Daughter was accepted..NOW a major road bump with her university... :(

[edk35]

Our daughter was accepted a few few weeks ago. She met with her advisor today for her major. She basically said that she could NOT get any internship credit. She said she would have to basically take a semester off. She looked at the courses she can take there.... NO CIGAR... she won't give her any credit. She said she won't even give her credit for the experience because she is working QSFB and she needs to be doing something in the MASS COMM field. She is currently a Jr. So now we don't know what to do. They advertised this program on posters in both student unions. If you google it on her University's website it comes up. However it is not in the list of schools on the CP website. UGH Any advice???

 

[Traveliz]

Is there a reason she can't take off the semester...meaning she is getting financial aid?

My daughter just took off the semester.

Other options include an online class from her school.

Taking a class at a FL university would be very costly as well and due to the complete availability it would have to be online also.

The fact that it is advertised at the schools really doesn't mean anything (or much of anything). We found that each school (sometimes each advisor) handled it differently.

Liz

 

[theclaw]

I had this problem with my university as well. One way that a lot of people get credit is through a community college. Many community colleges accept credit for the internship, and then you take those credits and transfer them to her actual school. I know this is a big pain. If she has financial aid, try talking to them about her withdrawing for one semester. I have a big scholarship that I did not want to lose. The person in financial aid was pretty much the only helpful person at my whole school when it came to the CP. She brought my case in front of the scholarship board and asked that it be held for me. I didn't even have to do anything. She was really great. Just keep trying to work different avenues until something goes right. Good luck.

 

[edk35]

Housing is releasing her from her dorm contract/meal plan for the spring with NO problems. She just has to come in and show something from CP that she was accepted. She will just take a semester off and be behind a semester and enroll again for fall classes in the late spring with no problem.

 

[MyHappiestPlace]

Awww that's a shame the college won't accept it as an internship or some type of credit. Its there any way to appeal the decision? It may be something to look into. I'm glad that she has decided to go anyway. She will learn so much in real-life situations that she can't learn from a book. congrats to your DD!

 

[edk35]

Awww that's a shame the college won't accept it as an internship or some type of credit. Its there any way to appeal the decision? It may be something to look into. I'm glad that she has decided to go anyway. She will learn so much in real-life situations that she can't learn from a book. congrats to your DD!

My daughter said the lady DIDN't GET IT AND DIDN'T WANT TO GET IT. She actually laughed and didn't believe that her parents were supporting her doing this. YES you read that correctly. This is one of her professors, that is head of the MASS COMM dept. Her regular advisor was excited for her and told her it had to be approved by this professor today. She also said she didn't believe that other universities actually gave credit for it. My daughter asked if she could at least get the internship credit where she writes a paper about her experience and she said "OH well maybe so, what will your job be there?" When she told her QSFB...she said NO.....that was not working in the COMM field. She even had the professor pull up the website and she wouldn't budge. Britt said they just did an E presentation at her school....first time ever. SO..... she is going to try and talk to MORE powers that be to see if she can make something happen.

 

[Traveliz]

My daughter ended up with 6 credits (that honestly she didn't need in the long run). She did an independent study (sort of a journaling of the CP) internship and then she took a Hospitality Class. Both gave her three credits. She ended up not transfering the Hospitality class credits because she ended up going to UCF in Hospitality and she needed their class.

Liz

 

[lixard]

have her take online classes. when I did the program I needed to take 15 credits in order to keep my scholarship, but I only got 6 credits for the internship. I took like 4 classes online and i passed them all, easy. its definitley worth it!!

 

[disneydizzy2]

We ran into the same thing the first advisor my daughter spoke with. It was so upsetting! We could not comprehend them not knowing about the college program, being a Disney freak family.

She talked to financial aid and they were much more encouraging. We called the Disney Recruiting number on her acceptance letter. Took two calls to get a cast memeber who understood and had really helpful advice. She gave us the name and phone number of a professor at a nearby college who is a memeber of the CP Advisory board. She went to another advisor who was soo much more receptive. He even suggested the intership credit where she writes the paper as you mentioned.

We are fine with her postponing her graduation time, and even not getting credits, we were mostly worried about financial aid and loans. We feel the benefit of the experience far outweighs the delay in schooling. Life lessons, discipline, work ethic, leadership skills, and the best employee training ever!

She will be grown with a job, family, and all that comes with it soon enough.

Posting here was the best thing I did today to help us through it!

 

[keypooh90]

I had the same sort of issue, but what I am doing is taking 2 or 3 online classes to keep my financial aid. I feel like these skills I acquire will be far more beneficial than any skills outside the classroom. I am a sophomore though, and will probably need an extra semester to finish school anyway since I transferred, so I'm not worried about being behind or anything.

