Enrollment

I'm inside a campus once again. I'm sweating, slightly hungry, as I jostle for a place among the teeming masses. Jeesh. I've never liked enrollments and this one was no exception.

At least, when I was in college, I had all the patience in the world, waiting and lining up along with the students. I had to be because I knew I was studying in Ateneo for free and, for this sole fact alone, I was willing to go through the process and waste two days of my life for enrollment.

Now that I'm finally pursuing Law four years after my graduation, I've found out that I'm not really patient anymore. It's probably because I know I'm the one who's going to pay for my tuition and I do feel a sense of entitlement, however false, because of it. I mean, I'm not an undergraduate scrounging for some education; I'm a freakin' professional scrounging for some education. I deserve a special line for us professionals so we could file just one vacation leave for enrollment instead of two.

Anyway, enrollment hasn't been easier since the last time I checked. For all the hulabaloo about online enrollment, UM doesn't seem to be fond of this (Ateneo de Davao has gone this route, according to my brother, but it was too late for me to enjoy it).

There were instances when I was unnecessarily inconvenienced. The student assistant kept insisting that I submit a copy of my birth certificate, which was odd since I've already given one to the Admissions office (his reason: there are multiple filing systems for both Records and Admissions, although technically they share the same room). I was also sent back and forth between the two UM Bolton campuses because I needed to be interviewed by Guidance (which wasn't necessary according to one counselor)and I needed to write down my subject codes (because the Admissions didn't have a copy of these codes in the embassy area where the enrollment was going on). I was also asked for my Certificate of Good Moral Character despite my insistence that it didn't apply to me because I was no longer a high school graduate (in hindsight, the student assistant probably didn't know any better). And finally, the long line: four hours of just waiting so I could finally reach the encoder, who would then enter my subject codes.

Simply put, my enrollment experience in UM was distasteful. Definitely, it was not a good way to start a relationship with another school.