Am I still an SFU Student?

ctine92

I was a student at SFU and took courses during Spring and Summer semesters of 2013. However, when Fall semester came around, I as given a later enrolment date and all of my courses were wait listed. A month passed by and I did not get a single course. In fear of falling behind, I decided to take matters into my own hands by taking courses at another institution. However, upon checking up on my account inquiry at SFU to review any outstanding balances, I realized that I was scheduled an enrolment appointment in late November for Spring semester 2014. 

Does this mean I am still eligible to return to SFU to continue my studies? If so, what will happen to the credits I've accumulated at my other school?

I'm just looking for a second opinion before I double-check with the Registrar's office. I would love to return to SFU!  

Canuckred

I believe it is a year of not taking classes until you are removed. With one semester off you are certainly still in (Most students take summer semester off anyways.)

Check bctransferguide.ca and see if your classes transfer to SFU.

ezc

What school did you go to?

I'm not sure what you mean by "in fear of falling behind."  Typically, you would need a Letter of Permission to take a class at another school and have that class recognized as credit at SFU.  You can't just jump around to different schools and have all your classes transferred to SFU (this is different than going to a college/university and then transferring to a new school).  

Does SFU have an agreement with this other school?  If not, then you may have just wasted that semester since I doubt SFU would recognize it.  In their eyes, you'd probably be seen as an SFU student who took a semester off.  You might have a shot if it was Douglas College or Thompson University, since SFU has a pretty close relationship with both.

You should definitely be able to continue your studies at SFU, I just doubt your credits at the other school would be recognized at SFU.

ctine92

I am currently attending Langara college. The reason why I left was because I only had two options: one being to stay at sfu, not take any courses, while waiting around for three months without any progress. This has already happened to me once.The second was to try my luck at a different institution. I picked the latter and actually got some courses.

I did not want to be out of school for another semester again. In a perfect world, I would like to complete 10 credits per year, but due to this course selection conflict along with another previous conflict, this set me behind two semesters worth of courses. This is why I have a "fear of falling behind". I am technically into my second year, however I've only accumulated 3/4 of my first year credits.

In the long run, checking out my options at both SFU and UBC programs, there is a high chance I might do a transfer. In case my credits I've accumulated at langara cannot transfer over to SFU, I will transfer them over to UBC (checked with the BC transfer guide) and continue my studies there.

Tl;Dr: langara college. Scared of falling behind because technically 2nd year but barely have enough credits for 1st year. Feel like im wasting time and money. Might transfer to ubc, super high chance, but also love SFU. In quite the pickle. Help plz. :(

ezc

No, I understand your situation and what you were trying to avoid.  It's just all major universities (and, from what I know, colleges) have rules to prevent this "double dipping."  So if your goal was only to return to SFU, then you couldn't avoid falling behind by taking classes at another school, it would actually put you further behind by wasting money.  But if your end goal is UBC, you do have choices, unfortunately none are ideal.

As I see it, your choices most likely are:

1) Continue at SFU without credits from Langara

2) Continue at Langara without credits from SFU

3) Transfer to UBC from either SFU or Langara (I doubt you could transfer classes from both, unless you catch UBC admin napping).

I can think of one other possibility (Re-applying to SFU as a transfer student from Langara), but it's a bit of stretch and I can't see SFU admin being happy that you took classes at Langara while being an SFU student.

It's difficult to give you advice because few students end up in this position and universities don't release a lot of helpful info as to how to work around their rules.  Best of luck with whatever you decide.

climbon

You can transfer to SFU from multiple universities/colleges (for example taking 4 courses at 3 colleges,) as long as they all transfer according to the BC Transfer Guide.  That being said, you should talk to someone at SFU about this.  When you are already an SFU student they expect you to get permission before taking classes elsewhere, however, due to these circumstances I would imagine there would be serious hope in receiving transfer credit for what the courses transfer as per the BC Transfer Guide.

BeAnBeAn

No, you're not an SFU student anymore take that school sweater off. jk but yeah, what @ezc said. 

