The Pursuit of Transcripts All Over the World

For 15 years I worked at Colorado State University as the Admission Coordinator for the Master of Social Work applicants. That was only part of my position, but the admission process took up the majority of my time from January through April. A huge part of that process was the calculation of grade point averages for each applicant. Some folks apply for graduate school having gone to only one school for their undergrad degree. Most have 2-3 schools along the way, at least for a class here and there. Some have had as many as 10 schools they have attended in pursuit of their bachelor's degree. Some were so old that the grades were handwritten. Some were typewritten. Computers made things much easier, but there are literally hundreds of different formats.

Figuring grade point averages is a tedious task. I figured out a rough estimate of how many of those documents I worked with in those 15 years, and came up with approximately 5600. I often lamented that I wished there was some consistency - that every college or university had the same format. That everyone had the semester system and nobody had the trimester system. That everyone had 4 points for an A and 0 points for an F. That nobody used + or - with their grades.

So why, you might ask, am I harping about this old news? It has to do with Kevin trying to get back into school to finish those last few credits for his degree. I offered/agreed to help him by ordering the transcripts from everywhere he went to school. He has limited time, ability, and resources to get this done. This is when I really wished that every college or university had the same rules and regulations for ordering transcripts.

Did you know that no matter how long you've been out of high school, and no matter how many previous colleges you've gone to, you still have to dredge up that old transcript and send it to the university where you're applying?

Kev attended the local community college for a welding course, and maybe another 2 or 3 credits. They would not let me order it. He couldn't call it in. He could do it on line - but it didn't work for him. He had to fill out a paper copy of the transcript request, sign it, and turn it in - and since he's far far away, it could be faxed.

Colorado State University has several possible methods, too, but fortunately he was here in town, getting Angie moved, so he was able to walk into the office and have it in his hand in a few minutes.

Biola University was easy to work with - they let me order it by phone, no problem at all.

The biggest challenge of all, as you can probably imagine, was his Africa Nazarene University transcript. He only attended there one semester (long enough to meet Angie, fall in love, and change the entire course of his life, and ours), and only had 12 credits there. I wish we'd ordered several copies before he left there, or the last time he applied for college.

I wrote to my missionary friend at Africa Nazarene University and asked her the name and e-address of the person I needed to contact in Records. I wrote that person - keep in mind that there is a 10-hour time difference between here and Nairobi. Therefore, whatever I send there is seen the next day, and whatever she answers is not seen until the next day, so it's a three day process just to get a message back and forth. She couldn't find him, because they had him listed as Carlson Kevin, not Carlson, Kevin. It took several more days to get that resolved, and I ended up calling her to resolve things. It took another couple of days to figure out how to pay for the three copies we decided we should get, just in case.

Wow, was that ever an ordeal! They charge a ridiculous amount of money to run off a transcript - about 3 times what anybody else charges. Then there's the part about transferring $32.00 from my bank to a bank in Nairobi, which was then put into an account for ANU. The total was $98.00 for 3 transcripts.

So, I thought it was all taken care of. Several days later an envelope arrived from Africa. I opened it to be sure they had sent everything I had paid for. Big mistake. I send the envelope on to Kev, and he sent one copy to the University of Maine, and was informed a few days later that they could not accept the transcript because it wasn't in a sealed envelope. I understand that, I really do. But Kevin tried to convince them that they should consider the fact that the transcripts were from a third world country, but they wouldn't budge.

So - I wrote my friend again and asked her to intervene for us with the Records office - to tell them I wanted them to replace one of the transcripts free of charge, this time sent in a sealed envelope, with a signature across the seal on the back. My missionary friend wrote me back to tell me they would re-do the order, but not free of charge. But they were going to pay out of their pockets. I assumed I would repay them, but so far I haven't heard from them about the amount.

The coolest thing about this latest situation - there was a group from America there working on the campus, returning to the US yesterday. They were to bring the transcript back and send it overnight as soon as they get back here. It really pays to have good friends in far away places.

