JB School

Fall term has been over for a while now, winter term actually started two days ago and things are back in swing here at OIT. Final grades for the term actually landed slightly above my expectations, two As and two Bs, for a final weighted GPA of 3.46, which actually put me on the dean's list for the term.

Funny thing about that - the day after I got my grades, I got a note that I had been put on academic suspension. Turns out the automated system that minds the store for the financial aid department decided that I was a lazy bum, based on the records it could see. There's a policy in place that students in the pre-MIT category, which I am, have to complete all requirements for acceptance to the program within 6 terms. Pretty generous, actually, as it only takes 3 terms to make up an academic year and it's more than reasonable to kill off the classes within that time. Trouble is, when you're talking about a transfer student (which I also am, since I want credit for all of the stuff I did for my previous degree), the system takes every term you've ever done into consideration for this equation, so I end up looking like I've spent 15 terms dinking around trying to get accepted to the program, instead of only being one term into the effort here at OIT.

Fortunately, this was pretty easy to address once I brought it to the attention of a helpful human. In theory, she has told the system to ignore me in that respect until next fall. I'll be formally applying to the program in late spring, so that should be enough.

Christmas vacation was interesting this year. With Eden in full on market mode for a good portion of the visit, I actually felt a bit impatient after the first week or so, being a bit bored and eager to make more progress towards getting this thing done. Idle fantasy prompts me to wish for a less structured approach that would allow me to put some of my insomnia hours to use. Distance learning would give some of this, but isn't terribly applicable to the current degree. Ah well, guess I'll just have to approach things at a more measured pace.

Once Eden finished with market, I got the chance to drag her to Minnesota to meet nearly all of my relatives, which landed as much more relaxing, since we were at the mercy of everyone else's schedule. Not having to make choices (for a little while) was actually quite nice. I would have preferred a break that landed later in December so that I'd have more free time with her, but it worked out ok.