I'm a Pusher...

Movie anyone? Okay so maybe it's not that obvious since Jake just asked me what it was...Mean Girls!

I chose this title because today I am going to tell you all about my epically long (hence the epically long blog post) process of getting into BYU-I for the Fall and through most of which I had to push and push and PUSH!

Let's go back to February shall we? Jake got home, didn't get into BYU, and I had to find some way to finish my degree because he did get into BYU-Idaho and I was NOT going to wait until December to get married. It was not an option. I found out that I could take all of my classes online except for one: History 490. This is my final capstone class to receive my history degree. I began exploring my options:

Option 1. Take it Spring semester. This would require me to be away from Jake for two months longer and it was getting difficult to know where everything was going living in different states. Option eliminated.

Option 2. Take it Summer semester. This would allow me to come home for two months, figure out if everything would work out between us, but then I would have to plan the wedding from a different state and take a stressful class at the same time. Option eliminated.

Option 3. Finish classes in the Fall and have Jake take some of his classes online. We considered this option for a little bit but it's much easier taking classes where you can be in the actual classroom and have the professor right there ready to help. I didn't want Jake to have to postpone his education or make it more difficult for him so I kept exploring.

Option 4. Sign up for a class in Provo and try to get a professor to work with me from a distance while I'm in Idaho. This is the option I tried for a few weeks. Every single professor who teaches the 490 class told me no except for one who said he would but he was not super thrilled about it. He only teaches the class once a week so he said he would want me to drive down to Provo for the first month or so to go to class and then every week I would have to talk to him about my paper via phone or skype. Not the best option but it could work. (Although driving 4 hours there and back every week would stink).

Option 5. Get permission to take an equivalent class at BYU-I. This looked like the best option for me so I started the VERY LONG process of trying to make this work. First I called the history department chair at BYU-I to ask if he had an equivalent class and if I could take it. He found me two classes that could possibly work so I took them to BYU to make sure the credits would transfer. They said yes but that I needed permission from the history department so I contacted the history department undergraduate studies chair. He took a while to get back to me and when he did he said I had to get a syllabus from the class I wanted to take so that he could approve it. I contacted the history department chair in Idaho again and he got me some examples that I then forwarded to BYU. The undergraduate chair almost immediately said no because the class in Idaho did not have an approximately 25 page research paper. I looked at the syllabi myself and saw that none of them even mentioned a paper!! I was determined to find out if the two specific classes I could possibly take had a long enough research paper. I emailed both of those professors and one of them had a 20 page research paper. Score! I sent another email to the undergraduate chair at BYU and told him that one of the classes did in fact have a 20 page paper. He wanted to see that specific syllabus. I asked the professor for the syllabus and it took 3 emails and a phone call over the course of ONE MONTH to get back to me. Ridiculous. I finally sent the syllabus to the undergraduate chair and practically begged to be able to take the class. I quickly received his blessing, the history department chair's blessing, and a freeze on my BYU account until I transfer the credits back. I did a happy dance. Literally.

Then came the process of getting into BYU-I. I filled out an application as a non-matriculating student (which a counselor at BYU-I had told me to sign up as) and recently found out that my admission was DENIED. What?! Angry, I called BYU-I admissions and talked to a counselor. She basically told me that I had been denied because I did not fulfill one of the following requirements: Married, Over 25 years old, Single parent, or have a Bachelors. Even though I WILL be married by the time Fall semester comes around, I would have to apply again when I'm actually married. Long(er) story short, my parents and Jake made me call again the next day (today) to ask again and told me to push it until I got in. Well, I pushed and they pretty much told me the same thing BUT she put a note on my application and basically told me that if I apply again after I'm married, I will get in. YAY! Now the tricky part was getting the ONLY class I need when there are only two spots left and I won't be able to sign up until 2 weeks before school starts. I called the professor (who I have been bugging over the past few months...poor guy) and after I explained my situation he almost immediately told me to just come to class when school starts and he would give me an add code. DOUBLE SCORE!!!

So basically I am ALL set to take my capstone in Idaho for this Fall and I will be graduating like I wanted in December! Oh happy day and hooray for pushing people to get what I want! :)