No cure for University blues!

[KenderWizard]

Coming from a conversation in the LGBT thread (in order to not hijack it further), this is a thread to talk about the particular stresses of being in the education system, particularly crunch time of finals at the end of university (or equivalent). The lack of sleep, the pressure, the terror of being dumped out into the real world, etc!

This is a bit of a First World Problems thread, since I know lots of people don't get the opportunity to go on to further education, or maybe even finish school. And that if you've got, say, a family to raise and a job you hate and bills piling up, the woes of generally middle class university students aren't going to have you crying into your cereal. We do know we're a very privileged group, that's just hard to keep in mind in the middle of a stress-induced panic attack!

So this is a support thread, for people to support one another through what can be a genuinely difficult time.

Semi-ironically, I'm too tired and stressed to be able to take advantage of this thread that I'm making for support for tired and stressed people because I'm not up to typing out my situation. I'll go copy what I said in LGBT, hang on!

[pffh]

Right rant time:

Today there was a huge exam in one of my classes, now that's not a problem I don't mind exams what I do mind is when that exam is worth 3.3% of the final grade and already has more reading material then the rest of my classes combined and not only that HALF OF THAT MATERIAL IS NOT RELATED TO WHAT I'M STUDYING. Seriously WHY are there chemicals with no pharmaceutical properties and are only used as spices or in perfumes or are bloody so toxic that even miniscule doses will kill or **** you up IN THE MATERIAL FOR PHARMACOGNOSY :smallfurious:

[KenderWizard]

I hate that kind of thing. Sometimes you have to wonder who's making these decisions.

My rant follows
Background: I have a fatigue problem that flared up at the start of my third year and has made everything very difficult since then! I'm now over halfway through my fourth and final year.

I am SO tired. This is a logical part of fatigue, but c'mon. I feel like I'm in terrible, terrible school again; overwhelming stress, social exclusion and the horrible nagging feeling that everyone in my class hates me. Those last two aren't nearly so bad as they were in school (I am reasonably sure that the French exchange students like me, so that's something!) but it's just... ugh. Also, apparently I'm supposed to decide on, like, major life decisions, as I am trying to deal with the most stressful period of college. Again, just like school. Coming up to the school-leaving exam is a terrible time to pick college courses. Coming up to finals is a terrible time to decide PhD or job, and which of either, and also where to live.

I'm getting anxious about studying. By which I mean, I had a crysplosion today due to overwhelming panic... Being in full time education is like working at a really strange job where you're treated like a kid but expected to look after yourself and behave like an adult, where there's always more work but you don't get the chance to decide when or how you'll do it, and you don't get paid. Which is still better than some jobs, but really not ideal...

[Blue Ghost]

I want to go home.

[KenderWizard]

I want to go home.

:smallfrown: You mean, from university?

[noparlpf]

Right rant time:

Today there was a huge exam in one of my classes, now that's not a problem I don't mind exams what I do mind is when that exam is worth 3.3% of the final grade and already has more reading material then the rest of my classes combined and not only that HALF OF THAT MATERIAL IS NOT RELATED TO WHAT I'M STUDYING. Seriously WHY are there chemicals with no pharmaceutical properties and are only used as spices or in perfumes or are bloody so toxic that even miniscule doses will kill or **** you up IN THE MATERIAL FOR PHARMACOGNOSY :smallfurious:

That's weird. My sympathies.

Right now I'm dragging through the beginning of Cell Biology, most of which is basic chemistry review before we get into the Cell Bio stuff. Having taken Chem 100-101 twice (I took it in eleventh grade, and then audited it as a refresher freshman year) and being in Organic Chem now, it's boring as all heck. So I make jokes relating to the material she's covering, like how I must be hydrophobic because I'm inside the circle (for some reason this classroom has a ring of tables, but I always get there after other people have taken the seats on the edges perpendicular to the board, and my vision isn't good enough to take notes from the far side facing the board, so I sit in the middle of the ring facing the board instead of sitting on the outside with my back to the board, which would just be silly).
Oh, and Spanish. I skipped 100 and took 101, but now it's been a year and I forgot all my Spanish, so I wanted to go backwards to 100 to finish my two-semester foreign language requirement, but they won't let me go backwards even though I don't remember Spanish.
OH AND LABS. Electrophoresis is a pain. Checking purity by melting points is a pain. Recrystallizing things is a pain. At least back in Physics labs I got to break science. In Cell Bio and Orgo labs I just have to WAIT.

[arguskos]

One of my professors decided, in their infinite wisdom, to assign Wuthering Heights and Anna Karenina to us for a class. That's fine. What's not is reading both of these in a week. :smallyuk:

[pffh]

OH AND LABS. Electrophoresis is a pain. Checking purity by melting points is a pain. Recrystallizing things is a pain. At least back in Physics labs I got to break science. In Cell Bio and Orgo labs I just have to WAIT.

Ah yeah organic chemistry the study of patience. Do you have one of those fancy melting point checky machines that you stick small glass sticks with the material in? If you do you can speed that up by preparing three sticks and having the first stick heat up quite fast, the second slower but with a higher starting point and the third at the normal slow rate but with a starting point really close to the actual melting point.

Also for the recrystallizing are you scratching the beaker with a glass stick? That usually speeds things up.

Also if you can TLC is a lot faster then using the melting point for purity.

[noparlpf]

One of my professors decided, in their infinite wisdom, to assign Wuthering Heights and Anna Karenina to us for a class. That's fine. What's not is reading both of these in a week. :smallyuk:

Wuthering Heights isn't too long. Anna Karenina is really long. That's a pain.
I remember reading Crime and Punishment back in tenth grade. (Just for "fun".) Took me several weeks, I think.

I really shouldn't complain so much about this semester. At least I'm done with the mandatory writing classes, so this semester isn't too bad. Writing stinks because I'm borderline dysgraphic. (Is that even a real thing? Huh, the draft-DSM-V says no. It's called something else.) Anyway, I'm fine writing stream-of-consciousness stuff like I do when I talk to people or write emails or type on here. It's just writing about books or history that gives me trouble, and I don't know why. I can say something out loud that sounds really good, but then when I try to write it down literally a second later and it gets stuck. It's a pain. And it's gotten worse over the last couple of years. (So has my ability to produce words. I get stuck mid-sentence out loud pretty often these days, too. I know the meaning, but the word goes missing somewhere between opening my mouth and making the sounds. Must be all the head trauma.)
My writing ability increases when I imbibe copious amounts of caffeine, though. I find it much easier to write, but my writing turns so disjointed that I'm amazed I get passing grades. And it's hard to type when my entire body starts spasming.

So, Kender, how does Irish uni work?

[Savannah]

Man, where was this thread yesterday? Now that I'm done with my (group) three-hour presentation I'm not nearly as stressed (although I am nodding off as I type...only three hours of sleep sucks).

[Xyk]

I went to a University this past semester. I didn't go back this semester. It drained my spirit and caused me to feel trapped. I really don't like the way they do things.

[Weezer]

OH AND LABS. Electrophoresis is a pain. Checking purity by melting points is a pain. Recrystallizing things is a pain. At least back in Physics labs I got to break science. In Cell Bio and Orgo labs I just have to WAIT.

