Does this seem like a good idea to you?

I admit it -- I've been a little busy with school lately, and so haven't quite kept up with all the bureaucratic things I need to do for graduation. For instance, I just took the required graduation survey today. It was fun and exciting, as online surveys tend to be. However, it's what happened next that has me worried.

One of the reasons I'd put off doing this survey was that my printer's dead. That's fine (except for the papers I need to print on it...), but it does mean I tend to put off tasks that require me to print things. Since this survey said I'd need to print off proof that I'd finished it, I did it today at the library. The "proof" they were so intent on me having? An e-mail saying "yes, you've taken our survey." It wasn't more than five lines long -- not exactly a vital source of information.

And why did I need proof of this e-mail, anyway? To pick up tickets for my actual graduation ceremony, which is a separate ceremony from commencement. I checked out the website that lists pickup times and noticed something strange. Almost all of the schools are now allowing students to pick up graduation tickets. That makes sense -- what better way to encourage yourself to do well on finals than to have graduation materials staring you in the face? But for CCAS kids (so, me), pickup doesn't start until Friday the 16th. Given how many kids there are in CCAS, I'm kind of worried about this. My guess is the lines are going to be worse than Disney World. Columbian's website seems blase about the process:

Please allow time to pick up your tickets, as there may be a line.

There may be a line? Have they been dealing with students long? My guess is that this is going to be one long, frustrating afternoon.

Is this the way it usually is? Why is CCAS so late compared to all the other schools? Given that my family is getting in that Friday, and given that I've got other stuff going on that day already, I'm now worried that instead of being able to enjoy spending time with my family and friends one last time before I leave, I'll be in the midst of a bureaucratic nightmare.

The fact that I can't pick up tickets to my own graduation until the day before it happens is pretty unsettling. For the first time, I wish I had picked a different major.

Down with GCRs...

I got an email from CCAS the other day that opened, "The Columbian College General Curriculum Committee is seeking student opinions regarding reform of the college’s General Curriculum Requirements (GCR)." Normally I just delete such emails, but this time I thought, 'great! I can share my opinion on (read: hatred of) the current GCR regime'.

The survey started with pretty standard multiple choice questions, but when text boxes were an option I wrote over and over that there are too many GCRs required and they, ironically, get in the way of becoming more well rounded and educated in things I actually care about. Instead, they force me to 'check the box' by showing up to baby classes where I learn nothing. The Hatchet's Claire Autruong correctly asserted in this Thursday's issue,

It's worth remembering that most GW students come from high schools that have already stressed the importance of a well-rounded education as the first basic step in the college admissions game. For many, college is a place where they want to take control of their own educations and specialize in an area that will ideally become the core of their future, or at least represent their true interests. The current GCRs restrict students' abilities to exceed the bare-minimum requirements in their major and to pick up second majors and minors.

They also vitally detract from the quality of the classroom community. As history professor and department chair Tyler Anbinder told The Hatchet in October, "There are students who don't like history. I don't want them in my class, as much as I think all people should take history." Ten minutes in a vast lecture hall filled with fidgeting, apathetic students in an introductory biology course for non-majors is all it takes for a casual observer to conclude the same - students and professors are not better-served by the environment in compulsory courses.

Some of the best classes I've taken at GW are the few that fulfill no requirements I've been able to squeeze in. That is, taken strictly to further my knowledge of a topic (like SMPA 194).

Its much easier for CCAS to say they produce well rounded students when they can point to a list of GCRs that cover every major disipline. Its much harder for them to make an empirical case for the same by saying 'we let students have free run of the place and let them take whatever interests them', even if the latter is the right thing to do.

I hope something comes of this research...

CCAS Advising – What a Crock!

The lead story in Monday’s Hatchet discussed the flaws of the Advising system at GW, specifically was CCAS.

Here is the main point of the article:

Like many of her peers, Khederian (a student discussed in opening of the story)
is frustrated by what CCAS students describe as a system that leaves them
without the guidance they expected to receive. Students, administrators and
advisers all agree there are problems with the current system, but opinions
differ on how, and if, the issues can be resolved. Within GW's five
undergraduate schools, there are a handful of advising systems, ranging from
professional, full-time advisers to professors who suggest classes in their
spare time. Earlier this year, University President Steven Knapp said he hears
more complaints about advising than anything else, but students and advisers
disaggre, the University and the Student Association are taking steps to
identify possible remedies for these issues.