Why the hell would you take courses at another institution without telling anyone and just assume you can use those credits towards your SFU degree??? You do realize you're paying tuition for a completely different school which means SFU don't get none of your $ right. And you had a late enrolment date, so what. I get late enrollment dates my entire SFU career but I don't just get waitlisted for my entire course load and then wait it out for a semester. Especially for your first year you probably had so many other options and electives to take to fulfill your WQB and leftover elective credits.

MXC

In a perfect world, you'd like to complete 10 credits per year? so 12 years of university for your bachelors?? Or did u mean 10 credits per semester?

chh05

Your best bet would be to talk to an sfu advisor. who knows, they might even make an exception for you and find a way to make your courses from langara count. That happened to my brother. He didn't two years at bcit which officially didn't equal any sfu credits, but the person he spoke to was willing to give him some credits based on his bcit courses because they were relevant to the sfu program. Good luck, hope it gets sorted out!

BeAnBeAn

12 years of uni hahahaahahhaha

Whydoihavetoregister

^^That's good for SFU, since they increase tuition by 3%?? (if I remember correctly) annually starting every Fall semester.  When I started back in 2004 it was $123.70 per credit hour compare to today's $170.50 per credit hour

BeAnBeAn

Yeah fuck them.

ctine92

@MXC oops totally a typo! 10 courses per year. I would die if it were 12 years of uni...

I didn't really explain myself in the best way possible so here's some background knowledge: My decision on transferring to langara was not solely due to being unable to get the courses I needed. I went to SFU for spring semester and looked into the education program while comparing it to ubc's education program. I decided that ubc was the way to go for me and the courses that were on my sfu wait list were not transferrable. I did not end up getting them anyway because they filled up. This is why I took up some transferrable courses for UBC first year at langara rather than taking untransferable SFU courses. I am now a langara student.

Then, I heard some talk about UBC'S education program "ridiculous" cut off , which is why I started freaking out, wondering if I made the best possible decision for myself - leading to this posting on this SFU forum! I had my doubts and wondered if I could go back to SFU and if that were to happen, what were the ramifications? I'm going to speak with an academic advisor for sure, but I am quite adamant on my game plan:
SFU->Langara->UBC
However, I am not "jumping" campuses. I had no intention of hopping all over the place purposely and originally did not plan on returning to SFU after doing so. Based on the responses, I believe it is best to transfer my SFU courses over and continue my studies at langara.

Note: Just want to thank everyone for their input and advice. It was very helpful and I do really appreciate it :)

Whydoihavetoregister

Why don't you go straight to the lion's mouth? Assuming you want to become a teacher, the teachers' union and a few of your old high school teachers should be able to give you pointers on the pros and cons of the programs at SFU and UBC

ctine92

@Whydoihavetoregister yes that is in the works! :) I've gathered a lot of info from friends graduating from ubc and SFU education programs. So far, I have only spoken to one hs teacher and she was originally going into sfu education but transferred to UBC! I'm going to speak to a few other teachers just in case ...

Psycho

Lion's mouth? It should be the
Hourse's mouth, uh? ˊ_>ˋ

ezc

@ctine92 ... If you're thinking about staying with Langara, it doesn't hurt to go to SFU student services and explain your situation.  If they say no, then carry on with Langara.  If they say yes, it gives you another option.

Are you looking at doing a 4 year B.Ed. or a 2nd degree B.Ed.?

If it's the later, SFU PDP has a better reputation overall compared to UBC and is usually a little less strict about entrance requirements.  However, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what program you take as long as you finish it.  Also, take into account where you live and what kind of commutes you would be looking at.

If it's the former, always consider doing a different degree then moving onto to a B.Ed.  It gives you something to fall back on in case teaching doesn't work out (~15% of SFU education students drop out during their practicum, in some semesters that number can jump up to 20-30% for some modules).  Students with 4 year B.Ed. degrees are not any more prepared for their practicums than students doing the one year program.

BeAnBeAn

Shouldn't it be sea pig mouth? Because the sea pig doesn't really have a mouth it eats with its asshole.

Psycho

Shouldn't it be earthworm's mouth? Because the earthworm doesn't really have a mouth it eats with its asshole.