But Orgo is the best! I loved (and love) orgo so much that I'm getting my PhD in organic synthesis. Building molecules is just so cool. :smallbiggrin:


As for my college blues it's the final semester of my senior year and the idiotic department scheduled 4 400 level chemistry classes and my senior thesis (which I defended last week!) for this semester. And then I, being the brilliant being that I am, decided to take a class on bloody Kant as a 6th course. Sigh. Needless to say I am incredibly busy, and not getting near enough sleep. Now I must go and continue slamming my head up against the Critique of Pure Reason, which is nicely facilitated by a glass of nice scotch. One thing I've discovered in my college career is that a drink always helps the work go down easily, whether the work in question is dense philosophy or multivariable calculus, this is doubly true when the drink is tempered with a cup of strong coffee.

[SaintRidley]

One of my professors decided, in their infinite wisdom, to assign Wuthering Heights and Anna Karenina to us for a class. That's fine. What's not is reading both of these in a week. :smallyuk:

Same week or a week each? It's the difference between a light sweat and collapsing as all your bones turn to jelly.

[DeadManSleeping]

This is a bit of a First World Problems thread

A "first world problem": while you're using a device that allows you to near-instantaneously communicate with someone so far away that walking there would take you multiple years, you run into a bunch of people complaining about something you don't think is worth complaining about.

Yeah, I don't think anyone who can see this has a valid complaint to make about this thread on that level :smalltongue:

While I may have beaten university and gotten 2000 XP, 500 gil, 2 heal potions and a "Diploma" (it's an item for some quest where if you show it in to the right guy, you get access to a quest line with huge rewards, but I can't find the guy and all the guides suck), my girlfriend is still in university and is trying to finish a 4 year program in 3 years plus extracurriculars. I...I don't get to see her very often. I'm honestly a little worried that we have less of a relationship now than we did before we were really "dating". But I suppose there's a different thread for that.

[WarKitty]

Yeesh. I know the feeling. I'm a TA and a graduate student, which is kind of a double whammy.

For the TA part: I don't really know what I'm doing. They throw us in with almost no training to just go ahead and teach a class. I mean, it's stuff I know, but...there's so much more to teaching a class than just knowing the material. I really care about the students, and I really want to help them learn. It's just so hard, I feel like I never know how to communicate stuff properly, I'm making all kinds of mistakes. I know how much I cared about my grades and such as an undergrad, I don't want to be unfair to anyone; I want to push my students a bit but I don't want to overwhelm them. There's just so much that goes into teaching a college class!

For the student part: I absolutely love my classes. I just wish things were less competitive. It's all very fast-paced, and there's a lot of stuff about having to impress the right person so you can get your letters to go on to a good PhD program, which you need in order to get a good job...I absolutely love this field, but I get tired of feeling like I need to be the best of the best all the time just to stay in the running.

[Xyk]

While I may have beaten university and gotten 2000 XP, 500 gil, 2 heal potions and a "Diploma" (it's an item for some quest where if you show it in to the right guy, you get access to a quest line with huge rewards, but I can't find the guy and all the guides suck)

This is a good analogy.

[warty goblin]

I went to a University this past semester. I didn't go back this semester. It drained my spirit and caused me to feel trapped. I really don't like the way they do things.

In my experience, that's a natural part of the educational process for some people, myself included. It's something one can learn to live with though, and it does get better. First semester freshman year is completely horrible for many, even when they eventually end up liking college.

[factotum]

I'm going to sound like a really old man for saying this (and I'm only 41, so no smart comments from the cheap seats, please :smallwink:) but I found university to be considerably easier and more enjoyable than what follows! Unless you're one of the few who go on to start your own business, University is probably the last time in your life when you'll be able to even partially control your work schedule--once you're in a job the deadlines and stress levels go up, believe me. Of course, this is based on my experience of university in the UK 20 years ago, things will be different in the US and quite possibly in the UK these days...

[Caustic Soda]

At my Uni, we're supposed to write up a project report every semester. That is a hell of a lot of work if you want it to be even semi-decent, and for some fool reason our supervisors keep expecting us to do half the work *while* we have courses. I spent every day for a month (weekends included) working 10-20, my only real social interaction being my group mates, except for the one day i took off to celebrate my dad's birthday. BLARGH.

Now don't get me wrong, I think project work is a good way to learn how to do research, and it *is* interesting, but boy howdy is it mentally exhausting. at least back when I did a bit of factory work I could get home after an 8-hour day and still be able to think straight. :smallmad:


I'm going to sound like a really old man for saying this (and I'm only 41, so no smart comments from the cheap seats, please :smallwink:) but I found university to be considerably easier and more enjoyable than what follows! Unless you're one of the few who go on to start your own business, University is probably the last time in your life when you'll be able to even partially control your work schedule--once you're in a job the deadlines and stress levels go up, believe me. Of course, this is based on my experience of university in the UK 20 years ago, things will be different in the US and quite possibly in the UK these days...

That is true, especially for those of us who'll end up with children one day, but my answer is simple: people working full-time have way more money than students do. I spend 60% of my income paying rent. I would make more money if I were on the dole. I have a skewed schedule where my first two months of the semester have more self--assigned time than I know what to do with, and the last month-and-a-half with less free time than someone working full time. I don't doubt that having a boring, exasperating or obnoxious job is likely to feel worse than spending a lot of time on (usually interesting) studies, but at least you can afford more than buying food and books for Uni.

[KenderWizard]

So, Kender, how does Irish uni work?

Well, I'm studying Geology. I started in Theoretical Physics, and transferred. As a Geology student, everything I do is Geology. There are no maths classes, no language classes, no arts classes, no other science classes. So transferring is quite a big deal, and only worked for me because the way my college works is for most science subjects (including Geology but not TP), you do study multiple things in first and second year. Since TP was 2/3s maths and 1/3 physics, I was able to transfer into Science at the end of first year studying maths, physics and geology, then specialise in geology. But once you specialise (which for most subjects is from day one), there are no options. There's also no way to speed up or slow down. Like, if you took your maximum number of credits every semester, you'd be finished sooner than if you took your minimum? We have the equivalent of 60 credits every year. This year was the very first time I got to choose between modules to pick the ones I wanted. (It was something like 8 choose 6, but still!) Oh, except when I got away with registering for a "wrong" class in second year, but that was only because I transferred in and had to manually write down what I was doing. If you didn't transfer, you'd be automatically put in the "right" classes. I think that's the main differences!


A "first world problem": while you're using a device that allows you to near-instantaneously communicate with someone so far away that walking there would take you multiple years, you run into a bunch of people complaining about something you don't think is worth complaining about.

Yeah, I don't think anyone who can see this has a valid complaint to make about this thread on that level :smalltongue:

While I may have beaten university and gotten 2000 XP, 500 gil, 2 heal potions and a "Diploma" (it's an item for some quest where if you show it in to the right guy, you get access to a quest line with huge rewards, but I can't find the guy and all the guides suck), my girlfriend is still in university and is trying to finish a 4 year program in 3 years plus extracurriculars. I...I don't get to see her very often. I'm honestly a little worried that we have less of a relationship now than we did before we were really "dating". But I suppose there's a different thread for that.

That's tough. I'm also really worried about being able to find the quest hook for my "Degree" to be any use, and that myself and my partner might end up needing different things. (He's already in a PhD program.)


