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School, Where I've Been Before

This page is to list links and information on schools I have attended in the past, or places I've worked at.  This page will include a personal "review" of the school, as well.  Let's begin at the beginning.

I honestly don't know what the names of my pre-school and kindergarten were.  I'll have to look them up and get back to you.

Phillips-Osborne School -- I attended first grade through seventh here, while it was still just Phillips School.  It's a small private school on the campus of Lake Erie College.  My parents felt it was extremely important that I get a good education and they sacrificed a lot for it.  They did their best to accommodate my intellectual gifts, even if they were really equipped for it.  I left after grade seven so I'm not even technically an alumna.  On the other hand, those seven years were the longest time I have stayed at any school, and the last time I stayed anywhere for more than three years.

John R. Williams Junior High School and Riverside High School -- these schools were right next to each other, but the schools have since merged into one.  I was only at the two of them together for three years.  I skipped grade eight when I switched schools, and then combined my junior and senior years.  I was extremely depressed during this period, and I basically just kept my head down and tried to get out as fast as possible.

Case Western Reserve University -- I only attended Case for one academic year.  I was still extremely depressed and I was operating under rules that would no longer allow me to avoiding thinking about it.  Case and I parted ways, and boy I was glad for their "freshman forgiveness" policy.

Lakeland Community College -- I attended Lakeland off-and-on starting when I was in high school, after Case briefly and unsuccessfully (again, still dealing with depression), and eventually more later when I went back for Hungarian lessons, and motorcycle lessons and that sort of thing.

Cuyahoga Community College -- I just took a couple classes here when I was starting to return to college finally after some time off.  I took some calculus classes and Japanese here.  I really liked my first Japanese instructor, Sensei Kazumi, but not the second guy.

Cleveland State University -- I received both my undergraduate degree in Classical and Medieval Studies (with minors in Mathematics and Physics), as well as my Masters degree in Applied Mathematics. I wasn't really happy being here at first, but this place has been the best to me so far, and I finally had to get over that initial instinct.  I've met a lot of good people here, too.

Indiana University, Bloomington -- I went here in between my two stints at Cleveland State.  I received a Masters degree in Linguistics.  I really wanted a Ph.D., and I was rather upset when I was rejected for the Ph.D. program after two years there, despite having all of the academic credentials.  I didn't like being in the middle of nowhere, but the unceremonious dismissal after I gave them $55,000 in tuition is the biggest disappointment.

Nova Southeastern University -- I attended their distance education program in Management Information Systems, and received a Masters degree in that subject.  I never visited their campus, though.

Duquesne University -- I worked as a teaching assistant here for two semesters. It's a Catholic university, and as a non-Catholic, the crosses everywhere are a bit disturbing.  I had an unpleasant incident there with one student who felt I didn't deserve to be working there, and wanted to use this bigotry as her guarantee of graduating.  Fortunately, the university supported me.

University of Pittsburgh -- I attended the Ph.D. program in Mathematics, here.  I passed the 'harder' of the two preliminary exams, but I was totally stuck on proofs by construction... in addition, my relationship with my advisor was poor to say the least.  After two years there, I decided that it was in my best interest to move on rather than continue trying to pass the second exam and have to spend the next three or four years in that kind of environment.  I learned a lot there, but it was time to move on.

 

copyright 2005, Betsy McCall
questions or comments, email the webmistress at betsy@pewtergallery.com
last updated 2005 August 5