College Degrees - Beating the Required Courses Challenge

by Earthworm

One of many obstacles you might find on your way to a college degree is the “Required Course” trap. These are the courses that your college forces you to complete prior to graduation. They are usually on the level of the Phys Ed courses you had to take in High Teach. In many cases, you will have already taken a akin or even higher level course earlier in your career.

In my case, the required course that was preventing my graduation with an Associate’s degree was called “How to Use the Store.” This course showed how to use the Dewey Decimal System (remember that?) to find assets and research material. Since I had already completed many higher level
courses that included research, footnotes, and resource attribution, I felt that this course was not to be of much use.

But, it was a “Required Course,” and requests to waive the requirement were refused.

The course itself was simple; a two day address in the store, some simple assignments, and a paper. This course was always scheduled for a weekend. I signed up for the course, paid my 5.00 fee and was scheduled for the next session. My job at the time included a lot of small notice travel. So as fate would have it, when the course was scheduled, I had an urgent situation job. No problem, I was out 5.00, but I may possibly re-schedule. That’s when I found the trap. The course was only offered once per quarter. I scheduled and missed the course three times before I searched for a further way to get this mandatory course out of the way.

I visited my friend at the local military base’s Education Personnel. The Education Personnel was not affiliated with any fastidious university, so they provided unbiased opinions.

With I clarified my dilemma to the counselor, he offered this suggestion.

“Transfer your credits from the University of Maryland to Regent’s University of the State of New York. You will get full credit for the courses you have completed at University of Maryland, they are qualified, and you can get even more credits. They will accept some military schools you have attended that University of Maryland does not accept for credit.”

This was fantastic advice. I mailed off my application, sent a request to the University of Maryland to transfer my credits and waited for Regent’s to respond. A few months later, I received my evaluation package from Regent’s which showed my transfer credits and what I needed to complete my degree. I was able to complete these in a few more months and by September, 1996, I had my Associate’s Degree.

Note that Regent’s also had required courses, but the scheduling was much more flexible. This allowed me to take the courses when I had the time.

Conclusion: Look out for “Required Courses.” All colleges have them and they can trip you up. Schedule and complete them as soon as possible to avoid that last minute rush that might delay degree completion.

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Category: College It Courses Article