I'm going to sound like a really old man for saying this (and I'm only 41, so no smart comments from the cheap seats, please :smallwink:) but I found university to be considerably easier and more enjoyable than what follows! Unless you're one of the few who go on to start your own business, University is probably the last time in your life when you'll be able to even partially control your work schedule--once you're in a job the deadlines and stress levels go up, believe me. Of course, this is based on my experience of university in the UK 20 years ago, things will be different in the US and quite possibly in the UK these days...

See, I understand that, definitely. And that's why I put the disclaimer part in the first post. If you have a job you hate, university is better. But the unique thing about university is the weird transition of being almost an adult but without very many of the benefits. I think I could put up with a lot more if I was getting paid for doing this than just being kind of stuck there.

Also, flexible work practices are becoming more common (not common enough, but starting to be a reality). At the same time, education is becoming more pressurised. Again, I don't know much about other countries, but here, the number of people going to college and subsequently competing for good jobs or postgrad opportunities has ballooned wildly since my parents' day. The administrator in the Geology office, who looks after the students, and did her degree in the same department only 10 years ago, says that she is seeing a lot more stress as numbers increase, expectations increase, money and jobs decrease and competition goes mad.

[DaMidget]

Yea our generation grew up being told you have to go to a university to have a chance of getting a good job, so of course we were going to eventually end up with a huge numbers of people going causing the increase in competition.

My only complaint is I'm too lazy to utilize my free education benefits. I did a few courses when I was back in the states, but had to take a break due to work. Once you stop its so hard to get started again :smalltongue: . I'm just glad I have experience in a field that will net me a solid living so getting a degree is just bonus.

[The Succubus]

I'm going to sound like a really old man for saying this (and I'm only 41, so no smart comments from the cheap seats, please :smallwink:) but I found university to be considerably easier and more enjoyable than what follows!...

I know what you mean. These no good punk kids don't know how lucky they are. We didn't have these fancy "computer" things when I was at university, no sir. We had quills and parchments and the well off folks had these portable slab things....they called them a blackboard and chalks.

Now get the heck off my lawn. :smallannoyed:

[KenderWizard]

I am now trying to get the college to give me money to go to a conference that I'm presenting research at. If they don't give me the money soon, this is going to get awkward! At least I'm not giving a talk. I would be having the biggest panic ever if I was giving a talk!

[WarKitty]

I'm going to sound like a really old man for saying this (and I'm only 41, so no smart comments from the cheap seats, please :smallwink:) but I found university to be considerably easier and more enjoyable than what follows! Unless you're one of the few who go on to start your own business, University is probably the last time in your life when you'll be able to even partially control your work schedule--once you're in a job the deadlines and stress levels go up, believe me. Of course, this is based on my experience of university in the UK 20 years ago, things will be different in the US and quite possibly in the UK these days...

Us grad students might take exception to this...if this is the easy time, there's no way I'd survive the real world! At least real jobs give you time off on occasion. Not to mention weekends - those would be nice too.

[THAC0]

Us grad students might take exception to this...if this is the easy time, there's no way I'd survive the real world! At least real jobs give you time off on occasion. Not to mention weekends - those would be nice too.

Some of them do, but some don't. :smallwink:

[Asta Kask]

I am now trying to get the college to give me money to go to a conference that I'm presenting research at. If they don't give me the money soon, this is going to get awkward! At least I'm not giving a talk. I would be having the biggest panic ever if I was giving a talk!

You're presenting a poster? Just stand still, look intelligent and regurgitate the pre-rehearsed message when someone talks to you. Even if they are asking for the way to the loo.

[pendell]

Us grad students might take exception to this...if this is the easy time, there's no way I'd survive the real world!


*Waves*

Got my Master's in Computer Science while working full time for a computer simulation company and holding down a family.

If you think graduate school is stressful, and you think full time work is stressful, try doing both at the same time while also commuting 4 hours a day. It drove me to D&D. :smallwink:

I live in the US. Some jobs are less stressful than uni, but the stakes are higher. I have to constantly work to stay ahead of the latest technology trends and ensure they are applied at my company. If I don't, I find myself on the job market without useful skills.

Government contracting was quite a bit more stressful because the contractor constantly underbid in order to win the contract (i.e., bidding 2 people to do the job when it would take 4) and those of us in the trenches had to bust our tails to make good the difference. Out of 'patriotism', of course. OTOH, contracting tends to be a more stable gig -- once in that bubble, employment is pretty much guaranteed for life. If you don't mind working on things that no one uses and in technologies the rest of the world dropped years ago. I did. Mind, that is.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[arguskos]

Same week or a week each? It's the difference between a light sweat and collapsing as all your bones turn to jelly.
Same week. I WILL MURDER SPACE AND TIME WITH MY RAGE :smallfurious:

[noparlpf]

But Orgo is the best! I loved (and love) orgo so much that I'm getting my PhD in organic synthesis. Building molecules is just so cool. :smallbiggrin:

As for my college blues it's the final semester of my senior year and the idiotic department scheduled 4 400 level chemistry classes and my senior thesis (which I defended last week!) for this semester. And then I, being the brilliant being that I am, decided to take a class on bloody Kant as a 6th course. Sigh. Needless to say I am incredibly busy, and not getting near enough sleep. Now I must go and continue slamming my head up against the Critique of Pure Reason, which is nicely facilitated by a glass of nice scotch. One thing I've discovered in my college career is that a drink always helps the work go down easily, whether the work in question is dense philosophy or multivariable calculus, this is doubly true when the drink is tempered with a cup of strong coffee.

I like Orgo the class, it's Orgo the lab which is a pain. And we don't even have decent lab facilities. It's a liberal arts school with a poopy science budget. We used to have only four vacuum pump stations, which only worked half the time anyway, but now they don't work at all, and we're using a little portable vacuum pump that only two people can use at a time. And half the electricity outlets in the room don't work anymore. Not to mention that out of the two sinks only one works properly. And there aren't enough Hirsch funnels or--what do you call those Erlenmeyer flasks with the pipe coming out the side by the top? I'm bad at remembering names of things.--for everyone to use. And there are only eight or nine of us in the lab at a time.
I bet I'd like lab better if we had proper lab facilities.


Well, I'm studying Geology. I started in Theoretical Physics, and transferred. As a Geology student, everything I do is Geology. There are no maths classes, no language classes, no arts classes, no other science classes. So transferring is quite a big deal, and only worked for me because the way my college works is for most science subjects (including Geology but not TP), you do study multiple things in first and second year. Since TP was 2/3s maths and 1/3 physics, I was able to transfer into Science at the end of first year studying maths, physics and geology, then specialise in geology. But once you specialise (which for most subjects is from day one), there are no options. There's also no way to speed up or slow down. Like, if you took your maximum number of credits every semester, you'd be finished sooner than if you took your minimum? We have the equivalent of 60 credits every year. This year was the very first time I got to choose between modules to pick the ones I wanted. (It was something like 8 choose 6, but still!) Oh, except when I got away with registering for a "wrong" class in second year, but that was only because I transferred in and had to manually write down what I was doing. If you didn't transfer, you'd be automatically put in the "right" classes. I think that's the main differences!

Huh. Sixty credits a year? That sounds absolutely crazy if we're talking about the same kinds of credits. Here most places it's only around thirty credits a year. For example, a class like Physics 100 with the lab is worth four credits.
And yeah, if I hadn't crashed second semester freshman year, I'd have an AA already. Eighteen credits (first semester) plus twenty-one credits (second semester before I dropped a bunch of classes) plus eight credits (transferred) would mean I only needed thirteen last semester to complete the sixty credit requirement for the AA program. So taking more classes means finishing sooner. (It was the same back in my high school. The occasional person would finish after eleventh grade, or after first semester of twelfth grade. I had enough credits to graduate after eleventh grade, but I was missing specific credits for English and "Civics".)

