Comment by CSMastermind
3 hours ago
When I was in college they did an audit to see if I could graduate and it was flagged that I had been allowed to skip the Introduction to Computer Science class because I got a 5 on the AP Comp Sci test. The problem was that I took the test while it was administered in C++ and it had later switched to Java.
The school decided they were not going to recognize the test results and instead would only credit me with an elective class for it, I would still have ot pass the introductory class. This is in spite of pass all the later comptuer science classwork.
I escalated it to the dean, who told me that while he recognized this made no sense, "rules are rules and if we didn't follow them they wouldn't be rules".
But the "rule" in this case is that political appointees can have the polygraph waived at some senior leader's discretion, up to the president.
I would have lawyered up. But the experience seems to have turned you into a mindless rule follower.
Quite the contrary, it solidified for me how silly the 'rules are rules' thinking is.
If you'd passed their Intro CS class when it was C++, and they'd later switch to Java, would you have had to re-take the Intro class? I'd bet "no". Even though there'd be no difference - except that they'd collected your tuition $$$ for the class, and the bad optics.
My general experience with colleges is that "rules" are mostly for the little people. And pretty much all of them become negotiable the moment that serious money, prestige, or scandal avoidance are on the table.
(BTW - University of Michigan? I know several people who got similar crap from their CS Dept.)
Not the same