I had my appointment with an academic adviser last week.
This is going to be a bit long, but I'm just happy to be doing what I'm doing. I'll also have an explanation toward the end as to why I'm doing what I'm doing.
I can now register for classes for the summer and fall semesters starting next Tuesday. I'll be a junior. I'm going to major in business administration with a concentration in finance and a minor in entrepreneurship. The minor is easy to get time wise. I'll only have to take one extra course to do it. The rest of the courses required for the minor have to be taken anyway as a part of the major. That one class I'll have to take will probably be pretty tough, though- it's an internship. The adviser said I'd better declare now if I was interested. They are probably going to make that minor tougher to get in the near future. So I jumped.
Apparently there are some birthers in the financial aid office. Even though I did the whole FAFSA thing and was approved by the federal government, I still have to go to the financial aid office and prove my citizenship. So next week I'll head on in there with my birth certificate in hand.
Seriously, I'm not sure why they have to do that. It might be a requirement for everyone. I was also born in Germany and that might have something to do with it. My dad was stationed over there when he was in the U.S. Army.
Anyway, I was hoping I could get right to the courses required for my major, but it looks like I'll have to take four general education classes as well. I was thinking that I'd have all of the gen ed stuff covered from my previous years in college and I'm going to write to the dean and try to demonstrate why I shouldn't have to take two of those classes. One is Math 118 Finite Mathematics and the other is a science course of my choosing with a lab. I took four science classes with labs previously and only one is required for my major. And I'm not sure what they mean by Finite Mathematics, but I've passed four math classes previously including calculus and a sophomore level statistics class. That statistics class was a pain in the ass, too, but I got an 'A' in that one. I shouldn't have to take a freshman math class.
The other two gen eds I agree with. One is a speech class and the other is a professional writing class. I never took a speech class, not even high school. I had a serious case of stage fright back then. I still have it to a certain degree, but I think I'm brave enough to get through it now. The professional writing class might surprise some of you if you know me here. I've also taken several English classes in the past including three at the junior level as that was a previous major. But those were all literature, composition, creative writing, and critical writing classes. The professional writing class at IU East is basically a business and science writing class. I don't think I'm going to have a problem with it, but I've never taken anything like it before.
I'm all set for electives. If it weren't for all of the English classes in my transcript, I'd look like a general education major. 
They do offer one of those at IU, by the way. That's the first time I've ever heard of that.
So, this summer I'm going to take two economics classes and in the fall I'll take the speech and writing classes.
Why?
If you read here in the lounge often, you might think that I'd be better suited for an English major. Many of you have complimented me on my writing ability and I'm pretty close to having my first book together. It requires mostly editing at this point and a few people here have helped me out with that to a great degree. I'm not going to stop writing my little stories and some day I will have that book together. However, I'm doubtful that I'd ever be lucky enough to write for a living. I've got some talent and a little skill, but I don't think that it will ever pay the bills for me.
I've also got business talent and skills, and I know how to manage money. I've put that to the test with being a trucking owner-operator and I was successful. I'd still be doing it if I didn't need the security and benefits of working for someone else right now. I also need to be home every day. If it was just me, I might own two or three trucks right now. But there is someone here I'd much rather be a part of my life than the open road. Family life and long haul trucking are just not compatible for me. And we are hoping to start trying to make another little family member here pretty soon.
The only challenge of staying on my current path is being strong enough to show up for work every day in a job that's tiresome and mind-numbing. I'm too smart for that. I'd come to resent myself if I don't try harder and put my brain in gear.
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I think your planning is top-notch. Good luck challenging those classes you've already done. I hope they give you credit for having already done the work.
I am in awe. Honestly, I am. You know what you want, and you know how to get it...not many folks can say that about themselves.
Go get 'em, Tobin!
I know Jen will be right there, helping you every step of the way!