[Palthera]

Some of them do, but some don't. :smallwink:

Indeed, I have weekends in this job, but didn't in my last. Plus finding a permanent job is like finding a great big lump of gold in seawater.

I miss the holidays of uni. As a science student, I got all the long holidays because you can't do work without a lab...

[Cikomyr]

I just want to chime in and tell you how much appreciate the confidence booster you given me regarding my returning to the university to study for a master in which I have no formal training whatsoever.

/panicattack

[WarKitty]

Indeed, I have weekends in this job, but didn't in my last. Plus finding a permanent job is like finding a great big lump of gold in seawater.

I miss the holidays of uni. As a science student, I got all the long holidays because you can't do work without a lab...

Ah. See, for us humanities students, holidays are when you pull the long hours to finish your papers because you're not being interrupted by class.

[DeadManSleeping]

Us grad students might take exception to this...if this is the easy time, there's no way I'd survive the real world! At least real jobs give you time off on occasion. Not to mention weekends - those would be nice too.

That depends on what your "real job" is.

I work in fast food. I live well below the poverty line (though, admittedly, I do okay with it), and get less than 40 hours a week of work. However, I work 6-7 days a week, usually during the hours that everyone else I know is free, which deals a grievous wound to my social life. And then, there are my co-workers who work 70+ hours every week. You can imagine it's even worse for them (though at least they make a good deal more money). About half of us have, or are in the process of getting, a degree from a university.

Just saying.

[Savannah]

I just want to chime in and tell you how much appreciate the confidence booster you given me regarding my returning to the university to study for a master in which I have no formal training whatsoever.

/panicattack

Don't worry. The master's program I'm in has several students coming in who've had no formal training and they've been doing fine. At least at our program, we started with some basic classes to get everyone up to speed (more advanced than undergrad classes would be, obviously, and even people with experience learned new stuff, but it made sure that the ones without experience were caught up).

[KenderWizard]

You're presenting a poster? Just stand still, look intelligent and regurgitate the pre-rehearsed message when someone talks to you. Even if they are asking for the way to the loo.

That's basically the plan! I just need to sort out this pre-rehearsed message... Also, my lecturers will be there, and they will ask questions!




Huh. Sixty credits a year? That sounds absolutely crazy if we're talking about the same kinds of credits. Here most places it's only around thirty credits a year. For example, a class like Physics 100 with the lab is worth four credits.
And yeah, if I hadn't crashed second semester freshman year, I'd have an AA already. Eighteen credits (first semester) plus twenty-one credits (second semester before I dropped a bunch of classes) plus eight credits (transferred) would mean I only needed thirteen last semester to complete the sixty credit requirement for the AA program. So taking more classes means finishing sooner. (It was the same back in my high school. The occasional person would finish after eleventh grade, or after first semester of twelfth grade. I had enough credits to graduate after eleventh grade, but I was missing specific credits for English and "Civics".)

Your system sounds way complicated... There's no speeding up or slowing down or collecting credits to graduate or anything.

I presume they are the same credits, since that's the point of credits. We didn't used to have them, they basically had to look at what we all did and assign everything credit values, and then shuffle things so each year added up to 60 credits. I thought 240 credits = a degree, though. Do ye go slower?


I just want to chime in and tell you how much appreciate the confidence booster you given me regarding my returning to the university to study for a master in which I have no formal training whatsoever.

/panicattack

There there. You'll be fine!


I know it's not totally unrelated, and I've been guilty of it myself, but can we try not to get into a big discussion about how university is nothing compared to jobs, or similar? Like I said, we all know there are people who have jobs who are way worse off than the average uni student, and different people find different things stressful, and there are different pros and cons to both, each and neither, etc. We can make a thread to debate it if we like, but I'm hoping this thread can avoid the "You think THAT'S bad?" mentality and function as more of a support thread for those of us who are having a hard time in third level right now.

[WarKitty]

Don't worry. The master's program I'm in has several students coming in who've had no formal training and they've been doing fine. At least at our program, we started with some basic classes to get everyone up to speed (more advanced than undergrad classes would be, obviously, and even people with experience learned new stuff, but it made sure that the ones without experience were caught up).

Ditto here.

[Savannah]

I presume they are the same credits, since that's the point of credits. We didn't used to have them, they basically had to look at what we all did and assign everything credit values, and then shuffle things so each year added up to 60 credits. I thought 240 credits = a degree, though. Do ye go slower?

Weeeeell...here's the thing, credits vary depending on how your school year is divided. I went to a school with quarters (four quarters a year) but a lot of schools, including the one I'm currently at, use semesters (three semesters a year). So what a "credit" means will depend on how long each term is. Also, now that I'm in grad school, we still use credits, but instead of 12-16 credits being a normal load, 9 credits is standard.

[Cikomyr]

I know it's not totally unrelated, and I've been guilty of it myself, but can we try not to get into a big discussion about how university is nothing compared to jobs, or similar? Like I said, we all know there are people who have jobs who are way worse off than the average uni student, and different people find different things stressful, and there are different pros and cons to both, each and neither, etc. We can make a thread to debate it if we like, but I'm hoping this thread can avoid the "You think THAT'S bad?" mentality and function as more of a support thread for those of us who are having a hard time in third level right now.

well, I do happen to have a very well paid job at the moment, but I see little opportunities for me from there. Plus, most of my job is filly spreadsheets after spreadsheet and line up the tables and graphs to look pretty.

There is simply no intellectual satisfaction in that job, except when they hand me a genuine problem to solve. Plus, I think permanent regular schedule is killing me a bit inside. I can pull it, and if I had responsabilities to a family or a wife, id keep doing it.. But I'd rather chance myself as an academic, and see if that sort of life is better suites than business.

[noparlpf]

Your system sounds way complicated... There's no speeding up or slowing down or collecting credits to graduate or anything.

I presume they are the same credits, since that's the point of credits. We didn't used to have them, they basically had to look at what we all did and assign everything credit values, and then shuffle things so each year added up to 60 credits. I thought 240 credits = a degree, though. Do ye go slower?

Here it's one hundred and twenty credits for a bachelor's degree, and around thirty credits a year, in general. Most bachelor's degree programs are about four years, and most associate's degree programs are about two years, so I'm getting an AA after this semester before I transfer to finish a BS. (I will never be done BSing, though. :smalltongue:)
It does depend on the school, of course, but that's how most of the places I've looked at work.


Weeeeell...here's the thing, credits vary depending on how your school year is divided. I went to a school with quarters (four quarters a year) but a lot of schools, including the one I'm currently at, use semesters (three semesters a year). So what a "credit" means will depend on how long each term is. Also, now that I'm in grad school, we still use credits, but instead of 12-16 credits being a normal load, 9 credits is standard.

If it's three terms a year it's called a trimester, isn't it? That's how it works at the only place I know that has three terms a year, anyway. If it's in two sections it's semesters. Most colleges in my area use semesters but not quarters. My old high school uses quarters, but each class is a minimum of one semester, so I don't know why they split it into quarters.

