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Day’s Verse:
And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and sea obey Him?”
Mark 4:40-41
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You probably do not recall the Sufficiency Saga, which I documented in this post. The long and short of it is that WPI requires all students to complete a humanities project, the Suff. However, transfer students can count seven of their transfer classes towards that humanities project and thus have that requirement waived. The common wisdom was that instead of getting a grade for that, transfer students simply get a note on their transcript that they completed the Suff. This makes transfer students who choose this option ineligible to receive High Honors when they graduate, since a prerequisite is getting A’s on all three of the projects (Suff, IQP, and MQP). I completed the IQP with flying colors and am almost finished with the MQP, which will probably receive an A-grade as well. I felt most bummed that despite the fact I could easily do a Suff and get an A, I wouldn’t have the time and would therefore miss out on the chance to earn High Honors.

Then I read the student handbook. Turns out that if a transfer student got all A’s in the classes they count towards their Suff, they can petition to be credited with an A for their Sufficiency even without doing it. Well! That fit my situation to a T, so I obtained my Clark transcript and hustled off to jump through hoops. Surprisingly, no other student had ever invoked that rule, so some policy was invented on the spot. At the time I found the hoop-jumping surprisingly easy, and looked forward to an A-level Suff appearing on my transcript. That was in March.

In May nothing had changed. No Suff credit to my name whatsoever. I emailed the appropriate people, outlining my diligent rule-following actions, and received a strange reply in return (I quote: I will be away from WPI uintil late in the week due to a pending death in the family. I will look into this when I return.). Then I went to London and the summer started in earnest, and I had to put the Suff problem aside. When I got back, I checked my records again – even talked to the Registrar’s office – and still no Suff had appeared. Frustrated, I emailed the appropriate party after determining that he wasn’t in his office to speak with personally.

He replied promptly, and surprised me with a rather indignant response that he had turned the paperwork in on May 22, and would I like a photocopy? So now I wait for the photocopy, with which to bash the Registar’s office over the head. I honestly just want to be sure I graduate this May, and that means having as many ducks in a row as possible before the very last minute. I just want to graduate! Is that so much to ask?!