Well, this has probably bored you all stiff, but I just had to put it all down to believe it! I'm just trusting that U Maine doesn't come up with any more problems with this crazy, convoluted process - a process much ore difficult than any I've ever seen, in my years of working with transcripts.

We're off to Maine to visit Kev and Angie on Thursday - there's much to do in the next two days. Then we'll be home a day and will head to the mountains for time with my extended family. Only about 28 of the 55 will be there, but we'll have a great time. Among other things, we'll be celebrating my folks' 65th anniversary.

Stay cool!

Technology - You Can't Live With It . . .

. . . and you can't live without it. We've had an amazingly ridiculous experience with our tech stuff for the past two weeks. We have a bundled package - cable, internet, and land line phone. It has worked well for a couple of years now. For some reason the t.v. never went out, but we have become very well acquainted with all levels of Comcast guys as the company sent out one techie after another to see if they could figure out what was going on.

It started when I couldn't get my internet to connect. Then I discovered that the phone wasn't working. I sat on my cell phone, with limited minutes, trying to resolve the problem. Little did we know how long this would go on. As it evolved, guys came out and checked out the lines all up and down our neighborhood - finding all sorts of problems which didn't solve ours, but probably prevented some for others.

We got a new modem, thinking that was the issue. We had to use the reset button every time the connection failed. It would work for awhile. Eventually we had to reset both the modem and the router, and it would work for awhile. Then we tried removing one of the wires from the router and plug it in again. Each time the internet would reconnect, the phone would go out.

We had guys here morning, afternoon, evening, Saturday - all frustrated with the inability to figure it out. Finally DC bought a new router and a battery back-up of some sort to prevent surges and ebb and flow of electrical power. We discovered that when we turn on our attic fan, the lights dimmed. So altogether, there were lots of things that went together to create these weird problems.

These tech guys, I have to say, bent over backwards for us. One even gave us his cell phone number so that we could reach him after hours. The final one tried to get my laptop working right, way beyond the call of duty. They helped us with things that weren't their equipment. They didn't charge us. I have to say that, even though it's been very frustrating, we have been treated well. We'll supposedly get a free month's coverage because of our patience. (In the midst of all this, we had another strange thing happening - about 8 times, we got a call from the somebody at the hospital, thinking they were calling a number with just a bit of a different number. Do you know how scary it is to get a call at midnight with the Caller ID saying it's from the hospital?? We never did figure it out, but it stopped, thank goodness).

So, once again, I have to give credit where credit is due. Twice in two months - go figure!!


Friday morning the girls called me just as I got to the gym - on my bike. They wanted me to come over and walk to school with them again. Being the kind of grandma who always tries to make things happen that are do-able, I hopped back on my bike and power pedaled home to hop in the car and rush down to their house, just in time to get to school before the bell rang. I had to catch a shot of them in the other outfits I got them for school - I don't know how much longer they'll be willing to dress alike, so I have to milk it for all it's worth! In fact, Care Bear said, when they got dressed, "Now the teachers will all say how cute we are again."




Saturday I looked over the fence to the yard behind us and saw this gigantic blow-up water slide device. The young mom greeted me over the fence and said they were having a Back to School party for their first grade son, inviting all of his classmates. She asked me to bring the girls over to play and have hot dogs for lunch. So I went down and got them and brought them back here, giving Kristen a bit of a break. It was a super hot day - one of the hottest of the summer - and they had a wonderful time. Care Bear jumped right into the action - it took Feisty a long time to get her courage up to go down a slide, but she finally did and they spent the whole afternoon over there.




Changing the subject drastically -- I found this cartoon the other day and it really gave me a good chuckle. I have had the same hair dresser for years - I have followed her to 12 or 13 different shops. She gives a great perm and we have fun conversations, catching up every few months. But - she never ever cuts the top short enough. I have to go back for a touch-up every time. I think Cathy has the same problem~~~~

(I think you'll have to double click on it to enlarge it, but I hope you can read it!)




Next up: The Patio Project

Didja Ever Feel Like Runnin' Away from Home??

