The following is a letter to the editor from a Knight News reader:
Throwback to a year and a half ago, mid 2014, and I, along with my business major peers, was a young, excited, and trusting entrepreneurial mind ready to streamline into the “great” college of business at the University of Central Florida.
At the heart of the college is a small room across from the testing center dubbed “The Office of Professional Development”, and what an irony that name has proven to be, consistently understaffed, and might I add the quality of staffing being outrageously sub-par, you’d be lucky to see a counselor with under an hour of waiting; that’s even with an appointment!
At first, newly accepted into the college with open arms, I strolled into this office and met with my new upperclassmen counselor for the first time. She greeted me into her office with an amiable smile knowing she was about to con me into spending more money and time in the dreaded place than I needed to, just like she did to everyone else she took in there.
It was at this moment that the office decided to implement what they called the “new catalog year”, reminding me of the socialist “new order”, in which they changed the credit hour value of almost all business core classes from 4 to 3; thus leaving all students with about an 8-hour class shortage forcing them to extend their stay at UCF and take extra non-major classes, or succumb to their new order and take a supplemental 1-hour class every semester along with one more non-major.
I, thank God, chose to stick with the old order which has given me a myriad of issues itself but doesn’t even compare to the deluge of bullsh-t that the new order choosers have swallowed.
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Anyway, I’m here to tell my story, not anyone else’s. So in that office, smiling at the young blonde newly grad who somehow qualifies to guide me through my accounting endeavor with her basic general business degree tells me that since I’m electing the old catalog year I will have to weasel in two upper level non-major electives for my hour shortage to be fulfilled.
With that she then took out their standard course planning sheets and began to plan my next four semesters here at UCF. Naïve and accepting, I happily took the sheet home with a smile and logged into myUCF to begin to enroll in my classes.
For the next year all seemed well for me as I heard my friends mope about the atrocities they were enduring with the new order catalog and I was so grateful I didn’t choose it. Then, about a month ago, I decided to stroll into the ominous office again as I am reaching the culmination of my studies here at UCF and wanted to ensure that everything was smooth-sailing.
This time, instead of seeing a counselor I got the low-budget treatment; I’m taken just behind the secretary’s desk at a completely public table where everyone in the lobby can hear my personal affairs. This didn’t bother me too much, as I don’t have anything to hide, but it appalled me at how unprofessional the “Office of PROFESSIONAL Development” was running.
Anyway, my counselor this time, a girl still in her undergrad studying general business, highlights to me that I now need THREE non-major upper level business electives to graduate.
I was taken back, I exclaimed that the last time I was here I was specifically instructed that I only needed two. She said she doesn’t know who I spoke to a year ago but these are the rules. Aside, these inconsistencies within the department and the staffing are regular occurrences that can be attested to by anyone you approach who has ever been served here.
What occurred next is a prime example as follows: So now to cover this third class that I needed, I decided to take an upper level finance elective as my interest is in finance and it is much related to my main course of study, which is accounting.
To do this I needed to apply for a finance minor because the elective is restricted, however, the counselor told me I would have no problem getting approved because I received a 102% in business finance and my Accounting GPA is a 4.0; this means I’ve never received anything less than an A in any business core class that the University has to offer.
Sure enough, two weeks into my application there is still no approval by the college when I checked on myUCF.
I go back into the office, again waiting over an hour in the lobby, just to be told that I needed to wait for this fall semester’s grades to be posted as they weigh heavily on the approval decisions; this exact date was the 12th of December, 2015 and grades will be posted on 18th of December, 2015.
By the 4th of January, 2016 sure enough the status of my application has still not been decided, which by any standard is unbelievable, so I decided to make another appearance in the office, which I now call the Office of Professional Destruction.
I make my way in there and approach the secretary telling her my situation and the woman who promised me the decision by the times grades were posted was sitting right behind her!
I called on her saying she’s the one and she quickly dug her head into her computer completely ignoring me, I was appalled at the immaturity allowed.
So now the secretary tells me that to be approved for the minor I need to take Personal finance, this class is a Pre-cursor to the upper level class business finance which I received an A in.
I expressed my views heavily that there was no rationale in that process as not only did I demonstrate my mastery of business finance but I received a 102%, meaning I’ve never missed an academic financial question in my entire life. (Now whether or not UCF’s curriculum difficulty is sub-par, that’s best saved for another article.)
Anyway this secretary makes her way to the back office as I made it clear I wasn’t leaving here with that answer. Sure enough, ten minutes later she returns saying it’s no problem and I will be approved within 36 hours; which means 2 weeks on their time.
Again, this shows how inconsistent her word is versus her superior’s. What if I just accepted that I needed personal finance and didn’t cause a scene like I’m sure many other docile students have done? I’d be out another $700 and a semester behind and UCF would be licking their chops.
This is just one of the many reasons why UCF, while having the second largest student body in the entire nation, has one of the lowest alumni donations at the same time.
It’s not just me being adversely affected by this incompetent system, it’s my roommates, it’s my friends, it’s my peers, and it’s everyone who’s ever stepped foot in that dreadful office and that is why I feel so compelled to speak out. I speak for the masses.
It’s time to expose this school for what it is becoming, and to uphold the principle that a public University’s entire existence is to serve the best interest of the students.
– Adam Moore