[SaintRidley]

Here, let me bring up my academic record. I'm finishing up B.A. #3* in year 5. And I did some switching of my goals about a year and a half in, so Kender can get an idea of how that plays.

*Two B.A. degrees in different fields of English, the third is Spanish. There was some overlap in the English degrees so I was able to count courses required for one as electives for the other and vice versa.


Kenderwizard, for your benefit, I'm bolding the courses I needed for my Writing degree, italicizing the courses for my Literature degree, and underlining the ones for my Spanish degree. You can then see the miscellaneous other courses I had to take to fill the fairly arbitrary general education requirements.

Note that any English courses not marked in bold or italics were for my own edification and that all courses in either bold or italics counted once as a requirement for one and again as an elective for the other.


First semester (Fall 2007) - 14 credits. Was planning on becoming a Math/Computer Science double major, Spanish minor. Had 10 credits covered from Advanced Placement classes in high school.

what I took: MATH 160 Calculus I, MATH 161 Calculus Companion I, ENG 111 College Rdg/Wrtg, OR 100 Intro to Higher Education 1.00 P, SPAN 202 Intermed Spanish II

Second semester (Spring 2008)- 15 credits. Since I got an A in Spanish 202, the highest level grammar class for Spanish, I was able to buy out the lower level language credits. So I got 12 credits for $60 there.

what I took: MATH 165 Calculus II , POLS 135 Comparative Pol Syst, BIOL 118 General Biology, CS 234 Algorithms/Prob Solv

Third semester (Fall 2008)- 13 credits. It's about this time that I decided that, after not doing as well as I had hoped in the math/computer science that if I didn't do so well in those I would change majors and do something I would enjoy and do well at.

what I took: CS 250 Algorithms/Data Struct, CHEM 100 Chem Appreciation, GEOG 110 World Regional Geog , SPAN 303 Culture of Latin Amer

Fourth semester (Spring 2009)- 15 credits. I officially declared my major as English (Writing Emphasis). Prior to this I had not actually declared my major. Beginning here I was able to earn an A in every class except Shakespeare. My fiancee and I took Critical Thinking and Pilates together because we needed** the credits to fill gen ed requirements.

what I took: PHIL 110 Critical Thinking, ENG 221 Top: World Mythology , ENG 290 Literary Studies, SPAN 401 Span Peninsular Lit I, PESS 144 Pilates 1

** Turns out one of those Computer Science courses I took had filled the requirement I was taking Critical Thinking for. Didn't find out until after the semester, and I made sure to help my fiancee study so she could get a B, so it was worth it.

Fifth Semester (Fall 2009)- 17 credits. I am fully in the swing of my new major and considering going double again with a different English major. I talked to my advising professor and the department chair. Both said there was no reason not to if I wanted to do it.

what I took: CMST 191 Intro to Public Speaking, ENG 350 Intro to Lang Stdy, ENG 312 Poetry Writing, ENG 305 Modernism & Beyond, ENG 211 Writing in Communities, SPAN 300 Spanish Linguistics/Phon

Sixth semester (Spring 2010)- 18 credits. Declared English (Literature and Language) as a major and got an internship with the department for a couple of credits. Gave the department a social media presence that it's still using.

what I took: SPAN 403 Latin Amer Lit, ENG 309 Non-Fiction Prose Wrtg, ENG 310 Story Writing, ENG 328 English Syntax, ENG 405 Chaucer, ENG 399 Intern: Dept Promo Mtrls

Summer 2010 - 3 credits. Got my Shakespeare course done during the summer, when I could enjoy some of the plays through the local Shakespeare festival.

what I took: ENG 423 Shakespeare in Perf

Seventh semester (Fall 2010)- 16 credits. Bumped Spanish up from a minor to a major. It only required three more courses than the minor and I was already going to graduate a little late due to my year and a half of messing up at the beginning of my university career, so I figured why not. Also took time on Thursdays to go down to my advising professor's house (30 miles away) to study Old English under her husband's tutelage.

what I took: SPAN 301 Spanish Comp/Conv, ENG 301 British Lit to 1660, ENG 302 Revol, Enlight, & Enslave, ENG 390 Lit Crit:Thry & Pract, ENG 410 Adv Creative Wrtg:Fiction

Eighth semester (Spring 2011)- 16 credits. Got to working on the school literary magazine as one of the editors-in-chief. Filed my paperwork for graduation in the fall.

what I took: PESS 214 Standard First Aid/CPR, ENG 303 Brit & Amer Rom, ENG 304 Victorian & post-Civ War, ENG 324 Proj: Satori Editors, ENG 439 Technical Writing, ENG 224 Bible as Lit

Ninth semester (Fall 2011)- 16 credits. Managed to work it out that my Spring would only require one course to finish my Spanish degree, so graduation and walking for my English degrees would happen this semester. Took one of my courses from a nearby university. I'll list it after a line break.

what I took: GEOS 103 Natural Disasters, ENG 470 Sem: Short Story, ENG 490 Portfolio, MCOM 115 Photography Appreciation, SPAN 302 Culture of Spain

SP 411 Special Topics Quijote

Tenth semester (Spring 2012)- 5 credits. Current semester. Two courses, only one of which is required. The second is to work the literary magazine as editor-in-chief again. Still managed to cost over $1200, though.

what I'm taking: ENG 324 Proj: Satori Editors, SPAN 402 Span Peninsular Lit II



By the time I'm done with this semester I will have three degrees and have earned 167 undergraduate credits.





If it's three terms a year it's called a trimester, isn't it? That's how it works at the only place I know that has three terms a year, anyway. If it's in two sections it's semesters. Most colleges in my area use semesters but not quarters. My old high school uses quarters, but each class is a minimum of one semester, so I don't know why they split it into quarters.

I think Savannah was counting summer semester. Which is fair enough, but unless you're trying to graduate ahead of schedule most people only take one or two courses during the summer each year, max. More often than not they just won't take courses during the summer at all.

[Savannah]

If it's three terms a year it's called a trimester, isn't it? That's how it works at the only place I know that has three terms a year, anyway. If it's in two sections it's semesters. Most colleges in my area use semesters but not quarters. My old high school uses quarters, but each class is a minimum of one semester, so I don't know why they split it into quarters.

Well, the extra term in semester is the summer semester, which not everyone takes. So semester = two "real" terms + 1 optional summer term.

[noparlpf]

Well, the extra term in semester is the summer semester, which not everyone takes. So semester = two "real" terms + 1 optional summer term.

Oh, I see.
I don't think my school even has a summer semester--we're too small. But most other colleges and universities in the area do.

[Weezer]

I like Orgo the class, it's Orgo the lab which is a pain. And we don't even have decent lab facilities. It's a liberal arts school with a poopy science budget. We used to have only four vacuum pump stations, which only worked half the time anyway, but now they don't work at all, and we're using a little portable vacuum pump that only two people can use at a time. And half the electricity outlets in the room don't work anymore. Not to mention that out of the two sinks only one works properly. And there aren't enough Hirsch funnels or--what do you call those Erlenmeyer flasks with the pipe coming out the side by the top? I'm bad at remembering names of things.--for everyone to use. And there are only eight or nine of us in the lab at a time.
I bet I'd like lab better if we had proper lab facilities.


