May
7th
Wed
7th
permission
Back in college, I wanted to study for a year in New Zealand. There was no established study-abroad program for the school I had chosen. I asked my advisors if it could be arranged so my credits transferred back home. I was told no, repeatedly, for months. It was a battle.The next year I went to New Zealand. When I came back, all of my credits transferred.
I learned more from the experience of making it all work than anything I learned in my degree. But I didn’t realize what had happened until later. I’m going to analyze it and pull out some important points.
I should have talked to decision makers first. Advisors can help if they want to, but they have no reason to need to help. These guys told me no for months. Then I talked to the dean of my school. He said it sounded like a fun experience.
My problem early on was asking for permission. There’s no need. You can do whatever you want. No one really cares what you do unless it affects them. Once I had vague approval by the dean, the context of conversations with advisors changed from “Can I go? And will things transfer?” to “I just came from the dean’s office; I’m going to New Zealand next year, what steps need to be taken to ensure all my credits will transfer”. Context is everything.
Once I had the outlook that I was going, things fell into place. I went. I came back. Credits transferred smoothly enough, with a few exceptions. If I was doing it again, I would get more in writing.
Conclusions:
1) Start at the top, the decision-makers. Don’t ask outright. Talk of plans, what you’d like to do. Keep going until you hear what you want to hear. Everything is open to interpretation.
2) Take the attitude that whatever you want is going to happen, and now you’re just dealing with the logistics. It is no longer “I would like”, it is “this is what is going to happen, what needs to be done to make things run smoothly”.
3) Document it, with the burden of revision on the person you will be depending on later. E.g. “This is my understanding. I am doing this. Let me know if that’s not ok.” Very easy for them to ignore the message, which can later be taken as approval, if the need arises.