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Workload Woes

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
The workload at my college – MY workload – is pulling me down. I’m starting to think it’s too much, and I’m only barely a full-time student, which means I only have twelve credit hours a week. What possesses professors to think – actually THINK (and they do) – that we students have the time to spend six hours per week studying and preparing for each of our classes? Are they fucking nuts? How THEY expect this, I may never know. Not all of them do, but currently I have two professors out of a total of four whom I KNOW expect this. It’s nuts. It’s balderdash.

I’m thinking of dropping my earliest class, not because it’s necessarily the most workload, not because it has the hardest teacher, not because of any particular reason other than it’s at ten am. It’s my astronomy class, and I’m fairly sure I can get a pretty good grade in there if I have the time to devote to studying, but…

All right. I’m torn. I’m TORN. I know that a payoff takes work. Or do I? Intellectually I know that hard work is much more important than talent or inborn ability. Intellectually, I know that pure intelligence can’t take the place of genuine study time.

But I have this problem at night, where I hate the idea of homework so much that, for my psyche’s benefit, I start to believe the lie that it’s not going to take me very long to do it – in short, I tend to grossly underestimate the time and effort I’m going to have to put into my homework – and I end up leaving myself very little time by the end of the night to finish it, which normally leaves me with the difficult choice of completing only part of the homework and studying I should probably be doing that night. It happens constantly - in fact, every night I’ve had homework so far. The problem is that I have a hard time compromising between my need to have fun in life and have some free time, and my need to objectively evaluate the amount of homework I have for that night so I can efficiently complete it. I'm just put off by the idea of homework so much that I put off even THINKING about it until it’s too late to complete it and get any semblance of a night’s sleep at the same time.

That said, I currently have between a 3.9 and a 4.0 GPA. I’ve been in college two semesters and have been successful so far. Maybe I’ve gotten lazy by the end. Maybe my workload really is significantly larger than it was the last two semesters. I don’t know, and am in no position to judge (seeing as I've very recently come out of a psychological rut, and, for all I know, could very well have been grinding my axe the last two semesters to get the grades I did).

Basically, it comes down to this: I’m not happy with the workload. I’m probably going to stick it out a little longer, but if I continue to be as unhappy as I am now with the workload, I think I’ll drop one of my classes, probably my earliest. Although there’s a Latin American history class with an arrogant, pretentious, priggish thirty-something Harvard graduate professor that I’d REALLY like to drop; actually, I’d like to drop-kick HIM, into Venezuela, with my logic, and I’d cap it off with a post-drop-kick hairflip (copyright Ivy). Oh, he’s one of those guys who is so damn pretentious you’re just salivating at the idea of getting into a controversial debate with him, bringing up a lot of research, and whooping his ass. He’s just a big jerk and a damn queen, not in the homosexual sense, but in the annoyingly pretentious and arrogant sense. Damn queen.

I feel like my attention is divided among too many classes and too much material to learn. I don’t want to learn things the mile-wide, inch-deep way. I’d like to learn a smaller number of concepts more in-depth, which means striking out a class and focusing on the three I have left.

But here’s the thing. I have a scholarship that covers $2000 of my yearly $12000 tuition. I don’t want to give it up, but one of the criteria for keeping it is remaining a full-time student. If I drop even ONE class, I drop below full-time level. Full-time level is twelve credit hours and above. Below that and you're part-time. Colleges are so hokey.

So that’s the dilemma. I’m basically turning this long preamble into the following concise questions: Do you have any input to share? How difficult is it for you to pay off your college loans? What are some things I should be aware of? Anything? I’m just looking for a financial perspective on the situation. Thanks for the input! :)
 

Haight

Doesn't Read Your Posts
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
6,232
MBTI Type
INTj
Which thread should I post my life changing observation?

EDIT: I guess it would be this one. Damn, the pressures on now. *leaves*
 

Haight

Doesn't Read Your Posts
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
6,232
MBTI Type
INTj
Please describe said workload. You have yet to engage my sympathies.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
Hahaha. Idiot. You think I want to add to it?! Describing the workload would be boring and stuffy. Get outta here. :) Besides, the question isn't about my workload, it's about my post-college finances.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
I commend anyone who can keep that kind of GPA and still be happy; I fulfilled only one of those.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
Hahaha. Idiot. You think I want to add to it?! Describing the workload would be boring and stuffy. Get outta here. :) Besides, the question isn't about my workload, it's about my post-college finances.