Ahh, it sounds like it's your facilities that are killing you, only 2 vacuum lines (and a portable one at that)? Yikes. Not to mention not having enough glassware, that always sucks.The solution to all your problems is to steal money from the english department, what do they need it for anyways, buying paper? I kid, I kid

[noparlpf]

Ahh, it sounds like it's your facilities that are killing you, only 2 vacuum lines (and a portable one at that)? Yikes. Not to mention not having enough glassware, that always sucks.The solution to all your problems is to steal money from the english department, what do they need it for anyways, buying paper? I kid, I kid

I wish we could, but it's a liberal arts school for hipsters. Everyone does creative writing or politics or dance or music.

[pffh]

I wish we could, but it's a liberal arts school for hipsters. Everyone does creative writing or politics or dance or music.

I'd go nuts with your lab. My department just got new labs last year with state of the art hoods and self regulating rotavapors it's pretty awesome. But the university still won't pony up the cash for an UPLC :smalltongue:

[noparlpf]

I'd go nuts with your lab. My department just got new labs last year with state of the art hoods and self regulating rotavapors it's pretty awesome. But the university still won't pony up the cash for an UPLC :smalltongue:

That sounds so nice. I wish we had those. ;-;

[Balain]

It's been awhile since my university days. I remember in a study group for a 3rd year zoology final one guy said, "if my head blew up right now, this place would be covered in stress."

It kind of caught on and we used it all the after when studying for finals.

[Weezer]

I wish we could, but it's a liberal arts school for hipsters. Everyone does creative writing or politics or dance or music.

I lucked out, I go to a small liberal arts school as well, though for rich, entitled students rather than hipsters, but the starting a few years before I got in the school started emphasizing the science program and built a whole new science center and we (usually) have enough supplies and the like.

[Rockphed]

Huh. Sixty credits a year? That sounds absolutely crazy if we're talking about the same kinds of credits.


Your system sounds way complicated... There's no speeding up or slowing down or collecting credits to graduate or anything.

I presume they are the same credits, since that's the point of credits. We didn't used to have them, they basically had to look at what we all did and assign everything credit values, and then shuffle things so each year added up to 60 credits. I thought 240 credits = a degree, though. Do ye go slower?

At my school, a degree is between 120 and 180 credits. Well, technically you could have 2 million credits before graduating, but they would glare at you every semester after you had 180. A semester load is full time if it is between 12 and 18 credits. With 2 semesters and a summer and spring term, you could get, at most, 54 credits a year. As a general rule, a credit translates into 1 hour of instruction a week, or about 3 hours of labs, or 4 hours of physical activity(dance, weight lifting, etc). During summer and spring, the weekly load is doubled.



I know it's not totally unrelated, and I've been guilty of it myself, but can we try not to get into a big discussion about how university is nothing compared to jobs, or similar? Like I said, we all know there are people who have jobs who are way worse off than the average uni student, and different people find different things stressful, and there are different pros and cons to both, each and neither, etc. We can make a thread to debate it if we like, but I'm hoping this thread can avoid the "You think THAT'S bad?" mentality and function as more of a support thread for those of us who are having a hard time in third level right now.

Hear! Hear! If you want to gripe about how your job sucks, go make your own thread! This one is for whiny college students!:smallcool:

I have discovered this semester that I actually like teaching. I am being a TA for the "Electrical Engineering for Non-Electrical Engineers", and it is actually really fun. Except for grading homework. I could kill whoever wrote the text. Or go back in time and ruin his life so he doesn't write a textbook. :smallfurious:

[Weezer]

At my school, a degree is between 120 and 180 credits. Well, technically you could have 2 million credits before graduating, but they would glare at you every semester after you had 180. A semester load is full time if it is between 12 and 18 credits. With 2 semesters and a summer and spring term, you could get, at most, 54 credits a year. As a general rule, a credit translates into 1 hour of instruction a week, or about 3 hours of labs, or 4 hours of physical activity(dance, weight lifting, etc). During summer and spring, the weekly load is doubled.




Hear! Hear! If you want to gripe about how your job sucks, go make your own thread! This one is for whiny college students!:smallcool:

I have discovered this semester that I actually like teaching. I am being a TA for the "Electrical Engineering for Non-Electrical Engineers", and it is actually really fun. Except for grading homework. I could kill whoever wrote the text. Or go back in time and ruin his life so he doesn't write a textbook. :smallfurious:

If there are 2 things that TAing has taught me it is that
1) Teaching intelligent motivated kids is so very fun
and
2) I hate textbook writers. It shouldn't be this hard to actually write a good textbook, though apparently it is, because no one can.

[Vella_Malachite]

Hey. University hasn't started for me yet, but it's about the time when I start getting nervous, especially when I realise the workload I'm about to take on.

- BA with a double major (OK, so that's, like 12 hours a week, that's nothing)
- Choir once a week
- SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) three times a week
- Canberra Society of Editors meetings once a week
- Proofreading newsletter for above CSE
- Three jobs, one of which involves me setting up a business
- Attempt to have a social life.

So, wish me luck, hopefully I won't burn out.

[Savannah]

- BA with a double major (OK, so that's, like 12 hours a week, that's nothing)

At least in the US (not sure where you are), you should plan on about 2 hours of outside-of-class work for each hour you take. Exactly how much it takes will depend on the class in question and you, but don't think of it as "just 12 hours a week".

[warty goblin]

If there are 2 things that TAing has taught me it is that
1) Teaching intelligent motivated kids is so very fun
and
2) I hate textbook writers. It shouldn't be this hard to actually write a good textbook, though apparently it is, because no one can.

I completely concur on both points. Although I have to say, even the apparently crappy textbooks one encounters are almost always better than not having a textbook at all, or going through one in a messed up order.

Example: I'm TAing two classes right now, nominally covering the same subject matter in intro statistics. The first is taught by a grad student following the (fairly mediocre) textbook and general department plan, the other by a professor out doing his own thing.

As it stands I'm spending four hours a week or more helping the desperately confused students from the professor's class. I think I've had one question from the grad student's section. Even controlling for differences in class size, there's strong evidence the guy with tenure and decades of experience is being outperformed.

I've also been in a reasonable number of classes that decide to go do their own thing now, and the result is almost inevitably a mass of deeply confused students. I'm fairly sure my complex analysis professor's decision to teach from her transcribed grad school notes is in a large part responsible for me abandoning pure mathematics.

[Xyk]

Hey. University hasn't started for me yet, but it's about the time when I start getting nervous, especially when I realise the workload I'm about to take on.

- BA with a double major (OK, so that's, like 12 hours a week, that's nothing)
- Choir once a week
- SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) three times a week
- Canberra Society of Editors meetings once a week
- Proofreading newsletter for above CSE
- Three jobs, one of which involves me setting up a business
- Attempt to have a social life.

So, wish me luck, hopefully I won't burn out.

I do not envy you. That's a lot of things. Three jobs alone is more than most people do.

Good luck.

[Weezer]

I completely concur on both points. Although I have to say, even the apparently crappy textbooks one encounters are almost always better than not having a textbook at all, or going through one in a messed up order.

Example: I'm TAing two classes right now, nominally covering the same subject matter in intro statistics. The first is taught by a grad student following the (fairly mediocre) textbook and general department plan, the other by a professor out doing his own thing.

As it stands I'm spending four hours a week or more helping the desperately confused students from the professor's class. I think I've had one question from the grad student's section. Even controlling for differences in class size, there's strong evidence the guy with tenure and decades of experience is being outperformed.

