The majority of her courses were in Computer Science. She went to the chairman of the department who looked at the syllabus for the courses and, inside of a half-hour, marked down what could be transferred and which courses the college had no equivalent for. Quick and painless.
One of the courses, the Computer Science chairman informed her, was offered in Industrial Engineering. So, off she went. The professor in that department effected the course transfer in about five minutes.
Next, she went to the mathematics department. After looking at her syllabus, the math professor transferred Calculus III and professed disappoinment. After all, if she'd done Calculus III, it was rather obvious she didn't need to do Calculus I and II. He called around and then decided to offer my wife the option of testing out of these courses. Not quite as immediate as the Engineering departments, but efficient and fair all the same.
Next stop was at the English department. The course syllabus was taken by an English professor who commented that the reading list seemed pretty extensive. She then explained how she couldn't decide on her own. Apparently, she had to ask her chairman first. So, my wife went back after a couple of days. "There is not enough creativity involved," she was told, "so your course can not be transferred." And since, like a car dealership, there was a hidden guy supposedly making the decisions, there was nothing more to do and no appeals possible.
The final step was to transfer a course that could possibly be transferred as Political Science, Philosophy or at the very least, Non-Western Culture. The Philosophy folks asked her to go to Political Science and the Political Science folks lobbed her back to Philosophy. After a few such lobs, some one at Political Science took her syllabus to see if it could be a Non-Western Culture course. However, as in English, she couldn't make the decision. Unlike English, the decision wouldn't be made by a single person. Instead, a committee would meet in three weeks and decide the matter. My wife will get to know the decision about five weeks after first inquiring about transfering that course.
Quick decisions in Engineering. Decisiveness after consultation in Mathematics. A car-dealership type of approach in English. And a bureaucratic mess in the Social Sciences. Can you say that you are surprised?