Kristen was a feisty little kid - she's getting alot of pay-back now. I found this picture recently and found it much more amusing now than I did when she was not quite 5 and was so upset with me for some reason that she packed her little brown dolly suitcase, carried a few more things that didn't fit (I can identify her robe that I had made her), and headed out the door. Thank goodness she didn't leave the cul de sac. You can double click to see more detail - it's pretty old and grainy! Don't you just love how her hair is so light that it blends in with the sidewalk?? (Notice that it was garbage day?)

This week I'm kind of feeling like she did that day - like I want to pack up, take off, and leave no forwarding address. Mind if a whine a bit?

Nothing serious - just incredibly annoying.

1. The light/fan above the table - the fan wouldn't turn off - and it wasn't warm enough to need the fan.

2. The light under the cupboards that I have had for close to 30 years started flashing off and on. It is not a simple matter of changing the bulb. I REALLY miss it.

3. Both light bulbs in my little office burned out the same day - I know, nothing in the grand scheme of things, but just ridiculous.

4. My cell phone is acting very weird - I keep having to mess with the SIM card and the battery to make it work.

5. My tires on my car are shot .

6. The amount I was quoted for the surgery turned out to be only for the surgery center - it doesn't count the original doctor's visit, the surgeon's bill, the anesthesiologist - I hope that's all.

7. I finally got to the dentist, after working with insurance for months - turns out there's some serious work ahead after years of clear check-ups. Changing dentists is traumatic without the new one finding much more stuff than the previous one.

8. Our grandfather clock has not worked for awhile. We finally got a clock expert who attends our church to come over and take the works for an overhaul - much more expensive than I dreamed.

9. My dishwasher is full of clean dishes that I can't get out - the door latch broke as I tried to open it Sunday morning. Now I'm doing dishes by hand with this left arm I'm not supposed to get wet. I have a fix-it man (also from church) coming over tomorrow to see if he has to order parts and how long it might be before it is usable again.

Good grief! I'm glad none of this is more important than it is, but it's the accumulation, you know?

The good news - only 3 more days till the stitches come out. YAY!!



Recently I went back and read some old posts and discovered something about myself. I used to do more writing. Now I do more picture-showing. My blog has become a journal/diary of my daily life. I sometimes wish I had more cogent thoughts in my brain to put down here, for your inspiration. Maybe I should take a blogging break and let some thoughts develop. But I don't think I will. Hope you don't mind!

The holiday week-end was enjoyable, even if very soggy and gray. We had our annual picnic at my folks' place, though inside this year. My youngest brother (the really tall one), my SIL, and West Point cadet nephew always come for the Bolder Boulder on Monday. David, the cadet, turned out to be just as great with the girls as his younger brother was during the big birthday event.



He is so incredibly strong and fit that he was able to do push-ups with both big girls on his back.



Just a couple more fun pictures - Feisty was getting dressed the other day and was wearing these cute little tiny Levis. She pointed out the leather patch on the back waistband and said, "I like wearing these jeans because they make me feel like a grown-up."




Katie is finally walking more - she was really showing off at the get-together on Sunday. She was so proud of herself. What is really fun is that she and Emma clap for each other whenever they do anything to be proud of. Emma was pushing this toy around the family room the other day - she found one of Kev's shoes that was with a bunch of stuff I'm sending him - she pushed it around all over the room - so cute.





It won't be long until they'll both be running us more ragged than they are now!

Tomorrow is Care Bear's field day at school - it's fun to watch her run like the wind with her hair flying behind. She's very athletic. Feisty's last day of preschool is Thursday. Then - YIKES!

My parents are flying to Ohio today to visit my dad's youngest brother, who is going to be heading to heaven soon after so many years of suffering. We totally understand their reasoning for going, but are concerned about Dad's ability to handle the trip physically. At least he was finally convinced not to drive and take a long side trip on the way back. Please pray for their health and safe travel. Thanks again.

To end on a really positive note, I found this great quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson in my devotions one day this week.

"You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late."

Good food for thought.

Have a great rest of the week!