Today's mail

Today I got the letter!

There are nine pages in this letter, four of which are exact copies of information readily available online. What a waste! It seems pretty silly to print a whole page of paper telling me the grading scale for classes when that same scale is used throughout the university (universal, as it were).

Here is one paragraph of what was sent:

Copies of NURS 309 & 310 Syllabi will be available the week BEFORE classes and can be downloaded from a link on WEBCT. To access these documents follow the instructions posted on the College of Health and Human Services/School of Nursing web site (chhs.gmu.edu). Syllabi will be available after August 20, 2007. See the enclosed Course Description (green sheet) and the Course Schedule (gray sheet) for detailed information on the courses. Look for important registration information on the enclosed 2 yellow sheets. Follow the directions on the Registration Selection Form (second Yellow sheet), and make sure to detach and return the form as soon as possible (no later than July 31, 2007).

Clear a mud? Anything in bold was in bold on my sheet, anything in italics was underlined on my sheet. To make matters worse, in the almost-totally-wasting-my-time orientation they specifically said it didn't matter how quickly we returned the clinical selection sheets, we'd still have about the same chance of getting our 1st, 2nd or 3rd choices. On the paperwork today, it said the sooner we return the paperwork, the better our chances were that we'd get what we prefer. Totally contradictory statements. Ugh. And this was only one of six paragraphs for this page and they all are equally obtuse!

Well, I will sit and reread these papers a bit and try to figure out what I need to do and then I shall respond appropriately. They don't say which clinicals are which (pych, OB, etc.) so it's a bit hard to know what I want. They only tell me WHERE the clinicals are held. I, for one, DO NOT WANT to do an OB rotation at Reston Hospital Center, where the c/section rate is now 70%! It would be a waste of my time and certainly something I'd hate. I would be okay at Va Hospital Center, at least I know a couple of the nurses (Michelle) and one doctor (Tchabo), but even there, it's a 'teaching hospital' for the docs, so I'd get frustrated with residents and interns and fellows....

I guess I'll just take my chances and pick locations close to home. I did run into a GMU 2nd degree student at Sibley once, in L&D, so I bet that's a location for OB rotation. Hmmm. Don't I (we) have a possible doula client planning on Sibley? Hmmm.

One last comment. The paperwork says to plan on paying $1000-1500 for books for the classes. The indicate that we will use them all year (but doesn't say their won't me more books to buy for Spring or Summer terms). Bummer! I hope I can get some on ebay or other internet sites. Maybe I should check out the library? Sometimes you can take the book out and just keep it the whole year. Hey, the fines are cheaper than the books!