Im fucked

[coldthrn]

Hate to sound like an asshole, but... well, we know I can't help it. Universities and students have different definitions of 'free time' - in technical things the general rule of thumb was 2-3+ hours of outside study for every hour of lecture, and as outside study time decreased so did quality of students, and then quality of classes, and then students' motivation to do well in a shit class, and then... well, over time this just degenerated into an orgy of decreasing expectations on both sides, and student quality fell to match. Can't say anything about which of those two started first, but it doesn't matter now because so many expect a degree to be handed over after they've sat through a few classes...

This changes, of course, when you go for a degree like Land Use Planning or study at an overglorified trade school that promises one job in one field until robots can do it better, but when you go into one of those you know that you'll be pigeonholed into something. I can't say that I'd be surprised about disillusionment with a degree like that.

Jeff

Big +1 on that! Hang in there. Just because you have a degree doesn't mean that you will find a job in it the first 4 years out of college. Anymore it takes 8+ years to find a job that really fits your interest and degree. I have been in my field for 12 years "Information Technology aka fixing peoples solitaire machines" and now I'm going back to school for another degree in Biophysics to find a more satisfying carrier in medicine. However Ill be close to 45 by the time I have reached my goal.

 

[JBroll]

One of my roommates is doing biophysics. (He actually just got back from a graduate school interview at Yale and... I forgot where else, but there were a bunch of other places as well.) Fun field - just get to researching as an undergraduate and publish a few papers early on.

Jeff

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

Sometimes, a discussion can do wonders man- can't you discuss this with your professor? I'd be completely honest with them and say it's not that you're avoing the work, rather; you sincerely didn't know you had any.

What about offering to do other assignments to make up the credit for the ones you lost?

Never know if you don't ask. Good luck man.

And I agree - Mondays are the festering, bloody boil on the taint of the universe.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hate to sound like an asshole, but... well, we know I can't help it. Universities and students have different definitions of 'free time' - in technical things the general rule of thumb was 2-3+ hours of outside study for every hour of lecture, and as outside study time decreased so did quality of students, and then quality of classes, and then students' motivation to do well in a shit class, and then... well, over time this just degenerated into an orgy of decreasing expectations on both sides, and student quality fell to match. Can't say anything about which of those two started first, but it doesn't matter now because so many expect a degree to be handed over after they've sat through a few classes...

This changes, of course, when you go for a degree like Land Use Planning or study at an overglorified trade school that promises one job in one field until robots can do it better, but when you go into one of those you know that you'll be pigeonholed into something. I can't say that I'd be surprised about disillusionment with a degree like that.

Jeff

You're right about the first paragraph, which I guess is why if college was actually the way you describe in terms of outside-of-class workload relative to inside, then it probably wouldn't have been right for me or most other Americans - but with the seeming importance of getting a degree, it was definitely inevitable I'd say.

However, I'm not quite sure what the point you're trying with the second paragraph is - of course I'm approaching it as if it's a trade school, that's the idea: to essentially try to learn the basics of the "trade" of working with computers for a living (probably programming, but I'll try to keep it general). And you really think IT people are going to be obsolete anywhere in this lifetime?

And Land Use Planning is actually a concentration in the Geography major, so pretty liberal arts I suppose

 

[JBroll]

The second paragraph - I know, and it's bizarre that people are trying to apply the parts of college that are, at best, necessary evils to situations like yours where they don't exactly seem necessary. It seems like they're trying to make tofurkey taste better by pasting feathers to it, not introducing the real rigor and challenge that more evil college degrees are known for.

I don't think IT people will be obsolete, but the difficulty will almost certainly go up. I do think that the support system will change as things get more complicated, of course...

Jeff

 

[iHate]

Can't you just register for a half semester or 3/4 semester course to replace the english course?