much ado about nothing

my patience is wearing thin with my applications...

the CanIL one was easy enough. too bad i couldn't pay online, but that's ok... so i have to bust out my chequebook, write out a cheque, stick it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and mail it... but i thought the whole point of an online application was to avoid the whole mailing hassle? anyway, that's fine. though i wish i had known earlier, then i woulda just snailmailed the whole package. transcript-wise, UofT's ROSI is really convenient... i request it online, pay it online, and they send it out for me which saves me the time and effort of making the trek downtown and using up another stamp. so i can't complain there. (and sorry to be so hung up on the stamps, but first of all, i don't mail things out on a regular basis so it's not like i own a set of stamps that i can grab at my convenience... anything i need to mail out will require an extra trip down to the nearest post office, which requires even more time and effort, not to mention the added hassle of arranging transportation since vehicles are not readily available at my house.) tyndale, on the other hand...... anyway, that's ok. i'll work it out with them at the end of the month after transcripts are available.

but ACTS... yes, that application is really something... so first of all, i opted for the online application. but i can't just start applying, i have to create an account with TWU. ok, that's fine. so they sent all the login info to my email account. great. wait... where is it? usually these things get sent within the minute. well... that's ok, i'll just wait patiently... go down and grab a quick snack. honestly, i don't know how long i actually waited, but i couldn't wait any longer so i resubmitted my request. a few minutes later, i get the email. so i try to log in with it... but it doesn't work! oh, wait, could it be because i resubmitted my request and so they resetted my password and now i have to wait for the second email? lovely. ok... so i get the second email after some time, log in, and *finally* begin the application.

one of my peeves (and again i have to apologize for the whining, but i'm afraid i might implode if i don't) is when applications don't give me enough space to write out my whole name. yes, it's a bit on the long side, but it's not that long!!! the ACTS application gives 15 spaces for first names. my whole first name, including the two spaces separating the three names, takes up 16 spaces. so what do i do? combine the first two? cut off a letter? only use 'grace'? for unofficial things, maybe... but not for an application. so i sat there annoyed for a few minutes and eventually typed in 'Merry June Grac', and right below it, in the preferred name box, i typed 'Grace (won't fit above)'. so then i was satisfied. but then my dear observant brain caught something... how many spaces does 'Grace (won't fit above)' take up? count them, ppl... 23!!! i proceeded to count the total number of available spaces in that box. 3o. 30, ppl!! because you know, generally people have these short official first names of less than 15 characters that appear on their birth certificates, but when it comes to what they want people to call them, these preferred names have the tendency to be MUCH MUCH longer, twice as long in fact, up to 30 spaces long!

ok. moving on. so i filled out my step 2 personal info just fine. oh yah, all that stuff above, that counts as my contact info, step 1. there are 14 steps in total to this application. but as soon as i got to step 3... oh boy, here we go again.

when i first found out about ACTS seminaries, i thought it was one big school made up of a bunch of little schools in collaboration with each other. i wasn't totally wrong, but really, i should've known better after being severely scarred by UofT. let me briefly explain myself before i go on.

my entire UofT story is a novel in itself, but anyway... if i had to give advice to prospective students, i would tell them the exact opposite of what those horrible people at the university fair told me: NO, UofT is NOT the same wherever you attend, and YES, it makes a HUGE difference what campus you choose, because NO, they are NOT the same even if they offer the same programs, so DO NOT get fooled and think you can easily transfer from one campus to another because it's the same university anyway, because each campus runs things so differently from one another that they might as well be separate universities! the most ridiculous example i can come up with about my own devastating transfer from UTSC to St. George is the fact that my first year bio wasn't directly transferrable because scarborough campus lacked an evolution component, and my first year chem only counted for half a credit because scarborough campus lacked an organic component. and these are core first-year science courses, ppl! RIDICULOUS! THEY'RE BOTH UOFT! shouldn't at least their core courses be transferrable?? ahhh, but now you see what i mean... anyway, some of you know that the theory of evolution doesn't sit well with me, especially back then when i was particularly headstrong in my 'creationist' mindset, so imagine what went on in my head when i found out that i HAD to take an evolution course in order for my program requirement of first year bio to count so that i could graduate... yah. and the chem? i can't remember how i worked that one out, but that's ok, i don't wanna dwell on this subject anymore.

ok, back to my ACTS application. so i'm on step 3, academic interests, and i come upon this...

My seminary choice is:

• Canadian Baptist Seminary
• Canadian Pentecostal Seminary
• Candadian Theological Seminary
• Northwest Baptist Seminary
• Trinity Western Seminary
• Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary
• No Preference
  
  * ACTS is associated with six theological seminaries. Please select one from the list above to study under.

WHAT?? you mean i'm applying to ACTS but i'm really not at the same time cuz i'll actually be studying under only one seminary??

oh. ok. interesting. no wonder no one's ever heard of ACTS... people keep giving me these blank faces whenever i mention it. now i know why. it's just an umbrella title. cuz i'm sure people have heard of trinity western or canadian baptist or pentecostal or any of the other seminaries mentioned.

so after my short-lived eureka moment, the dilemma began to sink in... which seminary do i choose?? i didn't even realize i had to choose one! my church is non-denominational (at least that's what p. andrew told me when i applied to tyndale) so that doesn't help. if i opt for no preference, that means they'll be choosing for me and who knows where they'll stick me! i might as well make an informed decision. so i emailed a wise friend of mine (who also happens to be a pastor and living out west) hoping that he would share a bit of wisdom and guidance in the matter. and of course, some prayer is needed before i make my final decision.

in the meantime, i wanted to skip the question. the next one asks, where did i hear about ACTS? so some parts of the application are required and others are optional. unbelievably, this is one of their mandatory questions. that's fine, i wouldn't even mention this question, except for the fact that i couldn't choose! 15 choices and none of them were 'from another seminary' or 'in a coursebook' or something along those lines... and no, they didn't have 'none of the above' or even 'other' which usually comes with a blank for me to write something in. so i couldn't make up my mind which lie to choose (cuz that's what i'm essentially doing if none of the given choices were how i really heard about ACTS), so i wanted to skip the whole page and go on to the next step.

they wouldn't let me. i have to fill out ALL of the required fields before i can move on to any of the other pages. and yah, i have to go through the steps chronologically, so until i decide what seminary to study under and what lie to choose about how i heard of ACTS, i can't fill out anything else. isn't that just lovely?? and to top it all off, i recalled the payment incident with my CanIL application so i wanted to find out if ACTS accepts online payment, but that's not until step 12.

and...... that's all for now.

excuse me, i'll be needing my chocolate fix for the afternoon.