While a student at UBC I was named to the dean’s list twice, maintained a GPA of 3.7 and managed to get ‘A’s’ in two of Professor Vasilevichs’ classes. (If you have never had Vasilevich, getting an ‘A’ in even one of his classes means more than being on the dean’s list). Sorry dean.
Like a few graduates it’s taken me longer than expected to get here, but like all graduates it has taken some sacrifices, some sleep and some very hard work. So, I am excited. I am proud and I am relieved, but most importantly I am on my way to being a graduate student.
Well, at least one day in the future I will have the requisite credits needed to ultimately graduate. My account is ‘paid up’ and I have no financial obligation to the University. My academic performance is well above what is required to be ‘degree worthy.’ What more is there?
Last week was pure hell. Four exams back to back. I was thoroughly prepared but my nerves kicked into overdrive and I was breaking out into acne as though I was a sixteen year old in young love. It was ghastly. Suddenly without warning my mood begins to fluctuate, personality morphs into someone I don’t recognize. I mean I turn into super bitch. My temper goes haywire. Not pretty. Thank G-d exams are over.
You see, even after taking 23 credits at UBC, and after more than a dozen papers and numerous exams before my University will bestow upon me the moniker of graduate, the University wants to know if I can write an essay.
As the: “The Trustees of the UBC have directed that “all students entering the UBC Program… be required to demonstrate their proficiency with regard to writing skills as a requirement for graduation…”
WTF - Seriously? I was under the impression that’s what the classes, tests and papers were for.
The newsletter further states: “…the UBC faculty decided that at this institute students would meet the requirement by writing an acceptable test essay.”
I don’t know if I should be insulted, flattered or worried. Insulted that the very University that named me to the “Dean’s List” has the gall to tell me they do not think I can form a sentence. Flattered that the UBC Trustees actually believe I have the skills and fortitude required to cheat on every exam and paper I have written. (Wouldn’t it be easier to just study and write your own papers? Which is what I did). Worried because the degree that I will have is from an institution that believes its very own system is so flawed and shabby that I would be able to complete a degree with a 3.7 GPA and still not be able to write a coherent or grammatically correct sentence.
It is not only the students that should be insulted, but the faculty as well. Do the Trustees have such low regard for the caliber of their faculty that they feel it necessary to test the writing skills of their students? Wouldn’t any junior or senior who is unable to write a simple essay have been ‘weeded out’ by now? Maybe the teaching abilities of the professors should be tested.
Besides the embarrassment of attending a University that feels compelled to assure them that their graduate students can demonstrate a, “…proper use of English grammar, diction, and mechanics,” we are required to pay a $20.00 fee. According to UBC’s own numbers, the undergraduate student body in the fall of 2009 is numbered over 33,000. If even only half of these students take the test that’s over $660,000.00.
Now they may say the money is needed to pay those grading the essays who are, “…a panel of faculty readers…” and I agree, they should be paid. But I would have rather paid $20.00 more a year, or even a semester, to see more classes offered in my chosen...yada yada yada....
I just need a hug.
