(BJ is a former ASU, Mesa CC and Mission College student that finally graduated from SJSU in 2008. These notes are based on his experience collecting ~180 units to finally eke out a normally-130-unit BS degree.)

Having been graduated for almost a year now, and having recently discussed challenges with transferring from a 2-year college with a friend, I realize that I should probably write an overview of the gotchas associated with the process. My opus begins after the break (click "read more" to continue)...

(This is a followup to my previous screed about SJSU's handling of GE certifications.)

After 32 months, literally 160 hours of concentrated effort trying to figure out what happened, and numerous opinions from the various administrative peanut galleries at both Mission College and SJSU, it would appear that my lower-division GE certification is in effect. Barring some catastrophe, I shall no longer have to take any lower-division general education classes, and have only 10 total credit-hours remaining after this semester.

The lessons I learned? First, assume failure at the receiving institution's end and audit continuously. Second, get copies of everything, and keep bugging them until they give you one. Third, be prepared to build a solid case for every line item on your cert anyway, just in case. Fourth, if at first you don't succeed, escalate.