Chapter 2: Meet the Advisors

Throughout my tenure as a student at BCC, I was never the person who would seek guidance from an advisor. I’m not quite sure why. I guess I never quite felt like I needed anyone’s assistance. Maybe I was too proud. Or maybe it had a little to do with the circulating rumors of horrendous experiences students had encountered when meeting with advisors who were either too abstracted or perhaps too helpless themselves to help a student in need. However, after all this time, after being tentative for so long about visiting an advisors office for reasons I fear I won’t ever fully understand I decided to give-in.

Wednesday morning 11:30 am sharp I found myself roaming in unfamiliar territory. In the nearly two years I had already spent at BCC, I did a pretty impressive job of avoiding this wing of the A-building completely. But I wasn’t quite ready to congratulate myself of this petty feat. “I am here on a mission”, I repeatedly told myself while impatiently waiting in the small lobby area for the advisor to appear and call my name so I could follow her to her office. Reminding myself of my purpose behind being there helped me focus and formulate the important questions I was there to ask. While glazing over the many leaflet and brochures about the Business Program at BCC among other things I came across a purple colored booklet labeled Annual Report. It immediately piqued my curiosity. It only required a moment’s evaluation before the color and the logo on the booklet left no doubt that this came from the University of Washington, BOTHELL! UW-Bothell? “Hmmm… interesting!”, I thought to myself. Little did I know at the time how this accidental discovery would play a crucial role in shaping my future.

“Cruizzz”, called a female voice. That was my queue. I turned and followed the lady into her office, with the UW-Bothell booklet still in my hands. The conversation with the advisor was quite… normal… and also quite helpful. I guess I had been bracing myself for a more eventful encounter with a stereotypically uninterested counselor. But this lady was nothing like that. Thank God! She helped me review which classes I had already taken, and which ones I still needed to take in order to satisfy the business transfer requirements. Not much new information here since I had always been tracking my progress and charting my coursework based on the transfer requirements. Although, I did learn, in a rather dramatic fashion, that a graduation application needs to be submitted at least one whole quarter prior to the quarter in which someone plans to graduate.

While waiting in the lobby for my appointment with the advisor, I overheard a conversation between a student and another advisor. Apparently, the student was unaware of this fact and thought he could submit a graduation application that very quarter so he could obtain priority registration for a statistics class he still needed to take which was already over capacity. I tried to eavesdrop as much as I could However, before I could hear the conclusion of the whole ordeal, it was time for my appointment. Okay! So I guess I didn’t exactly learn of the graduation application requirements from my advisor. But I probably wouldn't have known and would've found out the hard way like the other student if I hadn’t been in the business department office that morning. Besides, it was one of the questions I was planning on asking my advisor anyways. The questions I did ask of my advisor during the meeting had mostly to do with the transfer process and the specific admissions requirement of the schools I wanted to apply to. Yes, specific requirements! The direct transfer course guide is just that, a guide. Each school likes to make themselves unique by adding some minor tweaks to the general requirements. For example, University of Washington requires a higher GPA in addition to making all applicants take a Written Skills Assessment exam to evaluate their writing skills. And this is all on top of the other application requirements. Central Washington University did not require an essay or a writing exam. They were content with honoring the transfer as long as the applicant had met the GPA and direct transfer agreement course work requirements.

Equipped with the details I wanted to obtain about the schools I felt ready to meet with some more advisors. The admissions advisors at each school!


Bonus: Lawyer Joke
The devil visited a lawyer's office and made him an offer. "I can arrange some things for you," the devil said. "I'll increase your income five-fold; your partners will love you; your clients will respect you; you'll have four months of vacation each year and live to be 100. All I require in return is that your wife's soul, your children's souls, and their children's souls will rot in hell for eternity."

The lawyer thought for a moment. "So, what's the catch?" he asked.