Issue Date: 10/26/09
Ask Aunt Gertrude!
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I am a full-time student and communications major trying to transfer to Long Beach. I still live with my parents and my father got downsized. He has two jobs now and still does not make anywhere near what he did and has none of the benefits. One of my home chores is paying the bills online. It takes $4,300 per month to keep the house going. I know that this sounds like a lot but we do not have a huge home, new cars or party lifestyle - things are just outrageously expensive in San Diego County. Gasoline is 12 cents more per gallon than in Orange County. Our water and cable are double what my cousins pay in Huntington Beach.
I have a part-time job to try and help out, but money is so tight. My grades have been good until now. I am taking Biology 101 - a required subject that has zero bearing on my major and I am convinced I will never use. I just cannot wrap my head around formulas and the mechanics of microbiology. So I decided to drop the class last Friday because I was at work all day. I could be there to do it in person so I had to do it online. I could not get onto the school Web site Friday night and had the same problem Saturday night. I finally got on it Sunday, but I was one day late dropping the class.
So now I am stuck in a class I know I will flunk. It's killing my GPA along with any chance of a scholarship. I would not mind it if I honestly thought knowledge about the difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells would be something I would use. But it can destroy my life.
- Without a paddle
Dear Without a paddle:
I can relate to your situation on so many levels. Aunt Gert had her Biology midterm last Wednesday (bacteria and archaea consist of prokaryotic cells; all other forms of life are composed of eukaryotic cells). I am more than twice as old as you are, and in over 50 years those differences have never come up in any way, and I suspect it won't in my remaining 40.
The academic model of the "well-rounded graduate" is a model that becomes less relevant as educational costs rise and the job market shrinks. But that is a rant for another day. On the bright side, there are ways to track your attempts to get on to the school Web site so that if the attempts show up you can get your drop. If they don't show up you can petition for a W (withdrawal). This can be done through the Admissions office and will not affect your GPA. Good luck.
- Aunt Gertrude
Got a problem? Auntie G can help! Dating, money, school, whatever-send your questions to
askauntgertie@aol.com.
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