Orientation

Yesterday was my transfer student orientation at PSU. What a difference from my first college orientation in 1995.  Although some things haven't changed.  Upon arrival I was given a satchel full of pamphlets and books. Huh?  I thought everything would be on-line by now.  I almost brought my Ipad because I thought I would need that.  They even gave me a paper, spiral bound planner for the school year - which they informed us would come out of a 300$+ fee included in our tuition.  WTF?
       Upon entering the orientation I was greeted by tables of information (which I bypassed), fruit, coffee, granola bars and smiling faces.  Everyone was really helpful and I knew what they were going through because I was a peer advisor at PCC for two years so I felt their pain.  I was dreading long-winded speeches by school officials but I was pleasantly surprised, to find that we were viewing a video presentation, of representatives from some of the main departments on campus. All the speeches were short, to the point and well edited.  One enthusiastic woman talked to us live after the video presentations and although she was very engaging I could tell she was suffering from dry-mouth and I wanted her to drink some water.
      I did not feel like I learned anything new, there was a small blurb on the video about the history of PSU, which I felt familiar with since half my family are alumnus.  Then we learned about registering and degree requirements. This was a little different for me because PSU has specific degree requirements that I am not used to.  I thought I only had a couple of years ahead of me before jaunting off to dental school.  I was soooooo wrong.  Even though I have well over 200 college credits (I don't know if that gives me bragging rights or sympathy), I still have to fulfill the requirements of PSU to graduate.  In addition to all the science courses I need for Dental School I have to complete 40 - yes, 40 Upper-division credits to graduate with a Science degree.  The upper division course are required outside of my major:(  Let me break it down so you can feel sorry for me:

- 40 credits of Upper Division courses (not including Pre-dental)
    - Senior Cluster (PSU lingo) 12 credits
    - Senior Capstone 6 credits
    - Misc. UD classes 32 credits (not in my major)
- at least 52 credits of dental school prerequisites
- A boat load of math because I am a little far behind in math - I'm hoping no more then 12 credits
Total: a little under 100 credits - maybe 3 years? ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   Since I've had so much college already my financial aid eligibility might run-out also. Yay! So, I'll be working my butt-off for scholarships.  Did I mention I applied for the Honors program? Yeah, I decided to add some pressure to the situation.
  Well, now you are probably wondering what I am doing this Fall.  Me too!  I'm wait listed for one class because I still don't have financial aid.  So basically if I get into that one class I am literally getting my toes wet instead of jumping in the pool.  Hopefully by Winter term I'll be full-speed ahead. We shall see!