I've also been in a reasonable number of classes that decide to go do their own thing now, and the result is almost inevitably a mass of deeply confused students. I'm fairly sure my complex analysis professor's decision to teach from her transcribed grad school notes is in a large part responsible for me abandoning pure mathematics.

I definitely agree with this, generally even iffy textbooks at least have a pretty solid order to them. For example my P. Chem III teacher this semester decided to swap chapter 4 and chapter 3. Bad idea, as you would expect all the stuff in chapter 3 was the information you needed to do chapter 4. Ugh.

[warty goblin]

I definitely agree with this, generally even iffy textbooks at least have a pretty solid order to them. For example my P. Chem III teacher this semester decided to swap chapter 4 and chapter 3. Bad idea, as you would expect all the stuff in chapter 3 was the information you needed to do chapter 4. Ugh.

Swapping chapters, at least in the courses I've taken, isn't usually so bad, particularly if they're later in the text. There's occasional moments of confusion, but they can usually be sorted out and a well organized and thoughtful professor can usually minimize them. It's when the prof decides to freestyle the entire bloody course that chances are things are going to be bad.

(Although in the interest of full disclosure, my measure theory course was almost entirely done from the professor's slides, and worked surprisingly well. He certainly followed a sensible and established order through the material though, which made a huge difference. There is a text for the probability followup, but the lectures are good enough I've not opened it yet.)

The other major warning sign I've picked up on is the unpublished manuscript, usually written by somebody in the department. If you ever wondered how the often deeply flawed texts that do get published managed it, it's because they're up against these turds. My ANOVA 'text' this semester seems to think saying 'the result follows' constitutes proving a theorem, contains no worked out examples, and is written in a grammatically correct yet baffling form of pseudo-English. Still, it's an improvement on the thing we suffered through last semester, which apparently did not believe in linear thought and hence spread confused semi-English results over multiple, seemingly random pages. Homework was one part solving the problem to three parts scavenger hunt, four parts bafflement, and two parts despair.

[Caustic Soda]

Sounds like I've been lucky with my textbooks. While most of them have been rather lackluster, The ones that were decent outnumber the ones that were really bad, if only by a handful.

What is the professor you're outperforming like, warty goblin? My experience with bad teachers come in three flavors: the ones that are confused about the subject they're supposed to teach, the ones that find it so simple they just don't get how students can fail to understand it, and the ones who drone on and on in a monotone about nothing in particular.

[Asta Kask]

I could go to university my whole life. Just spend my life learning... it would be heaven.

[Juggling Goth]

As someone who a) works in a university and b) dropped out of one due to going crazy, I'd just like to plug the student support services (we have them in Britain, anyway). Whether they're provided by your student union, your university, or both, use them. It's what they're there for. Going crazy? Think your grades are tanking because you might be dyslexic? Go and see the nice people whose job it is to look after you. Please. Also, tell your personal tutor.

I waited till the third year of my undergraduate degree to mention to my personal tutor that I wasn't going to lectures because I was too agoraphobic. I should probably have done it sooner.

[WarKitty]

As someone who a) works in a university and b) dropped out of one due to going crazy, I'd just like to plug the student support services (we have them in Britain, anyway). Whether they're provided by your student union, your university, or both, use them. It's what they're there for. Going crazy? Think your grades are tanking because you might be dyslexic? Go and see the nice people whose job it is to look after you. Please. Also, tell your personal tutor.

I waited till the third year of my undergraduate degree to mention to my personal tutor that I wasn't going to lectures because I was too agoraphobic. I should probably have done it sooner.

You get a personal tutor?

[KenderWizard]

Here it's one hundred and twenty credits for a bachelor's degree, and around thirty credits a year, in general. Most bachelor's degree programs are about four years, and most associate's degree programs are about two years, so I'm getting an AA after this semester before I transfer to finish a BS. (I will never be done BSing, though. :smalltongue:)
It does depend on the school, of course, but that's how most of the places I've looked at work.



If it's three terms a year it's called a trimester, isn't it? That's how it works at the only place I know that has three terms a year, anyway. If it's in two sections it's semesters. Most colleges in my area use semesters but not quarters. My old high school uses quarters, but each class is a minimum of one semester, so I don't know why they split it into quarters.

Okay, so, if credits aren't the same everywhere, then what was the point in them messing up all our classes so we could have credits?!

Also, we used to have three full terms of 9 weeks, called Michelmas, Hillary and Trinity term, but to fit in with semestered colleges, they made Michelmas and Hillary longer (12 weeks each) and made Trinity term just the term in which exams are held, no classes.


Oh, I see.
I don't think my school even has a summer semester--we're too small. But most other colleges and universities in the area do.

No summer classes here. It wouldn't fit with the no-choices system!


It's been awhile since my university days. I remember in a study group for a 3rd year zoology final one guy said, "if my head blew up right now, this place would be covered in stress."

It kind of caught on and we used it all the after when studying for finals.

I like it! :smallbiggrin:


At my school, a degree is between 120 and 180 credits. Well, technically you could have 2 million credits before graduating, but they would glare at you every semester after you had 180. A semester load is full time if it is between 12 and 18 credits. With 2 semesters and a summer and spring term, you could get, at most, 54 credits a year. As a general rule, a credit translates into 1 hour of instruction a week, or about 3 hours of labs, or 4 hours of physical activity(dance, weight lifting, etc). During summer and spring, the weekly load is doubled.


Wait, physical activity? :smallconfused: That's mad! Can you get a degree in it?

Also, labs are worth way more than classes here. They're generally either 2 or 3 hour long blocks, and are considered much more important than lecture time. No one cares if you miss lectures, but you fail if you miss labs.


At least in the US (not sure where you are), you should plan on about 2 hours of outside-of-class work for each hour you take. Exactly how much it takes will depend on the class in question and you, but don't think of it as "just 12 hours a week".

Yeah, we're told to do something mad like 5 hours of reading and preparation and assignment work for every hour. At the moment I have 22 hours of class, so that would be 110 hours work in a week. That leaves 58 hours, minus at least 6 hours every night for sleep, so I'm supposed to have approximately 16 hours in a week, or slightly more than 2 hours a day, to eat, shower, do laundry, shop for groceries, and do literally anything social at all. Of course, no one does 5 hours for 1 lecture hour, but some things do take loads and loads of time.

Actually, my time problem is the amount of sleep I need. I need about 10 hours a night, sometimes more, at the moment, because of illness. And usually a few hours rest in a day, sometimes a long nap. Then I don't get enough work done, so I get stressed out, which exacerbates my symptoms so I get tired quicker, so I need more sleep, so I get LESS work done, so I get more stressed. Repeat until I go mad! :smallsigh:

[warty goblin]

Sounds like I've been lucky with my textbooks. While most of them have been rather lackluster, The ones that were decent outnumber the ones that were really bad, if only by a handful.

What is the professor you're outperforming like, warty goblin? My experience with bad teachers come in three flavors: the ones that are confused about the subject they're supposed to teach, the ones that find it so simple they just don't get how students can fail to understand it, and the ones who drone on and on in a monotone about nothing in particular.

Thankfully I don't have to sit in on lectures, so I don't really know how he goes about that. Based on his slides however I suspect he's firmly in the second category, which is to say he's got not a clue why freshmen without any prior exposure to statistics might not find hypothesis testing and p-values completely obvious. Well, that and I suspect he's far less interested in teaching than he is his own research.

