Back to school: Remember that course in event planning & meeting management I took last spring? Well, now that I'm unemployed, I've been thinking about going ahead for the certification course offered by Raritan Valley Community College. Actually, it's been in the back of my mind since before my contract ended; I had contacted Michigan State University and got a copy of my transcript so I could compare RVCC's required courses against ones I had taken at MSU.

Anyway, this past Tuesday I went to inquire about waiving some of RVCC's course requirements. I got sent to the Dean of Admissions, Thomas Valasek, who sat down with me, went through my MSU transcript, and decided that four of the required ten courses were able to be waived. I had already taken one course (last spring). And my decade of being Ombudsman for American Mensa, he decided, could be used to waive another course. Six out of ten, woo-hoo!

Thursday, armed with my list of courses, I went in to see an advisor about registration. She told me I'd have to get another transcript from MSU -- one that I had not opened -- and take it over to the Records Office for formal waiving of the courses. (It doesn't hurt that Dean Valasek had already OK'd it, but officially it has to go through the office, and they have the final say.) And of the three courses I wanted to take, one (Intro to Public Relations) had the only session I could take cancelled for lack of interest, while another (Speech) had both sessions I wanted closed to additional students. So I registered for the third -- Marketing I -- and went home to watch online, hoping one of the two Speech sessions would have an opening come up.

No luck there. But I found another session that met Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. -- for only seven weeks. So I went back to RVCC this morning and added the Saturday Speech course. Now I'm all enrolled -- and I'm waving goodbye to $750 for tuition (and other costs). And I still have to buy books.

The fall semester starts September 5 and runs through December 15. (The Speech course goes only through October 23.) The Marketing course is Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.; I already told you about the Speech course. Once they're done, the only courses left (assuming the Records Office agrees with the Dean about my waiving classes) will be the Intro to PR, and a term-length internship with a real event/meeting company.

I hope this is worth it...