In this article, I think the Hatchet has hit the nail on the head. As a senior, I know to well how much the advising system in CCAS sucks – to put it bluntly. As advising goes is simply the worst. No guidance. Not advice. No attention. No feedback. Nothing!

I am a political science major – like 2,000 or so other students at GW. For our major, there is one full-time professor and one part-time professor responsible for advising all of us. I have met with Prof. Wiley twice in my four years at GW - for the sum total of ten minutes! For the other five semesters, I got a Political Science professor to sign my paperwork so I could remove my hold – most of the time it was a professor whose class I was in at the time. (CCAS has a rule that any Professor can sign a advising sheet - their solution: instead of fixing the problem, they create the stupid accommodation that puts convenience over the needs of students.)

I remember one semester the line at Professor Wiley’s door was so long I decided to find another professor in his or her office to offer me advice and sign my advising sheet. One was willing to do it, on the condition that he did not have to read my form or offer me any guidance. He would simply sign the paper and nothing else. That’s what 50K a year buys you!

We need major, fundamental change in CCAS advising program, particularly in the Political Science Department. It is a horrible shame that our system is this bad! The Elliot School and the School of Business have it right with the professional full time, advisers. So many people in CCAS get lost in the shuffle, not because they don’t care or don’t try, but because the system is so decentralized and in personal. Surely we can do better.

Maybe the solution is to throw more money at the problem by raising tuition, again. That should do the trick, since its worked so well before...

GW: Well, The Rankings Count for Grad School

GW is quick to play down US News and World Report's rankings of national universities in which GW hovers in the hi 50's (54th most recently). And I believe we are right in doing so. GW is a unique school that doesn't function like most. An oft cited criticism of the rankings how our high ratio of part time professors to full time drags down the ranking, when in reality our adjuncts are often experts in there field and the experience they bring to the classroom from their day jobs in invaluable.

However, I find it funny that when our grad programs do well in the same publication, the GW PR department issues a press release and touts the results.

"The George Washington University is once again recognized as one of the premier institutions in the country to study law, public policy, and public administration."

Highlighted programs (with national ranking) include:
-CCAS's Public Affairs program (14)
-Law School (20)... a two spot bump from last year
-School of Public Health and Health Services (19)
-Graduate School of Education and Human Development (29)

Well, congrats to GW I suppose...

No more advising

So did anyone else in Columbian get an e-mail from them on Tuesday? (Emphasis mine:)

CCAS would like to announce that no advising holds will be placed on junior and senior students with declared majors and in good academic standing. We strongly urge you to meet with your faculty advisor in your major department to discuss your outstanding graduation requirements prior to registering for summer and fall courses. These discussions help shape your academic plans, but the ultimate responsibility for registration lies with each individual student.

Is it just me, or is this incredibly lazy on the part of CCAS? Sure, meeting with my adviser was never overly helpful. Then again, it wasn't a huge time commitment on anyone's part, either -- I never spent more than fifteen minutes discussing my schedule, and it was usually closer to five. Even if you factor in the number of students the average adviser meets with, is the system really such a time drain that they have to eliminate meetings with upperclassmen?

And raise your hand if you think any juniors or seniors are going to set up meetings with their advisers unless it's an absolute emergency. Heck, I'm the most conscientious, rule-following, number-two-pencil-sharpening kid this side of Hermione Granger, and I wouldn't schedule an appointment under these conditions.

I've never had any trouble getting a meeting with my adviser when I needed one. Then again, I never really needed one, either. My adviser, while a great guy, never really told me anything I didn't already know. I probably would have survived my four years here without meeting with him once. It's possible that, as an SMPA kid, I've been somewhat spoiled -- there aren't that many of us, and I've had the same adviser all four years. But the worst advising stories I've heard have come from undeclared freshmen. If the new system lets advisers focus more on those kids, then I guess it'll have done some good. But completely eliminating any kind of need for an adviser for upperclassmen just seems like another way of cutting corners.