Disclaimer: This is only amusing if you've kept up with my Saga of Advising Ineptitude, going back to Day 2. To catch you up, I am now on my sixth college advisor in two and a half years. (I am not making this up.) Number 6 is about seventy-five years old and a distinguished professor in the Spanish department (my major). Understandably, I've given up on having a useful advisor at this point, so I've only met with him once (I was desperate), to discuss study abroad programs. He proceeded to misinform me (I like to think it was out of ignorance or senility rather than spite, but it could also be another result of The List) regarding my study abroad opportunities. Apparently there's some kind of department-wide conspiracy to convince all students to study in Valencia and tell us that we can't/shouldn't go to Peru or Costa Rica to study abroad. (I'm pretty sure our school gets more money from the Valencia program. Could there be a connection? I'm just saying.)
Recently I found myself in need of some academic advising, so naturally I asked my RA, three of my friends, my mother, a couple strangers, and looked on the Internet before finally asking Number 6 for advice. I was looking into graduating a semester early (finally it seems my hatred of this place has begun to outweigh my fear of the Real World), and I'm fairly confident I will have ample time to complete my graduation requirements by my seventh semester, but it would be so like them to throw in some kind of random, unheard-of technicality that prevents me from doing so. Hence my resignation that it was actually necessary to contact Number 6 for the second time. I e-mailed him asking if we could meet or if he could just give me the "OK" on early graduation over e-mail. This was his response: "I congratulate you. But I have never had to deal with such a case before. I would advise you to visit the registrar's office."
Am I being Punk'd? The guy has to have been around for decades, how the hell has he never advised a student who graduated a semester early? It's really not that uncommon. So I guess I'll have to mosey on over to the registrar's office to see Gloria about early graduation. Or I could just wing it and see what they throw at me next December when I try to graduate. I'll have some words for anyone who tries to stop me. I AM LEAVING THIS PLACE WITH OR WITHOUT YOUR CERTIFIED PIECE OF PAPER. Let this be a lesson to me: never go to my academic advisor for advice.