As a perennial student, I have often argued my way out of classes I didn't want to take. I have also met other students who were forced to take classes that were too elementary or were nearly identical to classes taken previously at other schools. In most cases, the students didn't even try to avoid the unnecessary classes. If they felt it was hopeless to struggle against authority, they were wrong.
To avoid taking redundant classes, you will need to demonstrate that classes you took elsewhere were quite similar to those in question. I don't think this will be much of a problem for the science courses with labs, but the finite mathematics might be more of a problem. You must find out exactly what finite math is, and then decide whether you already had it in previous classes.
You might consider doing some preliminary research along these lines:
1. Get ahold of a syllabus or course outline for last year's Math 118 class, or
2. Take a look at the textbook used in last year's Math 118 class, or
3. Talk to an instructor who taught a previous Math 118 class.
Good luck!
(I must say I/we keep saying that, about your continual arch of progress over the years!)
Your new efforts will surely enable you feel better day to day, in your mind-numbing work; take a breath (I know, not too easy,) think of the future, and SMILE! Another new little family member!!!! 
As to Speech course, was the very LAST THING I did, for my B.A. TERRIFIED! Speech: 'The Pepsi Generation.' (Never touch the stuff!) I survived, and graduated!
CONGRATS!
I think every college loves to stick to people who transfer in.
I started at a small college with a "Core" program rather than various general subject classes. When I transferred to a state university, I looked over the requirements and at my transcript and SAT scores. According to what I understood, my SATs were high enough that I shouldn't have had to take Freshman English at all and to top that off the Core program had been credited for two of the three Freshman English credits (it was a four term program while I was going instead of two semesters and a summer program).
I got to the next to last quarter before I planned to graduate and the university ran a review of my credits to see if I had enough to graduate. They told me I had to take the third of the three Freshmen English classes to "finish" the series. 
So my final term, with all the credits to get a double major (library science and anthropology) and one credit short of a geology major, I had to take Freshman English. I took it, passed with flying colors, but it still irks me that they forced that on me. Without it, I might have had that geology minor!
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You go, Boy!!!!!
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If you GOTTA take a science, I recommend Astronomy... followed by Geology.
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I think they stand the best chance of actually being fun for a non-science major.
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And keep your eyes and ears open for Writing Workshop classes. They were some
of my best (and most useful). It didn't hurt that we had an AMAZING professor
(who, ironically... HATED the fact that he had to teach to pay the mortgage even
though he was reasonably successful in the Poetry biz).
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Funny... I didn't really understand or much LIKE his poetry, but I respected his
success. And ESPECIALLY recognized his skill and value as a teacher/mentor.
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We were all reluctant to criticize each other in the Workshop, giving "helpful" comments
akin to "it's got a good beat and you can dance to it".
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The prof let this go on for about 10 minutes or so and SLAMMED a book down on the
table. "DAMMIT," he shouted, "if you want someone to tell you how GOOD your work
is... show it to your MOTHER!!!"
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The gloves came off... and it was some of the most helpful, non-hateful "this is nice
but THIS really sucks" critiquing I've ever gotten in my life.
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I had a year of Gen Ed courses under my belt from night school during my years in
the Army, but decided to ignore them all (as it had been about 10 years earlier).
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One course requirement was something like "College 101" for teens away from home
for the first time. How to do laundry, get along, cook other than ramen noodles -- all
stuff I had learned in the service 10 years before. I stopped attending the HUGE classes
until about a week before the semester ended. I went to the prof's office, told him that
I had missed a class "or so", and asked him when the final was.
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He laughed his ass off. He knew EXACTLY what I had done and why. Turns out it was
a half-semester course and the final had been about 2-3 weeks previously. I was busted
BIGTIME... about a bigtime as I've ever been busted before or since. He gave me an "A"
for knowing a useless course when I saw one (but being such a dumbass about it only
being a half-semester long kept me from getting that coveted College 101 "A+"
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MiddleFingerMom -- BDOC:
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Big Doofus On Campus
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