Edumacation. . . .
Shirlee, long and checkered educational career, lol! University of Utah, 1959 - 1962. Moved to Maryland, worked a year, got married, University of Maryland, full time 63/64, undergrad; babies, 64 and 66; 68/70 also full time undergrad; BA, 1970. University of Maryland 71 -- part time grad school; 72/73 full time, MA 73. English w/ creative writing specialty (MD didn't offer a MFA 'cause they said no one could get a job with that degree, but they allowed the writers to take half of their classes in writing, and offer either a book of poetry or a novel as a Master's Thesis). I did a novel, though as I was paying my typist 75 cents a page, 270 pages, I saw I should have gone for poetry at 40 pages or so, lol! Heck, I likely could have typed the poetry myself -- no MLA guidelines for poetry: the poet gets to decide, grin.
You'll note that's six full time years as an undergrad: I graduated with 180 "semester" hours. Two causes -- transferring from a quarter system to a semester system. I lost a lot of hours in the translation: if you had five quarter hours, the translation equaled 3.3 semester hours, and they accepted the hours, but tossed the extra third. If you had 3 quarter hours, that equaled 2 semester hours, but was an hour short, so they made you re-take the class at three S hours to make up the missing hour. Ditto for 2 Q hours (=1.33 S hours). Utah had five hour classes and threes and twos. (Health 101 at Utah was a two hour class; at Maryland, also a two hour -- Q-hours > S-hours = 1.33. Took the whole class over for the 2.3 hour. . . .) Maryland virtually only three hour classes. That coupled with Utah was rarely forward looking, and offered a multitude of course to fill each broad area: at Utah, I took anthropology to fill the psych/sosh requirement -- Maryland credited the hours, but *required* ONLY psych 101 and sosh 101. . . . etc. At Utah, I'd taken Genetics, Maryland *required* Biology 101 from everyone. I took it. If I'd *entered* as a Freshman, I could have tested out of the BR (basic requirements), but as a transfer student, you couldn't transfer in into Honors. Utah accepted a lot of high school classes -- American History/World History not for hours, but as filling those slots and let you take more advanced classes to fill the Field requirements. Maryland didn't.
The other difference between the schools which struck me as exceeding odd was: at Utah, it was clear that the faculty was there FOR the students; at Maryland, the reverse was true -- the students were there FOR the faculty (to provide jobs). Two examples: at Utah, often the head of the department would teach the freshman classes (my physics class, and Philosophy 101 were both taught by the department heads); at Maryland, *nevah*. At Utah's registration, the advisors from each department would be given a classroom at the Union building: getting advised at Utah meant you never had to leave the building, and registration was in the ballroom. At Maryland, advisors stayed in their own offices, and the students ran all over campus getting classes okayed. I could register at Utah in a couple of hours. Maryland often took two or three full days to do the same.
It struck me as full strange even then that the conservative state had the amazingly liberal university and it was famously excellent and forward looking -- had degrees in fields where they were the ONLY one in the country that offered that degree. Dance comes to mind -- other schools offered it as a specialty in PE, lol! Their theatre department was stunning! Maryland, the librul state offered a football U. . . . with very anal retentive requirements. . .
So why did I transfer at all, lol!? At three years in at Utah, I had an equal numbers of hours in Philosophy, Theatre and English. I knew I could graduate in a year by concentrating on one of those fields. But I loved them each, and couldn't make up ma mind, lol! Had a best friend whose father had moved the family to MD so he could work for JFK's new HEW Department. She'd dropped out of college and was working. I had this wild hair that if I worked for a year, I could save enough for my senior year, AND decide which major I wanted to be, lol! Mryna and Alec (the guy she was seeing) introduced me to the father of my future children the third week I was there, and Utah ended up not being an option. I ended up majoring in English. You'll note that NONE of my potential majors were in fields with any kind of clear career path. . . .
TMI?
You'll note that's six full time years as an undergrad: I graduated with 180 "semester" hours. Two causes -- transferring from a quarter system to a semester system. I lost a lot of hours in the translation: if you had five quarter hours, the translation equaled 3.3 semester hours, and they accepted the hours, but tossed the extra third. If you had 3 quarter hours, that equaled 2 semester hours, but was an hour short, so they made you re-take the class at three S hours to make up the missing hour. Ditto for 2 Q hours (=1.33 S hours). Utah had five hour classes and threes and twos. (Health 101 at Utah was a two hour class; at Maryland, also a two hour -- Q-hours > S-hours = 1.33. Took the whole class over for the 2.3 hour. . . .) Maryland virtually only three hour classes. That coupled with Utah was rarely forward looking, and offered a multitude of course to fill each broad area: at Utah, I took anthropology to fill the psych/sosh requirement -- Maryland credited the hours, but *required* ONLY psych 101 and sosh 101. . . . etc. At Utah, I'd taken Genetics, Maryland *required* Biology 101 from everyone. I took it. If I'd *entered* as a Freshman, I could have tested out of the BR (basic requirements), but as a transfer student, you couldn't transfer in into Honors. Utah accepted a lot of high school classes -- American History/World History not for hours, but as filling those slots and let you take more advanced classes to fill the Field requirements. Maryland didn't.
The other difference between the schools which struck me as exceeding odd was: at Utah, it was clear that the faculty was there FOR the students; at Maryland, the reverse was true -- the students were there FOR the faculty (to provide jobs). Two examples: at Utah, often the head of the department would teach the freshman classes (my physics class, and Philosophy 101 were both taught by the department heads); at Maryland, *nevah*. At Utah's registration, the advisors from each department would be given a classroom at the Union building: getting advised at Utah meant you never had to leave the building, and registration was in the ballroom. At Maryland, advisors stayed in their own offices, and the students ran all over campus getting classes okayed. I could register at Utah in a couple of hours. Maryland often took two or three full days to do the same.
It struck me as full strange even then that the conservative state had the amazingly liberal university and it was famously excellent and forward looking -- had degrees in fields where they were the ONLY one in the country that offered that degree. Dance comes to mind -- other schools offered it as a specialty in PE, lol! Their theatre department was stunning! Maryland, the librul state offered a football U. . . . with very anal retentive requirements. . .
So why did I transfer at all, lol!? At three years in at Utah, I had an equal numbers of hours in Philosophy, Theatre and English. I knew I could graduate in a year by concentrating on one of those fields. But I loved them each, and couldn't make up ma mind, lol! Had a best friend whose father had moved the family to MD so he could work for JFK's new HEW Department. She'd dropped out of college and was working. I had this wild hair that if I worked for a year, I could save enough for my senior year, AND decide which major I wanted to be, lol! Mryna and Alec (the guy she was seeing) introduced me to the father of my future children the third week I was there, and Utah ended up not being an option. I ended up majoring in English. You'll note that NONE of my potential majors were in fields with any kind of clear career path. . . .
TMI?
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