The process of actually enrolling was a bit strange as I am not completely familiar with much of the terminology and processes involved in this sort of thing. The process is also very much geared to young people fresh out of high school or who have only been out a short time. As someone who hasn't been enrolled in anything other than the odd night course at various times, I found the enrollment rather cumbersome, but interesting.
It was cumbersome mainly because of the paperwork involved. Specifically my transcript and financial information were strange mazes to get through. It was odd contacting my old high school after nearly three decades and requesting a transcript. Even though I did rather well in high school, the amount of time that had passed since then made me wonder how valuable that information would be. I am not the same person now that I was then.
The financial paperwork was not too bad. I was able to get good guidance on what was needed through the Cape College Center. There was a master record called a FASFA that linked to tax returns online that I could just plug in some information and link together. The problem came in the fact that the site was not very intuitive.
It was interesting in that I took an assessment test to determine what levels of courses I should be placed in. I was very interested in these results just to see what all I had forgotten in the many years. I was lucky in that I had not forgotten nearly as much as I had feared. Taking some time to buy a used algebra textbook (two actually, as the first was not very user friendly) helped me review and strengthen the things that were still in my mind as ghosts, and it helped me find the exact point where my knowledge completely stopped.
All of the odd mix of courses that I had taken before this were more of the "one off" adult education or technical/computer education courses for working adults and the enrollment processes were tailored to such an audience. This tiime it felt like I, as a working adult, was being shoehorned into something that was more for young part time workers or semi-full time students.
Although the enrollment process was odd, I am hoping the classes will be exciting and interesting. Granted they are all the base classes I will need to "hit the grous running" when I reach the point of taking online courses at SEMO, but they should help me get back in the swing of things.
