<p>Is there a disability law clinic at the law school? Really, negotiating the UMich bureaucracy to get you an accommodation is a perfect kind of law school clinic project. </p>
<p>Based on what you describe, however, the BGS seems like a terrible idea for you. You are basically one semester short of graduating, except for the language requirement. It would probably take you a minimum of three semesters to complete the BGS. It would be better (and cheaper) to figure out a way to pass the foreign language requirement, even if you have to work with an OT (which might be a good idea). Going to another school isn’t going to be cheaper than that, either.</p>
<p>I am inclined to agree, JHS. I am in a tough spot because if I refuse any option I am uncooperative and they use that as an excuse to blow me off, but they don’t care if my gpa is slaughtered or if I get buried in debt. I will try and get in touch with the woman you mentioned.</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>
<p>I think you do not know anything about my disabilities, my curriculum, or very much about my circumstances, but I thank you for your opinion.</p>
<p>@Twisted - I’m not a parent, but I’ve read many of your posts on the College Life board. Honestly, I think it makes far more sense to get a BA in Political Science, a major which you’re interested in, have probably worked hard in, and are so close to graduating with - it would suck to have to change your major at the last minute, especially to something like “General Studies” - seriously, general studies? C’mon. I think you’ve mentioned you’re interested in Law School, so it wouldn’t matter what you got your degree in, but still.</p>
<p>An auditory disorder is a legal disability and you should be exempt from foreign language - can you get in touch with higher ups in the disability office? I would go to the Dean, personally. Can you get a doctor or audiologist to help plead your case?</p>
<p>And have you considered taking American Sign Language? It’s not “foreign”, but many colleges offer it as a foreign language. Or you could arrange to take it at a CC, even. This language was created for people with disabilities; I don’t know about your disorder, but it might be doable.</p>
<p>Your topic title caught my eye because that major - Bachelor of General Studies - existed when I graduated from U of M… (drumroll) in 1975. (not my major however) That means they have had at least 35 years of experience placing graduates with that major. The Law School admissions should be able to give you an idea (and maybe even some hard numbers) about how the major is viewed. How many graduate with that major every year? What do they do? How many go to law school? How many go to other graduate schools? There must be thousands and thousands of U of M BGS holders out there at this point. Lots of hard data! It looks like a reasonable way for you to go at this point.</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>
<p>Actually, I think that is good advice. I understand you do not enjoy a foreign language and find it very difficult to pass the course because of your circumstances. However, if you can get through 3 courses with a C, you should be able to get through a 4th quarter with a C. If I worked in the disability office, I would find it hard to grant a disability waiver to a student who proved she could pass 3 out of 4 terms of a foreign language.</p>
<p>You do not have any of the information necessary to make that determination, and I did not come here to ask you to be the judge of my limitations. I came here to ask whether or not a BGS was a terrible idea, I received a variety of responses, and I am thankful for the information I have gained. No need to make this thread something it isn’t, especially when you are acting based on imagination and assumptions. Furthermore, I wholeheartedly agree that accommodations are more appropriate in this situation than a waiver. The department has decided to offer a waiver as the sole accommodation they will provide for a required gen ed course. That is not a decision I made for myself. I wouldn’t be on my 6th semester of Spanish if I were not willing to complete the requirement if at all possible. I will say no more in this vein of conversation, I do not have the time nor the energy to argue with you about it.</p>
<p>I think we all can observe that you try to use your disability to gain sympathy from others, but as soon as people point out what you are able to do (pass 3 quarters of a foreign language) you strike back hard at them. </p>
<p>My original response stands: A bachelor in general studies is a perfectly reasonable degree to get and it is a real degree.</p>
<p>Twisted, I know 4 people who graduated from U of M with a BGS degree several years ago. All have successful, lucrative careers, one in law, three in business.</p>
