I've discovered something that's making me a bit miserable. I don't want to major in English at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont. I want to major in the English program at SF State. The problem is my 80-odd previously earned credits got me nowhere with the State transfer counselor who informed me I could expect about 19 credits to transfer, whereas NDNU would take 64 of them. They'd both accept the 9 I've earned since my last counseling session. I'd need to take 9 more classes to get admitted to State. I'd only need 2 more classes to be admitted to NDNU. You can see it makes a lot of sense to go to the latter university.
But I'm actually rather depressed by the courses offered in my major at NDNU (formerly the College of Notre Dame). They focus heavily on modern American literature, the stuff I have the least interest in. And the cost is enormous: $400 per credit compared to $69 at State. I'd definitely have to take out a loan on the order of $18,000 to finish my degree at NDNU. I could scrape up the $600 per semester myself out of my paycheck if I went to State. And although it irritates the living daylights out of me to have to take extra classes or classes I've already taken elsewhere, there is absolutely no point in going into debt for a degree if I'm not excited about the courses in my major. Because I don't need this degree for anything but a lifelong personal goal and self-esteem. All I really want to do is study English literature at the university level and get my sheepskin before I'm 50.
I have six years and a couple of months to go, okay? It's not like that's a long ways off.
So I don't know what to do. The only major which looks absolutely fascinating at NDNU is History, and I'm reluctant to change majors so late in the game. Ideally, one should want to take almost every single course offered in one's major. One should not look at the catalog and feel bored or worried. On the other hand, I don't have an advantage at either place as far as my chosen major goes. Not many of my previous English credits transfer to either place. I think both of them would accept the Modern Novel, Medieval Tradition, and Romantic Period classes as having fulfilled part of the major. But no one is impressed by my having taken Critical Thinking and Playwriting; my bad luck that they were both upper division classes at MTSU but lower div. here in California.
Keep in mind I will have to quit my job or go part time in order to attend NDNU, whereas I can do quite a lot of my English degree at State in the evenings. Man, this is all so annoying. Kids, take it from me, it's not a picnic to get a degree when you're trying to cobble together 25 years and three colleges' worth of credits. I wish I had been disciplined enough to do college the right way the first time through, but I wasn't. I'm paying for it now.
So, what do you think I should do? Suck it up, get a loan and go to the university that will let me in next year? Or tough it out and forget about my deadline of 50, take the extra two years of night school before starting my major, and go to State? I think I know what I'm going to do, but I'm interested in your opinions.
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