Ahem. Oh Benevolent Godly Overlord, sir. :)

Wait, did you say astrology class??

What subject does that fall under?

HHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Shit.

I meant astronomy. Hahahaha.

But regarding astrology: it falls under making a potion out of goat eyes and dancing around a fire at night. :)
 

Haight

Doesn't Read Your Posts
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
6,232
MBTI Type
INTj
Hahaha. Idiot. You think I want to add to it?! Describing the workload would be boring and stuffy. Get outta here. :) Besides, the question isn't about my workload, it's about my post-college finances.
Excuse me for thinking the title had something to do with the thread. :doh:
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
Excuse me for thinking the title had something to do with the thread. :doh:

Yeah, I noticed that myself. So... SIGH. I guess. Why should I exempt you from paying for my mistakes? Since when do we hold ourselves to those standards, you bastard?
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
Are you skimming? In many classes you can get by with skimming what you are expected to read.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
A 4.0 is a perfect A+ for you guys, isn't it? To be getting that you've gotta be working insanely hard. If it's stressing you out maybe you should consider, you know, not working as hard. :) I bet you could keep yourself at an A average with way less effort, and nobody's going to fault you for marks like that. What's your program anyway? I've never found 12 credit hours to be excessive, but I'm not really an overachiever, either....I wish I had your problem, I have trouble motivating myself to work hard enough.
 

Mempy

Mamma said knock you out
Joined
Jul 29, 2007
Messages
2,227
No, I can't. Believe me when I say that I put in the minimal amount of effort it takes to get the A that I usually pursue. But I hate the workload, Heart, and that's all there is to it. I don't want to do loopty-lupes or break my neck to make it in this world if I can avoid it.

Hmm. A change of title is probably called for, but my first thought was that I couldn't think of a title that dealt with finances that wasn't boring. Hmm. "Post-College Finances" sounds boring. Does it mean the thread has failed when you're asking for input as to what the title should be? :doh:
 

ygolo

My termites win
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,996
It's really hard to maintain that high a GPA. Some of my friends did it.

But dropping to a 3.8, won't kill you will it? Or, horrors, a B+ (3.6?) average?

What are you academic goals? Grad school? Getting a high paying job? Or just gaining an education?

I wasn't very clear on my goals. Initially, I just said I am gonna get my degrees and head directly work, because I was sick of school. Then I found out I wanted to do Research & Development, and that not all engineering jobs are like "inventing." It seems a phD, or at least an M.S. is needed in most R&D positions (that aren't just "R&D" in name only). :doh:

If you plan to be in acdamia for a while, then maybe it is better to drop a class, to keep doing well (from what I hear, Grad schools really like High GPAs and GRE scores). But losing a scholarship may mean you have to work-longer hours to pay for school, anyway.

If that is the case, then there seems to be hard criteria for sticking with 12 credits. Maybe you can purposely choose an easy class in the mix.

IDK. Not really a good person to give advice.
 

white

~dangerous curves ahead~
Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
2,591
MBTI Type
ENTP
Mempysian, I've been reading your post more than once, and I'm not actually certain what your question is:

1: Dropping classes because you cannot cope with 6 hours a week workload (can't be right, because once you start work, it is at least a 50 hour week?)
2: How to finance the 2,000 shortfall should you drop a class and lose the scholarship? (part time work ideas?)
3. Just a rant and we're supposed to just listen and offer :hug: and *pats*? :D :)hug:)
4. Existential angst in general. :D (in which case, take a walk, do some activities)
5. Asking for suggestions how to cope with studying when you don't feel like doing it.
6. Asking for suggestions how to manage expectations?
7. Asking for a fairy godmother to wave a wand and ensure you don't have to work or worry about grades anymore? (in which case, please take a queue number, I ordered mine in Sept 1991 and she still hasn't arrived).

:popc1: what is your question?

Edit: Is a 4.0 GPA out of 5, or out of 4?
 

heart

heart on fire
Joined
May 19, 2007
Messages
8,456
Well, first off, after I have a vent out like this about some catch 22 situation, I usually wake up the next day with renewed energy to keep on facing the same frustrations, so if that is the case, nevermind...:D

EDIT: The world is full of pompous ass queens. You may as well get used to them now.

You might check out EyeQ fast reading software and train yourself to read extra fast.
 
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