I feel like crying.

And that's totally irrational. It's just that I'm not good with confrontations. But this wasn't really a confrontation. Ok, it's that I'm not good with stupid people. And part of it is that the stupid person may be right. On one thing.

I suppose I ought to explain.

But you need background information first.

I have a four year scholarship. This covers tuition, fees, a stipend for books, and a very little bit of my housing. I have been here for three years. Because 1)I took several dual credit courses in high school and some at a community college the summer before coming to UTD and 2) I tend to take the maximum number of hours per semester 'cause I'm a great big dork, I have almost every single thing that I need to graduate this semester.

I went in to see my adviser to ask add some minors (government and gender studies) for which I already have all the credits I need. Well, I walked in, and she was like, "why aren't you graduating this semester?" I told her about the scholarship. Her response: "Well, just because you have money in your pocket doesn't mean you need to spend it." I had a feeling the meeting wasn't getting any better. I told her that I had nothing to do otherwise. I hadn't applied to grad schools for the fall.

"Well, this is going to send the message to graduate schools that you're a perpetual student and simply can't make up your mind."

Really? Even if I'm finished in four years and am taking classes related to my major?

"Well, that's just the impression it gives. You won't be there with the admissions committee to explain your thought processes to them."

Well, what if I were to add some minors (which is why I came in!!) out of the classes I've already got in order to make it look like those extra hours were productive?

"Well, all those hours still look bad."

So, we go and try to add minors. I had it all written up, nicely and neatly--all the classes I needed for each minor. And I still had things I needed fulfilled for my major (many of the classes for Soc, Govt, and Gender Studies are cross-listed). But she simply didn't understand what I was saying. She had my degree plan in front of her and adamantly refused to move anything from the "Major Related Upper Level Courses" to courses for a minor, believing (somehow) that because a previous adviser had written them in the little form that they were unmovable, that they couldn't be replaced by another SOC class.

Then, on the GOVT minor, because she wouldn't take my Law and Gender or Civil Rights Law classes (listed as both GOVT and SOC classes, but because I registered in them as SOC she said they wouldn't count), I suggested that I use my American Public Policy class (GOVT), which was the upper level writing course requirement for SOC until they added the new sociology writing class. Well--she said that I absolutely could not use that one because it was being used as the writing requirement. I said I was planning on taking the new soc writing course in the fall, instead. "What? You shouldn't be taking any more classes! You should be graduating."

So, grr. I got my gender studies minor added, but not my government one. It's tempting not to even go back to add it. Is it worth it to have to deal with her? She's not a stupid person. In fact, she's quite nice. But, she didn't understand what I was trying to say. And, when I wrote that first paragraph at the top of this post, I was afraid that maybe she was right about the extra hours looking bad to grad schools.

And, I never did ask my adviser about how to start a senior honors thesis, which was the main reason I wanted to meet in the first place.