<p>The BA in Poli Sci by itself won’t get you a job. My kids are both Poli Sci majors – my son has a great job involving political advocacy – but he got the job because of his experience on his resume, not the degree itself. A lot of kids who are interested in politics will pick up great experience along the way --for example, volunteering in political campaigns, getting legislative internships – and so it is the combination of the degree + experience that helps for the job. But an English or Sociology major with the same type of experience would be equally as likely to get the job. </p>
<p>The employers who are hiring would want to see a degree that is <em>like</em> poli sci - so you would just want to put some explanatory text in your major. </p>
<p>It looks like it is a good fit for you, and if you are concerned about post-graduate employment options, you could choose one of the professional specialization areas. Even if you stuck with poli sci, I think you would just end up putting you area(s) of focus on your resume.</p>
<p>It looks like I’ll petition the board, because preferably I’d like to not be chased out of my major. And if being chased out of my major is inevitable, I’ll have to figure out if there are two other disciplines I can take upper division courses from either without prereqs or with lower division courses I already have serving as prereqs. I’d be interested in a few other disciplines so if it can be done that’d be pretty cool. If I can’t finish without finishing late, by the sounds of it my parents would rather bring me home now and put me to work. So we’ll see what happens and if I can fit in a BGS. I am not quite as upset as I was this afternoon. While it’d be a shame to lose my major, it would be cool to get to take more of different types of classes.</p>
<p>While the suggestion by another poster to get a lawyer and/or talk with someone above the disability services office folks may still prove to be a good idea, unfortunately the courts have pretty firmly established that higher ed institutions can create their own academic regulations like foreign language requirements for certain degrees and are not legally required to alter them in many circumstances (see Guckenberger v. BU, where the court decided “neither the ADA nor the Rehabilitation Act requires a university to provide course substitutions that the university rationally concludes would alter an essential part of its academic program.”) If UM mandated that all degree-candidates in any major had to complete four semesters of a foreign language regardless of its relevancy to the major, for example, or if a school had a swimming requirement and refused to alter it for a quadriplegic student, it would be a different situation. That said I think many academics and the courts would argue such language proficiency seems reasonable for a bachelor’s degree in political science. </p>
<p>I say this not to discourage or dissuade you, but rather to save you the time and energy of seeking legal counsel (of course, you should still feel free to pursue that if you would like). If this is a subject that interests you, a good read that specifically addresses foreign language requirements at universities in relation to ADA is James P. Kelly’s “Consistency and Cooperation: The Lessons of Guckenberger v. Boston University” from the Journal of Law & Education (v28 n2 p319-25 Apr 1999). </p>
<p>My other comment is more of a heads up and/or helpful hint. If you are interested in going to law school and thus would need to take the LSAT, you should know that the LSAC folks are particularly persnickety, for lack of a better word, when it comes to providing/allowing test accommodations. In other words, get started NOW if you want to take the test in the next year. Seems silly, but they have been reticent to provide some accommodations that seem almost basic (i.e. students with vision impairments or blindness who needed readers and/or large print and then were denied extra time to utilize those tools - it makes sense that if it takes one longer to read because of a visual impairment, or if it takes some time for a reader to read out loud all of the test questions, they would be given extended time, doesn’t it? Not to the LSAC folks!). If you believe you will need accommodations on the LSAT, I would begin the process of procuring them about a year before you want to take the test. It might take that long to secure them.</p>
<p>I shifted from poli sci to an individually-designed major at my undergrad university, back in the 70’s. My reasons were entirely different, mostly to do with the internal politics of the department and lack of flexibility… so I just felt more at home in the umbrella department for the interdisciplinary majors. I never gave it much thought after that – I was much happier with the freedom I had in my individual major, so in the end I think it was a great choice. I also ended up having a great relationship with the prof who was my advisor for the independent major.</p>
