The other day I get a text from my boyfriend- "I was just advised to drop out of college". Wait, what??
A recap moment for those who don't know what's going on: my 25-year-old Air Force veteran boyfriend was just accepted into college in December. After a month of scrambling around to meet all the requirements for school and finding a place to live, he enrolled in the Pre-Athletic Training program and was set to graduate in 3.5 years. After a week of no one dropping the English course he needed to be accepted into the AT program this April, his advisor scheduled a meeting with him.
Back to square one: she told him his best bet would be to drop out and try again next semester. This was 3 minutes into their meeting, mind you. After 3 minutes, she had come to the conclusion there was nothing else that could be done except to give up and try again. Now, this lady is probably about 22/23, just a few years older than I am. Very nice, pretty. But bad at her job. As soon as I heard this news, my brain jumped into overdrive. "Drop these classes, take on these, do this, drop that." I sent several texts back about the educational plan I had come up with in my head for him to run past this lady to see if they were possible. "Oh, that's a great idea! We should do what she says!" was the response she had for him.
When an academic advisor so blatantly tells a student to drop out instead of trying other courses of action, I consider that unacceptable and unprofessional. She just said she didn't do her job right the first time and she wasn't going to fix it. She made the situation seem as if it were my boyfriend's fault and he needed to be punished for that. NOOOOOO! When you hold a position of power, you never make an unpredictable situation anyone's fault. You also never give up and you most certainly never tell other people to give up. You fight, you work, you troubleshoot. Problem-solving is one of the first things we as humans learn how to do! You're hungry? Cry for food. Diaper wet? Cry to be changed.
Also, I do not go to the same college as my boyfriend. We are not in the same major. His advisor is one of the major people within the department at the college, though. So how could I, a 21 year old at a different college in a different major, give my boyfriend a better academic advising session over text rather than the professional sitting in front of him? I used simple logic. I used the big squishy thing in my skull to think about what normal people would do when faced with a roadblock; find a detour. You can't get into the program because of this class? Become an undecided major. Take Gen Ed classes that aren't full. Start fresh on track to the program next semester. (Which is what they decided to do.)
The moral of this story: do not, I mean never ever, let someone tell you to give up and never allow yourself to give up. There are other ways to reach your goal, even when people tell you otherwise.
