Grad school ranting
Tonight I should be working on my first IDA exam (where I can earn credit for real world experience). But I'm not. WHY? More in a sec.
Yesterday I had two papers due, one about 5 pages and the big ass one that ended up 18 pages. I had them done early, like Tuesday. I put in TONS of hours on them on top of work, kids, and everything else, right? So, yesterday I decided to double check that I'd uploaded the correct versions. I'd hate to upload a previous draft by mistake. And I see a note from our instructor. It read (to paraphrase) "A few students asked for an extension so to be fair to all I'm giving everyone an extenstion until Monday". WHAT! I was incensed. Extention? Hello! I'm just as busy as anyone else and, like in the REAL world where you have a deadline, I MET AND EXCEEDED THE DEADLINE! I couldn't believe the gall of some people to ask for an extension! When the hell did they start this project? It was assigned on the first day of class! What about those of us with initiative to email the instructor for feedback early and re-write their papers like 5 times and made thier wives read THE WHOLE DAMN THING to make sure it looked good! Boy was I pissed at those slackers.
THEN, today, exams open up. So I open the first exam. We have 72 hours to complete the exam and upload your answers (essay and regluar true/false, muliple choice). At 6:30 pm tonight, I open the first exam and start the clock, figuring I'll work maybe 3 hours tonight, and put in the rest of the about 12 hours recommended to complete tomorrow and Sunday. I wanted to have it done early Sunday since we have a Blue and Gold dinner for Grasshopper Sunday evening (cub scout event). I go to download the questions and I get an access denied error. I tried 4, yes FOUR different computers, same error on all 4. So I call ESC tech support. Except the CLOSE AT 5 PM ON FRIDAYS AND DON't OPEN AGAIN UNTIL SUNDAY! And the instructor available to help won't be available until 9 AM TOMORROW! And the clock is ticking. Now that I've opened the exam, once the 72 hours is up, I can NEVER take it again which means I won't be able to earn the credits towards my degree and have to take the entire course. Yes, I'm pissed. Here's the email I sent:
"Let me tell you my frustration level is extremely high right now. I tried 3 different computers all with the same error. I tried contacting the help desk and of course they closed at 5 pm. As an IT professional that deals in Service Desk, let me state this is very poor customer service. ESC publishes an exam with a time limit you can only access once, and at an obvious peak time for students to access an exam (I do recall the recommendation to do it over a Friday, Saturday, Sunday) there is NO assistance. Truthfully I’m very disappointed and am now going to lose at least 15 hours of time assuming this issue gets resolved at 9 am tomorrow. I had intended to put several hours in tonight and now that time is lost. I’m sorry to take this tone but I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this program so far this semester and did significant rearranging of my personal schedule and time to accommodate these IDA exams. As a student and IT professional I find this situation completely unsatisfactory. Please contact me immediately at home at .. or on my cell at .. to resolve. Thanks.)"
So now I'm going to have my "special" coffee (laced with amaretto) and watch Battlestar Galactica. And let me tell you they better fix my problem pronto or they're resetting the clock on my exam.
Yesterday I had two papers due, one about 5 pages and the big ass one that ended up 18 pages. I had them done early, like Tuesday. I put in TONS of hours on them on top of work, kids, and everything else, right? So, yesterday I decided to double check that I'd uploaded the correct versions. I'd hate to upload a previous draft by mistake. And I see a note from our instructor. It read (to paraphrase) "A few students asked for an extension so to be fair to all I'm giving everyone an extenstion until Monday". WHAT! I was incensed. Extention? Hello! I'm just as busy as anyone else and, like in the REAL world where you have a deadline, I MET AND EXCEEDED THE DEADLINE! I couldn't believe the gall of some people to ask for an extension! When the hell did they start this project? It was assigned on the first day of class! What about those of us with initiative to email the instructor for feedback early and re-write their papers like 5 times and made thier wives read THE WHOLE DAMN THING to make sure it looked good! Boy was I pissed at those slackers.
THEN, today, exams open up. So I open the first exam. We have 72 hours to complete the exam and upload your answers (essay and regluar true/false, muliple choice). At 6:30 pm tonight, I open the first exam and start the clock, figuring I'll work maybe 3 hours tonight, and put in the rest of the about 12 hours recommended to complete tomorrow and Sunday. I wanted to have it done early Sunday since we have a Blue and Gold dinner for Grasshopper Sunday evening (cub scout event). I go to download the questions and I get an access denied error. I tried 4, yes FOUR different computers, same error on all 4. So I call ESC tech support. Except the CLOSE AT 5 PM ON FRIDAYS AND DON't OPEN AGAIN UNTIL SUNDAY! And the instructor available to help won't be available until 9 AM TOMORROW! And the clock is ticking. Now that I've opened the exam, once the 72 hours is up, I can NEVER take it again which means I won't be able to earn the credits towards my degree and have to take the entire course. Yes, I'm pissed. Here's the email I sent:
"Let me tell you my frustration level is extremely high right now. I tried 3 different computers all with the same error. I tried contacting the help desk and of course they closed at 5 pm. As an IT professional that deals in Service Desk, let me state this is very poor customer service. ESC publishes an exam with a time limit you can only access once, and at an obvious peak time for students to access an exam (I do recall the recommendation to do it over a Friday, Saturday, Sunday) there is NO assistance. Truthfully I’m very disappointed and am now going to lose at least 15 hours of time assuming this issue gets resolved at 9 am tomorrow. I had intended to put several hours in tonight and now that time is lost. I’m sorry to take this tone but I’ve put a lot of time and effort into this program so far this semester and did significant rearranging of my personal schedule and time to accommodate these IDA exams. As a student and IT professional I find this situation completely unsatisfactory. Please contact me immediately at home at .. or on my cell at .. to resolve. Thanks.)"
So now I'm going to have my "special" coffee (laced with amaretto) and watch Battlestar Galactica. And let me tell you they better fix my problem pronto or they're resetting the clock on my exam.
Comments