never at a college. I would much rather get paid while some organization uses me like a mule. I have worked for places like that and as long as the actually put me to work and are dead set on keeping me there while paying me...I am fine.

[DropDeadGorgeous]

Ferris does have a Army ROTC program, I don't know if being a officer would interest you at all but that is always a option.

[StormKnight (1)]

The problem with ROTC is that you must maintain a 3.5-3.7GPA to stay in.

As for the training you would get in enlisted training:

1. Make sure that you get your job in a contract...do not go open ended, even if you have to wait for the tech school classed (maybe a couple of months.) That gives the military full reign to give you the worst or the most in demand jobs. (like infantry, cook, etc.)

2. A lot of the training you get in the military can be part of college education. Air Force, for example, has *all* its enlisted training programs accredited through their own community college (The Community College of the Air Force.) Basic in the Air Force was like 6 credit hours of Physical Education (gym class you get to shoot weapons in.) Other services may make you go through another system to get the same thing. Unlike your transfer issue, I have yet to hear of a accredited school NOT taking military college transfer credit completely. With a few hours more, you can actually get your associate's degree with the military (which is possible on active duty.)

3. A lot of companies will take people in the military as they are getting out. The thought process is that you have the discipline and a lot of experience in your time in. I would find it (in your position,) poetic justice that you did get into the Big Three (hypothetically,) through your time in and training in service. The ultimate throwing the bird at this POS college.

4. You will have the opportunity to turn down the GI bill. For all that is holy, DON'T. It is $100 a month for a year, and it will come back to you many fold. And if (heaven forbid,) you disabled, that GI Bill translates into something called Vocational Rehabilitation that will pay all expenses for your degree if you are disabled. The current GI bill in debate now is looking to replicate that very thing for able bodied discharged servicemembers (was 20,000 or so when I was in.)

Remember if you do sign on the dotted line, you are going to be put into the wringer. The yelling, the stress, and the attention to detail under the pressure is what they are looking for. It may seem like a mountain out of nothing, but details do count. After all the time in basic, you get used to performing all that detail under stress, and it may seem like it is getting less, but actually you have elevated your own performance ability to make it seem like less. It is something you have to realize when you are in boot, and take advantage of it. It is basic where you learn that discipline and develop that drive that will push you on.

Yes, there are dehumanizing things. A lot of basic designed to tear you down a bit, see what you are made of, and build you back again, stronger and better. You are going to have to learn about war fighting (every Marine is a Rifleman, despite the regular job, etc.) It comes with the uniform. You may be sent to "the sandbox" to support a battalion or a unit. Take advantage to see the world.

It is also a lot of hurry up and wait. It can get on your nerves. Don't let it. Keep from whining, and expect things all in the fullness of time. Never loose that discipline or control that you are taught in basic; it will keep you alive in war, and allow you to excel in peace time and academic.

[DropDeadGorgeous]

I'm in the ROTC program at Eastern Michigan and the GPA you need maintain is only 2.5 or above. For the MSL class it is a 3.0 GPA. I guess it must be different at Ferris if your positive that you have to maintain that GPA.