<p>What one majors in while earning their bachelor’s degree doesn’t have a lot of influence on their later professional careers in many fields, in my experience. Of course this may be different for engineers, k-12 teachers, accountants, or computer programmers (and the like), but among my circle of friends, I know a neurosurgeon who majored in religion (though abeit a pre-med religion major) - something that always tickles her patients, a lawyer who was a psychology and philosophy double major, a financial analyst who majored in English, a lawyer who majored in math, a newspaper reporter whose degree is in history, and two advertising/PR people - one who studied political science and one who studied economics. None of them are working in the exact field they majored in.</p>
<p>If BGS feels right for you, you should feel free to go for it.</p>
<p>The only reason I suspect legal issues came up is because those foreign language classes have NO accommodations. If you have a disability of any kind, it doesn’t matter, no accommodations are offered. You either convince them to give you the waiver or you take the courses with zero accommodations regardless of the disability, they offer no middle ground. I have nerve abnormalities in my arms and can’t hold a pencil and couldn’t even get them to allow me to use a computer or scribe. Thankfully my professor is letting me do it anyway, but it’s technically not sanctioned by the department. Their attitude is that they do not deal with disabilities, if you need accommodations you had best petition for a waiver and not take the classes. Which, as instructed, I tried to do but they won’t give me accommodations OR the waiver. I prefer accommodations and that was what I requested in my original petition but it was no good. I don’t know anything about the legal aspects of this but it does seem strange that they’d be allowed to do that. But I have no money to pay a lawyer anyway, so that’s probably a moot point.</p>
<p>I have heard that about the LSAC and thankfully shouldn’t need any accommodations for the LSAT. I chose poli sci and law for a reason. :)</p>
<p>I think that with a BA in General Studies one would have an area of emphasis, right? </p>
<p>So, if someone earns a BA in General Studies with a concentration in what have you, then it would be an okay thing, eh? </p>
<p>Twisted, you have written of the varying and changing details of your situation(s) with Learning Disabilities and your Spanish requirement for a very long while now. I think that if a portion of the attitude you have shown some of the folks who have tried to respond to this latest incarnation of your sitution is in any way indicative as to how you conduct yourself at your University, then your University is doing the right thing in just plainly informing you that you can totally earn a BA in General Studies and just ethically call things a day on any further study of Spanish.</p>
<p>mildred (and others): You really ought to read what the OP wrote before lecturing her like that, and perhaps learn a little more as well. Earning a BGS (not a BA in General Studies, although I doubt it matters) will require the OP to take what looks like at least a full additional year of college beyond what she would otherwise need, if she’s lucky, and if she chooses her courses based solely on what will get her eligible for a degree fastest vs. what might actually make sense. Taking that tack would essentially void most of the credits she has earned this year in the field that actually interests her, since they would no longer be counted towards her degree. That’s a pretty severe economic AND educational waste, and it doesn’t make me feel all that sympathetic towards the University of Michigan’s position.</p>
<p>Anyone who has read my posts in any thread about language instruction knows that I am a huge fan of foreign language requirements in general. Personally I speak several and read those and a bunch more; it is a big part of my life. I don’t understand Michigan’s position here either, though. (Granted, the OP may not be presenting it fairly.) I don’t understand a four-semester FL requirement that can be avoided with a 600 on an SAT II, which represents a whole lot less than mastery unless the FL SAT IIs have been significantly stiffened in the past few years. I don’t understand why the OP was given no credit at all for her three or four semesters of CC Spanish. I don’t understand the policy of no accommodations on language tests. Most of all, I don’t understand why anyone would want to deny the OP the BA degree she has substantially completed already when she has gone along with and gotten the educational benefit of the FL requirement, but has medical issues that have prevented her, repeatedly, from successfully completing some (not all) of the course elements. She’s not trying to avoid the requirement; she’s spent three years trying to comply with it in good faith.</p>
<p>I agree that a BGS track WOULD have been attractive at some point in the past, BEFORE the OP spent time and a lot of money taking courses that moved her towards a different degree, and that will not count or be required to earn her a BGS degree. It’s a little cruel to say, now, oh you should have done that back then.</p>
<p>She says she passed 3 out of 4 semesters of spanish. Two have been completed and the third is in progress and she says she will pass. Why can’t she pass the 4th semester?</p>