<p>I have a question and I want perspectives from adults that are not associated with my school, and this was all I could think of. Apologies if I shouldn’t have posted this here.</p>
<p>Due to disabilities I am unable to complete my university’s foreign language requirement without accommodations. Long story short, that isn’t going to happen. I petitioned the academic standards board in early Winter asking for accommodations, or a substitution or waiver as they saw fit if they could not accommodate me. The denied my petition, ignoring all of my medical records explaining why I needed what I asked for, on the basis that I scored in the 40th percentile on the Modern Languages Aptitude Test which essentially proved I wasn’t dyslexic. So no accommodations. My professor saw the need for me to be able to use a computer due to dysgraphia and is letting me do that at her discretion, but for everything else I am on my own.</p>
<p>I was diagnosed with high functioning autism in February and this fills in a lot of holes in my life. I have never been able to communicate at the level I need to in foreign language verbally-- my writing is very sophisticated and even above my level of education, but my conversational ability seems to be locked at the 100 level. Imagine that! Now it all makes sense.</p>
<p>My contact at the disabilities office said that I should re-petition with the new information, which I will do, but the romance languages department is very <em>hard,</em> so to speak, and he would not be surprised if they don’t budge. He suggested I consider changing from a BA of political science to a BA of general studies so that I can avoid the requirement altogether.</p>
<p>Is a BA of general studies actually a legitimate degree? Will employers look down on it? Will there be jobs that require a BA in political science that I won’t be eligible for anymore if I change? Will grad and professional schools look down on it?</p>
<p>I’ve asked my adviser these questions but they always seem to have a friendlier view of the world than those outside academia. I want a real-world perspective.</p>
<p>I assume you have explored all of your options already but I want to throw a thought out there anyway. You say you are fine writing in a foreign language but you have a hard time speaking. Could you satisfy your foreign language requirement with a language that you don’t need to speak? I am thinking Latin, Greek, or maybe American Sign Language.</p>
<p>A BS in General Studies is a real degree and it will allow you to qualify for jobs that require a 4 year college degree but aren’t specific as to what that is in. It will open a lot of doors for you that would be otherwise closed.</p>
<p>However, it doesn’t lead directly to any particular job and it will take hard work on your part to land that job. The degree will qualify you for the position though.</p>
<p>It’s interesting. The degree is “Bachelor of General Studies” (BGS), not BA (at Michigan AB) or BS with a “General Studies” concentration. I have no doubt you could make it work for you. But it might be easier to take four semesters of Latin (where no one is ever going to ask you to communicate orally, or at least not much). Or any other ancient language.</p>
<p>I looked at the graduation requirements for Michigan LSA and was sort of stunned. The foreign language requirement is two whole academic years, but you can place out of the requirement altogether with a 600 SAT II? I would have thought that four semesters of college-level foreign language would take you a good deal farther than what a 600 on an SAT II would represent.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d try to find something more specific than a BA of General Studies. I think some people would indeed tend to dismiss it. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean it’s not a real degree or that it doesn’t have academic value. But that may be cold comfort if you don’t get a job because the interviewer looks down on it.</p>
<p>Are there any other programs you could fulfill that don’t require a foreign language? If not, go for the BA of General Studies.</p>
<p>I cannot take anything online or out of residence. I already took to the third semester proficiency at community college when I attended and they won’t let me use that to meet my requirement. You have one chance to use a placement test to determine where you are at Michigan, at orientation, which I took without accommodations because I’ve never needed testing accommodations before in Spanish-- I didn’t know any better, and I placed at the bottom due to auditory processing issues and had to start over. So I am now wrapping up my sixth semester of Spanish total, to meet a four semester requirement-- and I have two left. I wanted to take latin but I would still require some accommodations and the department just doesn’t do that, and I can’t afford to take extra semesters. It just isn’t financially feasible if there are any other options, and my parents would sooner have me transfer schools and lose all the work I’ve done (and money I’ve spent) at Michigan. I have a neuropathy that rules out sign language. You also cannot take the hardest class in the sequence pass/fail, the department doesn’t allow it. </p>
<p>Your only option if you have a disability that requires accommodation is to petition the Board for a substitution or waiver, and they denied me so I am stuck. I am going to try again now that I have the autism diagnosis but the disabilities office is not optimistic about my chances, that’s where the BGA came into the discussion. You have to prove that you cannot learn a language in order for them to accept your petition. You have to have failed on every attempt. I passed and did fairly well at another school in a different curriculum and I am managing a C in Spanish right now (hanging on by a thread, I will fail the next course in the sequence, this is my limit), so they’ll deny me. You have to have already completely destroyed your gpa with repeated Fs in order to be granted a substitution. And by then my GPA will be so low there’s not even any point. I am going to try and petition again, but I can’t count on that working out.</p>
<p>I know this general studies degree doesn’t lead to an actual job which is unfortunate, but realistically, is political science any different? I’m not sure. I’ve never filled out a job application as someone with a degree so I don’t know how these things work. I picked poli sci because that was what I wanted to study. I still want to study political science and intend to do so. The man at disabilities told me I could make my own program with the BGA so I wouldn’t need foreign language, but I could still study what I want. But I don’t know what ramifications this has after graduation. Like I said, I did email my adviser about it, and someone at the poli sci department too (curious if I have to lose their resources if I switch), but they tend to try and tell you that if you graduated from Michigan you’ll be okay and that simply isn’t true.</p>
