"All my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me"

high school senior trip - april 2009

It's lucky I have planned so far ahead, because I'm zero days in and I'm already facing hurdles.

At my university an open meeting was held on Tuesday for anyone interested in being a Cast Member at Walt Disney World. Most of the information provided were things I had already learned; in fact, in some areas I seemed to know more than the Campus Representatives thanks to the ever-so-helpful people at the DisBoards.

I did, however, learn one pretty awful piece of information.

My university doesn't accept credits for the Program.

This isn't the worst thing in the world. Fortunately I acquired enough credits during high school (12, to be exact) to put me ahead one semester. As of Spring 2009, I am at Sophomore Status. If any highschool student ever reads this, I can't stress enough how helpful it is to get as many credits as you can in high school. It will really help you out in college.

So, Hofstra not accepted Disney credits isn't the worst thing in the world. The classes offered at Disney are free and I am still interested in them for the experience alone. My problem, however is my scholarship. I'm able to go to Hofstra because of the merit-based scholarship I received, which I only keep so long as I maintain a 3.0 GPA at school. I'm not yet sure if my scholarship will carry over if I'm taking a semester off, so I need to go meet with the financial aid office asap. I'm really nervous for this, as it will really determine whether or not I can do the CP. From what I understand, if I take online Hofstra classes I can rack up enough credits (12 is the minimum) to still be considered a student; however, the CP itself is tons of work as it is. Having college classes on top of that would kill me.

Another issue is my health insurance. By doing the CP, I'll be considered taking a semester off and that may or may not affect my insurance. Time will tell.

It would be pretty horrible if my school's refusal to acknowledge the College Program would be the downfall of my dreams. The community college down the road is so big on the CP, yet my university that I pay tens of thousands of dollars per year to attend can't even give me a few credits.