The right hand knows what the left hand is doing
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2007
1
3
72
Trip End
Jul 03, 2007
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Monday, January 15, 2007
From the time they sent me the first email of acceptance, to the...well, come to think of it, they never sent me a second email, except one in which they had registered me for a much lower Arabic course than I needed (despite what I specifically told them, and what was written in my transcript); they also didn't register me for a class which I desparately needed and which was not full! When I pointed that out, I got no response. When I asked questions, I was also hard-pressed to get a response. And that's exactly what I mean!
Thus, for the past several days, I have spent most of my free time standing in line to change my schedule, add a class, drop another, and then do it all over again, because something else went wrong. The lines are not particularly orderly--about every one of the 2500 people in this school have not yet registered for classes, or are having the same problems I was. By the time you get to speak to someone, likely as not, you'll have to go wait in line to speak to someone else before coming back and waiting to speak to the first person again.
I also discovered that I had not been issued a student ID, nor was I issued dormitory information forms. In fact, I was given them just this afternoon; just the same way that no one told me about Orientation and finally the librarian (of all people!) directed me towards it, and the same way that all emails sent to me kept bouncing back to the sender.
It's not all bad though. It is, without a doubt, easier to get good service here than at the University of Cincinnati. I single handedly managed to change the Clinton Scholarship so that it covers up to 16 credit hours, instead of just 15. I also mangaged to force my way into a over-full class, and worm my way into an art class. I also made friends with the Vice President (a very influential man), which is really my big secret to getting all this stuff done easily, correctly, and in a timely fashion.
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*Prospective students of AUD and the William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship take heed--apply for the scholarship, co-apply through AIU, get your papers in order before hand, register before the first day of class, and be prepared to wait. And wait. And when all else fails speak to the people in power.
