Professor Thomas

Professor Thomas is our school's confidant. Kind of a mix of a professor, a counselor, a priest, a dad, and a great resource. Supposedly you can tell him anything and he won't report it to the Deans office. Anything like "I spent my financial aid money on hookers" or "I can't study without speedballing" and supposedly if you do whatever he says it will remain confidential and you can come back to school after you get yourself straightened out. Which is pretty damn cool. Because in recent years I have become more and more aware of friends and classmates of mine who have severe drug problems and NO ONE EVER KNOWS. It's incredible at how good people are at staying stealth.

Ok, the point of this post was to discuss something that Professor Thomas told a group of us the other day. Basically he said that our school has only kicked out 5 (yes, F-I-V-E) students for poor academic performance. Ever. Like since dirt was young. Every single other student who has failed or was borderline was remediated by repeating a year or whatever (that's a $70k boo-boo I wouldn't want to make!)

To this, my classmates astutely pointed out that "Well, still... you don't want to end up as #6". And Professor Thomas said "Don't worry...It can't happen on accident. You really have to work HARD to get kicked out. Probably harder than you'd have to work to stay in."

Good to know.