College applications messing me around

That's what I'd consider a conflicting priority. If you postpone it to next year, you'll be a year older and will you be satisfied with the year off? Are there alternatives you could do towards the future that you want, in the time being?

If this is something you want to start sooner, colleges will never wait for us and you never know if something might change next year (courses impacted, no money for programs, economy tanking or whatnot).

I'd say a list of pro's and con's and some feedback from the wife. Is she okay with your decisions?

That house situation has got to suck. :|
 
Will I be satisfied with the year off? Nope. I'm not really happy where I am any more. There's almost nothing I can do here to work towards it either (nobody uses ASL in the UK, and Skype isn't as good as actual face-to-face instruction or practice).

The missus (NB: We're not married, she calls it either 'practically married' or 'living in sin' :naughty: the Canadian Immigration department prefers 'common law') supports me in doing this, she wants to start a new life too and retrain into something that interests her.

We were lucky to buy the house when we did - 2006, just before everything tanked. We're happy with it, but are worried some buyers would want it to be in a better condition. It's a semi, the one next doors was completely gutted and renovated and the poor guy who bought it to fix it up (I used to talk to him all the time as he worked) didn't get anything near the asking price when it eventually sold. Renting it isn't really a viable option.

Meh. Thanks for your positive thoughts, though, it feels like I've come so far only to be pushed back into my rut again.
 
Distance learning isn't perfect but it can at least get your foot in the door and maintain your educational momentum. Have you looked into that? If you enroll as a distance student, at least that gets you into the system.
 
I replied to that message, didn't I? If I didn't, my apologies!

I didn't appreciate having to pay $105 for the application and transcripts (or however much it was), just to have them only consider my high school transcripts and not even receive the university one, to be honest. Such a waste of money!
 
Reba said:
Distance learning isn't perfect but it can at least get your foot in the door and maintain your educational momentum. Have you looked into that? If you enroll as a distance student, at least that gets you into the system.
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I haven't been able to find any distance learning courses for ASL based in Canada. I wonder, would it be that different from following Lifeprint's (free) course?

honey.toronto said:
I replied to that message, didn't I? If I didn't, my apologies!

I didn't appreciate having to pay $105 for the application and transcripts (or however much it was), just to have them only consider my high school transcripts and not even receive the university one, to be honest. Such a waste of money!
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I'm sure you did, I posted that summary just so other folks would see it to know what we'd been talking about. So, they didn't even receive or consider the university one? That's interesting. Funny how they don't even want to tell me that, I've asked twice!

A week until it's the very middle of 'Mid June', let's see if I get an answer as promised!
 
metalangel said:
I haven't been able to find any distance learning courses for ASL based in Canada. I wonder, would it be that different from following Lifeprint's (free) course?
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I took distance learning classes in the USA so I don't know about Canada but I doubt that Lifeprint's course would be accepted for credit. Also, that still doesn't get you into that university's system.

If you want to use Lifeprint just for your own edification but not for college credit there's nothing wrong with that.

Does your university of choice offer anything online? Even if you could take one course that's not ASL it would get you registered into the school's system. That can open further doors. You would have a student number and account, and they could get started on evaluating your transcript.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

ASL online classes won't be accepted anywhere - however you could start taking the other required courses online such as linguistics, Maths, English etc.
 
Anij said:
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

ASL online classes won't be accepted anywhere - however you could start taking the other required courses online such as linguistics, Maths, English etc.
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I should clarify that I didn't take the ASL courses online but I did take interpreting courses thru distance learning. They weren't truly "online" computer classes but live distance learning classes over classroom TV's. Interpreting majors don't include ASL courses. The ASL courses must be taken (and passed with sufficient grades) before starting the interpreting major.

Like you posted, there are other courses that would be relevant. Courses in education or business practices (especially for potential freelancers) can be used.

I believe the OP already has a degree, so wouldn't need the core classes such as English and math but could probably find something relevant.
 
honey.toronto said:
I replied to that message, didn't I? If I didn't, my apologies!

