there will be some turbulance upon reentry

i decided a while back that i wanted to go back to school and get myself certified to be a substance abuse counselor. i am ready to take the next step toward becoming an actual therapist, and, since i did not get into the Ph.D. programs i applied to, i have decided i will work on this aspect of my education while planning my next move.

it simultaneously hard and easy to get settled back into the life of academia. i started by trying to figure out how to take classes while remaining here in moab. my sources pointed to the university of utah, which was easy enough. i went online and found all of the certificate information, and worked on planning jobs and the like around a combination of online coursework and traveling to unknown locations for televised lectures. it seemed complicated and i felt a bit headachey setting things up, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

of course that all fell through when i called the u and they told me they were discontinuing the online program. despite this setback i learned that utah valley university was taking over the distance learning program for the cert. instead of a messy program that included a lot of traveling i now could do all the work online. easy as pie. the application process also was a snap. i went onto the uvu website, filled out a form that took no more than 15 minutes, and paid a small fee. about 10 minutes later i received an email that informed me that i would get my acceptance letter in a couple of days.

once i was 'in' though things got a bit complicated. in order to get into classes i had to sign up within a traditional category of students: freshmen or transfer. apparently you can't sign up as a free agent, even to take one class. i chose transfer seeing as i have two degrees already. i also had to choose a major, but there was no option for certificates or the program i am going for. i picked behavioral health since it seemed the best option. what came of all this categorization is that i received an email telling me to find my advisor on campus and get set up for classes.

i called my advisor. no answer.

i called again. no answer again.

i called a few days later. still no answer.

i started to get edgy about things. figuring i knew a bit about colleges, i started browsing the uvu website trying to figure out who else i could talk to. the uvu site - not so informative. i did get a bit of luck in the form of a serendipitous locating of the course requirements for my certificate program - something i could not find earlier on. i learned that in order to take the certificate i had to complete several prerequisites including psych 101 and english 10. i felt ok with the psych course, but intro english? yeah...had to get out of that one.

i opted on calling people on campus. this led to a wild goose chase that sent me from phone tree to phone tree like a digital monkey. i could not for the life of me get through to a real person. i gave up and sent an email to student advising with a list of questions. what i got back three days later was a form message telling me i had to find my advisor and sign up for orientation.

my next round of calling went a bit better. i actually got real voicemails. i left a couple of messages and, only a day later, got back some answers. apparently my transcripts were not yet in, and i was being asked to go to my advisor's office to get oriented and given allowance to sign up for classes. again i called my advisor - and got through! however this was again trouble - because i was signed up as a transfer student in behavioral health i was not paired with the right person to get me settled into my program. i was passed along again.

i'll say this to you now. if you want someone in academia to help you out flash your creds. when i got through to the next person and started my discussion with 'i have a masters degree...' it was like the red sea parted. prerequisites were waived and i was immediately allowed to sign up for my one summer class - psych 1010.

i went online and registered before they changed their minds.