Seriously Irritated

Okay, so I skipped my Biostats discussion today, which, in and of itself is not good or really excuseable, but, in this case, is totally understandable. Here are the reasons why:

First, I took an extremely difficult Epi test (Epi= Epidemiology for you non-public health folks) today which fried my brain completely. I was so frustrated afterwards: I studied quite a lot for that damn test and I'm not sure I'm even going to get an A.

Secondly, I'm still pissed about getting the exact same score on my Biostats test as I did on the last one even though (again) I studied like a madwoman, re-worked all the problems on the homework (and got them all perfect) and paid close attention to everything my professor and TA said. I know I shouldn't be too irritated--the class average drop 10 points and mine stayed the same.

Finally, the College of Public Health.....Jesus, where do I start? I turned in a new (sort of) letter of intent for the Global Health program today in hopes of being admitted to the GH program for spring 2007. I had gone around and around with the new secretary about whether or not I needed to submit a new application or application fee for my most current effort (this is to get into department I should've been admitted to anyway, but whatever). I explained to the new secretary that the old secretary told me that, no, I didn't need to fill out anything else or submit any new materials, seeing as how nothing else had really changed other than the fact that I was being cool enough to put forth a lot of effort and take two math intensive classes, which, truth be told, are really hard for people IN the program, let alone for a poor shmuck like me who has had no math at all since high school.

Unfortunately, even after clearing this up I get a call this afternoon from a woman with a really urgent sounding tone in her voice saying I needed to make sure I filled out a new grad application for the Grad Admissions office right away. I patiently explained my situation, and that I had been over this before with both the new and old secretary and we had determined that no, I did NOT need to fill out a new form, but this woman insisted I fill out a new form. When I told her, in my I'm-really-trying-hard-not-to-scream-right-now voice that I was told explicted that I DID NOT NEED TO FILL OUT A NEW FORM by the old secretary (who had been there for years) the new woman said, well, that's too bad but "there was nothing I can do about it now, retroactively". This...well, this pissed me off.

So, I dragged my ass out of bed, called Graduate Admissions and was promptly told that no, I did not need to fill out another form. All admissions needed to do was send a new recommendation form to the College of Public Health to be filled out by whoever regarding whether or not I will actually be admitted to this damn program. Then she asked what program I was applying to. I told her and she said, "There is no Global Health program." I tried to explain to her that it was housed, so to speak, in a different department, but this woman kept cutting me off and telling me she didn't know where to send the form because the department that houses the Global Health program doesn't offer an MPH (um, I'm pretty sure this isn't true, but I was not about to argue with her). After explaining again and again everything I know about the program I know exists, and to which I'm applying to this spring, I gave up.

After I got off the phone with this woman, I was ready to throw the phone across the room. These people really do not know their heads from their asses, and in an effort put everything in its place, they've completely organized themselves into disorganization. On the surface everyone looks like they know what their doing, but really, they don't.

Eventually, I got a call from the woman at grad admissions saying she was sending my grad application materials to the department that houses Global Health (um, I TOLD YOU TO DO THAT TO BEGIN WITH) and everything was cool. I asked her if I needed to fill out another application. She said absolutely not and she didn't know why I was told to do that to begin with, since the College of Public Health already has everything they need anyway.

So, you see, I ditched my class so I could go to the gym and sweat out my frustrations. Don't you think that was the right choice?