So here I am, six weeks from graduation. SIx weeks from walking across the stage at Hilton Coliseum and accepting my diploma. Six weeks from graduating as an honors student…or so I thought.
Let me back up for a moment. When I began at Iowa State in 2004, I was accepted into the LAS Honors program. To be an honors student, the following requirements are asked of you. A student must complete a lab class, two honors classes, two honors seminars, 60 credits or more of 300 level or above classes, and an honors project in their senior year.
Now in the final weeks of my senior year, I’m in two honors classes, one honors seminar and was in the process of completing my honors project. However, it came to my attention the other day that there was a “problem” with my honors status. I received an e-mail from the head of the LAS Honors Program stating that the Honors Program has no record of me ever submitting an honors project proposal. These proposals, which were due last February, detail the extent of your project, your adviser, and what you intend to accomplish. To the best of my knowledge, I am positive I submitted a proposal. Nevertheless, the Honors program has no record of it and removed me from the “Honors List.”
This is not the real problem. To be honest, the Honors program is kind of a load of crap. I don’t mean to offend anyone who is in Honors, but let me tell you this. While sitting across from the Honors Chair this morning, I matter-of-factly asked her, “Are there any resulting benefits of the Honors program other than different color chords and a certificate saying you graduated with honors?” Her response was no.
The problem is not whether or not I graduate with honors. My GPA is in high enough standing that I will graduate Magna Cum Laude, and honestly, I could care less what color chords I have.
My problem is this. According to the Honors records, I was dropped from the program last February after the proposal deadline. However, I never received any kind of formal statement, letter, or an inpromptu e-mail, stating that I had been removed from the Honors program. The Honor’s chair response to this when I asked her why I hadn’t been informed was simply, “We assumed you no longer wished to be an honors student.” Yep, she guessed it. I wasn’t busting my ass this semester to take all 400 level classes to graduate with Honors…nah, that was just for fun. I didn’t enroll in two Honors classes and one Honors seminar so they could drop me from the program and not notify my….nah, that was just to make the most of my education. To me, that sounds like a load of crap too.
If the Honors program had notified me of my standing, I have a good feeling this semester’s stress level would have dropped from a 10 to a 5. Just think, instead of PSYCH 484 and PSYCH 490H, I could be taking anything…Walking for Fitness, perhaps. Okay, that was a joke, but still, you get my point.
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