<p>ETA: Though, I have been doing a lot of whining lately about wanting to double major and not being able to do it. Maybe an interdisciplinary degree is a way to take classes in both departments? I really, really want to take some Screen Arts and Cultures classes but I can’t complete the entire major in the next year and still finish poli sci.</p>
<p>Probably not, but the way people look at the two different degrees may still be different.</p>
<p>It’s the vagueness of the name of the degree that I think would be off-putting. Like, “General Studies? What? What is that?” Political science tells you right in its name what it’s about: political science.</p>
<p>But I wouldn’t worry about it too much, you can probably tweak your resume once you’re out of college and put something like “BA of General Studies (Political Science focus)” or something.</p>
<p>Sorry the foreign language requirement is causing you so much grief, they sound very stringent at that school.</p>
<p>I think Bachelor of General Studies will be perfectly suitable for a degree. The types of companies that I see you are most likely to get hired at are probably larger corporations or the government, and HR policies will require a 4 year degree for certain positions. As long as you have the degree, you are eligible to be hired. At the company I work at, the people doing in the interview are not allowed to ask you why you chose your degree, how it will benefit you, or other questions specific to your degree.</p>
<p>Smaller companies would be more curious as to why you chose the general studies degree. But smaller companies won’t have the flexibility that you need in your job and are probably not good matches in the first place.</p>
<p>So I wouldn’t worry about the name of the degree and focus more on doing what you need to in order to graduate.</p>
<p>My plan is to go to law school anyway and work for a nonprofit or for the government, for which I imagine my undergraduate major is not going to make a damn bit of difference. I may have to take a gap year though before I apply to law school because Spanish is tanking my GPA, and though it is unlikely, I may opt out of law school and I need to be able to figure something out in those cases. I am just afraid it will make employers think I am indecisive. I picked political science when I was ten years old, but the gen ed requirements are keeping me from doing it.</p>
<p>The problem, for you, with BGS is that it will pretty quickly cut off your ability to take poli sci courses. You can only count 20 credit for courses at the 300 level or above in any one department towards your degree. You would need to find two other departments with courses that interested you and worked well with poli sci – probably other social sciences, or statistics – and take 20 upper-level units in each of them, too.</p>
<p>It’s not clear you have a better option if you really can’t do the foreign language or get the accommodations. Your Michigan BGS degree will serve you as well or better than a BA in political science from wherever you would go if you leave Michigan now. But it will work best if you come up with an interesting cross-disciplinary program that you can use as a positive answer to the question “Why did you get a BGS instead of a BA?” “Well, I was fascinated by the interplay among political science, the biology of snails, and music theory, and there wasn’t any other good way to accommodate my interests. . . . " You will probably add " . . . plus, I wasn’t totally confident of my ability to pass the foreign language requirement for a BA,” but there’s no reason you should have to start with that, much less stop there.</p>
<p>if you do pursue the BGA - and it sounds like this route would best meet your learning style - be sure to try to do some internships/volunteer work in areas you are most interested in (eg within the field of poli sci). This would help create a more marketable resume.</p>
<p>Often people who have been in the workforce for a while before going to college or who complete a degree by studying part-time end up earning a B. Gen. Studies. It is a bit unusual for a college-age students to graduate with this degree, but it isn’t unheard of. Given your individual situation it sounds like a good option.</p>
<p>Back in the stone age, one of my housemates completed the equivalent of a B. Gen. Studies. I can’t remember what her final degree title was. By choosing this particular program, she was able to complete her degree on time with what was essentially a triple minor in subjects that interested her. She didn’t have a true “major” at all. She’s had a very successful life.</p>
<p>If this degree will mean that you can finish on time, maintain a good GPA, and take the classes that you really want, I say go for it. Ten years from now the only thing that anyone will care about your time at Michigan is that you graduated, not what your major was or what the letters in your degree are.</p>
<p>Twisted – This isn’t normally my first or second or third choice of action, but in your case I think it might be helpful to consult with an attorney experienced in ADA accommodations in higher education. </p>
<p>The general studies degree is a nice option – but it is a shame that you’re otherwise so close to the degree you really want. (Though I do know someone who majored in “American Studies” who describes it as the perfect cocktail conversation degree. He’s got a great job as a writer, so it worked out for him.)</p>
<p>I have no idea how to go about doing that, and I haven’t got any money to pay a lawyer. </p>
<p>I am actually pretty much done with the poli sci degree. I have to complete the foreign language requirement, take a 400 lvl poli sci of my choice, and fill whatever electives in that I want. That’s why this stings, it’s like I can’t complete a degree that is actually IN SOMETHING because of this one requirement. Especially after all the work that went into overcoming my dyscalculia, I can’t believe I have to do all this and make all these sacrifices AGAIN.</p>
<p>Can you go over the heads of the people you’re currently working with in the disability office? Sometimes it ticks people off, but if they aren’t being any help . . .</p>
<p>I don’t know who I’d go over the head to. The person I am talking to at the disabilities office is the director, and I think the idea of the academic standards board is that petitioning them is going over the romance language department’s head, I don’t know of anything even higher than that.</p>
<p>Go on google. Look for organizations in Michigan that advocate on behalf of those with disabilities. Contact one and ask for advice.</p>
<p>However–and I know you don’t want to hear this-- I think you CAN do it. I think you just don’t like the Cs being factored into your gpa. I can understand that. However, I really do think that if you are pulling a C now, you probably CAN pass two more semesters.</p>