 

[recmouse]

Our daughter was accepted a few few weeks ago. She met with her advisor today for her major. She basically said that she could NOT get any internship credit. She said she would have to basically take a semester off. She looked at the courses she can take there.... NO CIGAR... she won't give her any credit. She said she won't even give her credit for the experience because she is working QSFB and she needs to be doing something in the MASS COMM field. She is currently a Jr. So now we don't know what to do. They advertised this program on posters in both student unions. If you google it on her University's website it comes up. However it is not in the list of schools on the CP website. UGH Any advice???

We had the same problem... my daughter, a freshman, went to her advisor first and she said that if she went to Disney she would lose her full time student status and that can affect financial aid and health insurance. Mind you - Disney recruited at her school. Well after speaking with a very helpful man in the Career Services office, back to her advisor, and two conversations with the Dean of her Department... they figured out how she can do it AND get 12 credits. 3 credits towards a practicum and using 9 of her elective credits. WHEW! Good luck as it was a stressful time for us!

 

[thatcrazydisneygirl]

I technically took the semester off to do the program. However, I took classes online through community college while in Florida that I then transferred back into my university upon returning home. If this is something that your daughter is passionate about, I would still encourage her to go and follow it. I'm graduating in May after two 18 credit semesters. I know that going to Disney required me to play "catch up" so to speak with school but it was entirely worth it. Disney is a great addition to one's resume and any interviews that I have had since my program have always involved quite a bit of attention paid to the fact that I had once worked for the mouse.

 

[kirasaurus]

Have her go to a presentation at her school, if there is one. I went to one out of curiosity and there were campous representatives there that took 6 internship credits through the Honors college, and they know who to talk to to get all of that set up.
Or, you could contact the CP and see if she could get contact information for campus reps?
They know best, they've done it before

 

[collegejunkie]

i must be the only person who agrees with the advisor, but qsfb has nothing to do with mass comm (or most college majors, in fact, unless you're in culinary school. but then you would do the culinary program and not serve fries). why not get an internship in a related field instead? there's no way i would skip a semester of work and not really have anything to show for it. just my opinion, but i agree with the advisor, though maybe it could have been handled differently.

 

[collegejunkie]

I technically took the semester off to do the program. However, I took classes online through community college while in Florida that I then transferred back into my university upon returning home. If this is something that your daughter is passionate about, I would still encourage her to go and follow it. I'm graduating in May after two 18 credit semesters. I know that going to Disney required me to play "catch up" so to speak with school but it was entirely worth it. Disney is a great addition to one's resume and any interviews that I have had since my program have always involved quite a bit of attention paid to the fact that I had once worked for the mouse.

where are you interviewing and what field are you in?

 

[vanillarum]

Our son, a college soph , had the same problem. He chose his school based on many things, one of them being the Disney internship program. He has wanted to work at WDW since he was 10 years old and hopes to work there when he graduates. Midway thru last year, the school notified him that they were no longer giving credit for the program. Messed up a lot of students hoping to do the program. Our son took summer classes and online classes to make up the credits he would miss while he took a semester off. Basically the school screwed him and the other students. So he is now at WDW, living his dream, but he went thru a lot of crap with the school to get it done. The school was ZERO help. The alternative was to transfer, and he really likes the school, so not really an option. He will return to school in Jan, all caught up with his classmates, and will graduate with his class. So it is doable, but not easy. Good luck.

 

[kirasaurus]

i must be the only person who agrees with the advisor, but qsfb has nothing to do with mass comm ... why not get an internship in a related field instead? .

I do agree with this: mass comm and journalism in general is such an intensive program that requires a lot of work.

 

[Deesknee]

Housing is releasing her from her dorm contract/meal plan for the spring with NO problems. She just has to come in and show something from CP that she was accepted. She will just take a semester off and be behind a semester and enroll again for fall classes in the late spring with no problem.

Denise, I'm glad atleast somethings are working in her favor, even if they aren't the biggies.

 

[dsanner106]

My daughter had the same experience, her University told her she would get not credit for the internship or any classes Disney offered. She took the sem. off and returned the next fall. Her individual College later did give her internship credit toward graduation stating the University does not give blanket credit, each major determines this and awards credit individually, so it worked out in the end. Her roommate took online courses from her school while at Disney with no problem. This is common and schools requiring testing in person allow them to take the tests at Valencia comm college in the testing center.
good luck

D

 

[PineappleFloat]

Semester off will be worth it, if she can enroll in a couple of online classes through her university that would be even better. I waited till the season directly after graduating, but that's kind of a big risk haha! I already had taken a semester off through to get some other work experience, and with Disney I wanted to option of being able to stay on after if I wanted without having to quit and go back to school.