[Weezer]

Okay, so, if credits aren't the same everywhere, then what was the point in them messing up all our classes so we could have credits?!

Probably so you fit in with the rest of the Irish university system, I would guess that they have similar credits.

[Rising Phoenix]

Us grad students might take exception to this...if this is the easy time, there's no way I'd survive the real world! At least real jobs give you time off on occasion. Not to mention weekends - those would be nice too.

Amen to that! If you work for science/something similar you NEVER have days off as you are constantly thinking about your projects...

Piece of advice: don't ever consider doing a Ph D unless it's going to be a labour of love... you'll never pull through...

Also I strongly dislike yet love writing my research proposal atm...

[noparlpf]

If there are 2 things that TAing has taught me it is that
1) Teaching intelligent motivated kids is so very fun
and
2) I hate textbook writers. It shouldn't be this hard to actually write a good textbook, though apparently it is, because no one can.

I'm happy with the Orgo textbook we have. It's Organic Chemistry, 4th edition, by Maitland Jones, Jr. and Steven A. Fleming. I appreciate the authors' sense of humor.
Aside from that one, I've never liked a college textbook. The Calc textbooks the profs here use are terrible. And I'm told there's no such thing as a good Calc textbook.


Wait, physical activity? :smallconfused: That's mad! Can you get a degree in it?

Also, labs are worth way more than classes here. They're generally either 2 or 3 hour long blocks, and are considered much more important than lecture time. No one cares if you miss lectures, but you fail if you miss labs.

Because I'm at an "early college", and most everyone else didn't graduate from high school before coming here, I have to put up with a strict attendance policy. If you miss class two or three times you're supposed to fail, but most of the teachers are a bit more lenient than that. (I had twice max cut in two classes second semester last year and I got B's in both.) So I skipped Spanish yesterday morning to sleep in because I was still feeling kind of depressed. It was worth it.
But lab is still Serious Business. If you fail the lab section of the course, you fail the course. (Not doing lab reports has been screwing me the last three semesters. In Physics 101 I handed in the first lab report. I still got a B- in the course. In Bio 100 I handed in about half and got a B- despite 100s on exams. And in Orgo last semester I handed in about half and only got a C.)


Yeah, we're told to do something mad like 5 hours of reading and preparation and assignment work for every hour. At the moment I have 22 hours of class, so that would be 110 hours work in a week. That leaves 58 hours, minus at least 6 hours every night for sleep, so I'm supposed to have approximately 16 hours in a week, or slightly more than 2 hours a day, to eat, shower, do laundry, shop for groceries, and do literally anything social at all. Of course, no one does 5 hours for 1 lecture hour, but some things do take loads and loads of time.

Actually, my time problem is the amount of sleep I need. I need about 10 hours a night, sometimes more, at the moment, because of illness. And usually a few hours rest in a day, sometimes a long nap. Then I don't get enough work done, so I get stressed out, which exacerbates my symptoms so I get tired quicker, so I need more sleep, so I get LESS work done, so I get more stressed. Repeat until I go mad! :smallsigh:

FIVE hours? That is mad. Here they suggest three hours outside for every one hour of class. I think I do about 1:1. (Considering how much I slack off, if I actually worked hard like my fifteen-year-old friend, who graduated from high school in three years as valedictorian at barely fourteen, I'd have, like, a 4.0 GPA instead of barely keeping above a 3.0.)
In my plans there's a minimum of eight hours of sleep a night, but lately I've been having trouble getting fewer than ten. But then if I sleep more than ten hours I've overslept and I feel poopy all day.
I totally get that vicious cycle thing too. Except instead of having a legitimate excuse like fatigue, I'm just a slacker. But it does cause tons of stress and the occasional breakdown around deadlines and exams.

[SaintRidley]

Kenderwizard, if you'd like to see what an American courseload looks like, I refer you to my previous post.

As for majoring in physical activity, it's pretty much the foundation of most coaching/physical education teaching degrees, as opposed to, you know, training in teaching.

[Juggling Goth]

You get a personal tutor?

Well, I did for my undergrad degree. This wasn't actually reassuring, because he looked like Mr Burns and taught economic history, which I hated and feared.

For my masters, the one I dropped out of, I theoretically had a 'mentor' as well as my supervisors, but by then I was too far gone anyway.

[Savannah]

Ooh, yes, tutors! Every school I've been to has offered free (peer) tutoring to undergraduate students (usually something like 2 hours per week per subject). If you're having trouble do it! And do it early. I was a tutor, and there's very little more frustrating than having someone who struggled all term coming in right before finals, because at that point there's very little I can do to help them. I have no problem meeting once a week to go over that week's lectures and make sure you understand all of it, though (in fact, it's nice to see people saying on track and I get paid, so I rather like it :smallwink:). So, yeah, see if your school has tutoring and use it if you're having trouble.

[WarKitty]

Ooh, yes, tutors! Every school I've been to has offered free (peer) tutoring to undergraduate students (usually something like 2 hours per week per subject). If you're having trouble do it! And do it early. I was a tutor, and there's very little more frustrating than having someone who struggled all term coming in right before finals, because at that point there's very little I can do to help them. I have no problem meeting once a week to go over that week's lectures and make sure you understand all of it, though (in fact, it's nice to see people saying on track and I get paid, so I rather like it :smallwink:). So, yeah, see if your school has tutoring and use it if you're having trouble.

As a TA, I would also say - your instructors have office hours for a reason. That reason is not "I like being stuck here for an hour twice a week with nothing to do." And for the love of Banjo, don't come in right before the test if you've been struggling all along - it'll be much easier on both of us if you come in early. Most TA's are not going to judge you for coming for help; I'm actually inclined to be more lenient with students that come for help because they're demonstrably making an effort.

[noparlpf]

As a TA, I would also say - your instructors have office hours for a reason. That reason is not "I like being stuck here for an hour twice a week with nothing to do." And for the love of Banjo, don't come in right before the test if you've been struggling all along - it'll be much easier on both of us if you come in early. Most TA's are not going to judge you for coming for help; I'm actually inclined to be more lenient with students that come for help because they're demonstrably making an effort.

Yeah, the other day I went in and asked my Orgo prof. for a hint on the homework and he gave me a hint on the homework. (I still only got partial credit on that problem, but oh well.)

[KenderWizard]

Probably so you fit in with the rest of the Irish university system, I would guess that they have similar credits.

They do, but you're not allowed transfer credits. We were told the point was so American students could come do a term or a year and take credits back with them. Or we could go to the States, I suppose, but that would be so difficult. We already had Erasmus, where you do a year in another European country, or they come here. And if you want to move to a different college in Ireland, I'm fairly sure you just have to start again. But if different countries count different numbers of credits in a degree, then it's a waste of time. :smallsigh:

[pffh]

They do, but you're not allowed transfer credits. We were told the point was so American students could come do a term or a year and take credits back with them. Or we could go to the States, I suppose, but that would be so difficult. We already had Erasmus, where you do a year in another European country, or they come here. And if you want to move to a different college in Ireland, I'm fairly sure you just have to start again. But if different countries count different numbers of credits in a degree, then it's a waste of time. :smallsigh:

I think it's not so you can go to the states but so you can go to other EU countries since if I'm not incorrect most of them have the 30 credits per semester 180 for a BS 120 more for a masters (3+2 years) thing like you. At least we here in Iceland do and I'm 99% sure that the other nordics have that system too.