I didn't appreciate having to pay $105 for the application and transcripts (or however much it was), just to have them only consider my high school transcripts and not even receive the university one, to be honest. Such a waste of money!
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That is a lot of money just for the application. My system was different, so I can't compare it. I didn't have to pay any of my previous colleges for the transcripts (they each allow one free request; since I had to get them from four different colleges and the military transcript service, that was a good thing). One little glitch for me was that three of the colleges had changed their names since I graduated from them. :giggle:

At first, when I started my most recent degree, the automatic system wouldn't allow me to take a course because a prerequisite was a reading course that I hadn't taken. Like you, I was, "Excuse me?!" I was a journalist for 24 years, and I had a BS in political science. I believe I know how to read. :lol: But my advisor spoke directly to the department head, and he overrode the rejection. The problem was, the evaluation of my transcripts lagged behind my registration. Eventually, it caught up, so it's no longer an issue.

I find that it helps to have an advocate--a living person--to help you thru the process and override a lot of the automatic processing. Perhaps if you can make personal contact with a department head and state your case you could get a little further along. It wouldn't hurt to try.

If the department head is not cooperative, then I would seriously consider moving on to another school. If you can't even get help entering the program, think about the struggles of attending there without cooperation.
 
Metalangel, did you apply through the ocas website? That's where I saw what they'd received for the college to consider.
 
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Yes, college applications can be confusing when being processed by universities. Sometimes, they get the information wrong until the last minute. Sometimes, it gets lost somewhere along the way.

I remember applying for RIT.

When I applied, I waited a few weeks before calling them to ask if there was anything else they needed from me. (It's better to ask if they need anything else than to ask if they have done anything yet.) When the person on the other end noticed that I was using a TTY, I was asked if I was deaf. When I replied that I was, they immediately transferred my application to NTID and I was accepted by the end of the day.

Turns out that when I applied, I didn't tell them that I was deaf. So, instead of dealing with a HUGE pile of hearing applications... they only deal with the small stack of deaf applications. :)
 
honey.toronto said:
Metalangel, did you apply through the ocas website? That's where I saw what they'd received for the college to consider.
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Yup, that's what I did. It doesn't say what parts of it they consider (as in, which of your grades) nor does it say whether they were even told I had a degree just because I didn't submit a transcript for it.
 
Okay, big update:

I have been accepted by my first choice, and will be joining honey.toronto and Nanelle at the ASL & Deaf Studies course starting this September at George Brown in Toronto.

Our house has just gone up for sale, the real estate folks have stealthily planted a sign outside our house today.

We're currently filling out (later than I'd have hoped) the Canada Immigration spousal sponsorship forms and the plan is now for me to go, on my own, to Toronto in August (after the Olympics has ended) to find a place to live. The missus will follow later once all our business in the UK is concluded.

Thanks for all your good wishes and support when I said recently I could really use them... they worked :ty:
 
Congrats, metalangel! Sounds like you are ready to start the next chapter in your life. I didn't know you were acquainted with honey.toronto and Nanelle on AD already.
 
naisho said:
Congrats, metalangel! Sounds like you are ready to start the next chapter in your life. I didn't know you were acquainted with honey.toronto and Nanelle on AD already.
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honey.toronto has been so awesome, helping me out with info about GBC and also general Toronto stuff for the last few months... I've been in the UK for 14 years so I'm not up to speed on what's been going on back home.

It'll be a proper adventure, especially the first few weeks getting settled.
 
Sorry to bump but I thought I'd say that I'm back 'home' now in Toronto, been apartment hunting mostly and enjoying the nice weather.

I have also been approved to sponsor my other half, so now they have to approve her as being sponsorable (it's a word, one I made up just now) and then she will be able to come over not just as a visitor but a permanent resident.

Busy busy busy. But I'm done for the day so beer beer beer now I think!
 
I'm glad that the process has smoothed out for you. :)
 
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