Like many of my friends, I received an email this past Monday from the office of the registrar stating that I’m not eligible to graduate in May 2013 as planned.
I’ve heard uncountable horror stories throughout my life about col lege students not graduating at the expected time because of a forgotten class, a bad advisor or a low GPA. So naturally, I’ve always feared this would happen to me. I could almost hear my own heart beating out of my chest, then skipping a beat.
Panic time.
All kinds of thoughts ran through my head.
I can’t afford another year of college.
I tried to pull myself together and i emailed my advisor.
What requirements have I forgotten or misunderstood?
My advisor responded to my email immediately and told me to visit his office right away so we could sort out the problem.
I just want to be done with college so I can get a real job.
I rushed to gather my things and change out of my pajamas so i could run across campus to my advisor’s office.
What will my family think?
Shaking, i went back to my computer to print out the email I was sent.
I worked so hard through high school and college to graduate by the time I’m 20. It’s not happening now.
My advisor emailed me again. Did he find the problem?
He told me he called the registrars office. They accidentally sent the email to me.
How many other students have had panic attacks this morning because of this horrifying mistake?
I posted on Facebook.
I really hope this happened to other students. If not, this would be embarrassing.
The first Facebook comment rolled in. “I got the same thing,” it said.
Relief. I’m not the only one.
After the brief feeling of relief passed i began to inquire what happened.
Why? Is this some hidden CNU tradition, scaring students who are about to graduate? Certainly not. They know we have plenty of stress, homework and worries about the next uncertain year.
It was just a mistake.
I received a second set of emails from the office of the registrar. They said to disregard the previous emails.
I saw other Facebook statuses about the incident. I went to class and talked to other seniors. it happened to everyone.
How did they send this to so many people? Exams are coming up. Why cause extra stress for seniors? Similar problems have happened at CNU before, how did this happen again?
I spent the rest of my day with the stress lingering in my head, but relieved that I was set to graduate this coming May.
