Argh, how do you college people get things done?

[NJPaint]

Washington University in St. Louis flew me out to their campus for a visit, Thursday to Sunday. This is one of the top universities in the country and the classes were great. But damn... I've gotten 3 and a half hours of sleep 3 nights in a row. Throw in paintball, maybe tennis, and a few classes, I don't think I could get any busier. How the heck do you find that balance?

[Mango]

College teaches you all kinds of great things, however one of the most important things it teaches you is Time Management. Figure that for every 3 credit hour class you take which meets twice a week, you will do about 2 hours of homework for that class. If you take 5 classes thats quite a bit of time. Also if you are involved in any sports your schedule will be even more packed.

Lack of sleep is what effects most college students the most. It is a shame because sleep is such an important component of health and being sleep deprived can effect mental focus and performance up to 33%.

[NJPaint]

Sleep deprivation isn't hard for me. I regularly get under 5 hours of sleep and function normally (well, what is normal for me at least). My main thing was, there was sooo much that I wanted to do that I had to go to sleep that late to get as much done as I could. Granted, you can't party every night, and I consider myself to be a somewhat disciplined individual, but damn I guess some things have got to go :(.

[Emily]

I didn't go to a big university but that didn't change the amount of classes or homework. I took 5 classes a semester with atleast 2 hours of homework. Some classes had no homework (basic computer classes). On top of classes, I have 3 kids and worked a part time job plus have a boyfriend to spend time with also. How did I manage my time? Weekends were catch up for homework and housework. Sunday night, I did my homework for Monday's classes and Monday I did my homework for Tuesday's classes and so on and so forth.

Ok here was my day....
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 3 classes,1 hour each, 2 hours of homework (I took my hardest classes on these days--shorter class time). Classes started at 9am, I also made sure I got a break in between those classes becasue I knew I could do some homework and not be tempted to do other stuff. After school, I went to work and worked until 6. My job was an hour from my house so I got home at around 7, The kids were already feed supper, so all I had left to do was get them in the tub and then to bed. They also knew I had tons of homework so they pretty much left me alone. I did my "easiest" homework while they were still up. After they went to bed, I did the rest of my homework.

Tuesday, Thrusday: 2 classes, 2 hours of homework (usually had a "freebee" classes). A freebee class for me was a class that was easy for me and required less of my time to complete the homework, ie computer classes, algerba classes (funny tho I majored in accounting), business math, music, etc. Pretty much the same as above.

My boyfriend and I didn't see each other that much during this time. Considering we live 5 hrs apart and he was busy with things in his life that was improving his life just like i was with school, this worked for us. I believe was saw each other year of college 4 times. That was hard but it worked for us because we were getting done what we had to do in order to make our lives together better for the future. The kids learned that sometime you have to give up things in order to make your life better and they did very well with it. They also learned that homework and education was very improtant seeing mom doing it all first hand, just like them. They also learned some of the stuff I was having ot learn becasue they would test me when I had a test the next day. I know for a fact that my 7 yr old could have passed that music class with an A. It was more of a memorizing class than anything else (I hated that class-- Ask Enigma4you about the teacher --she was/is a freak).

Learn to manage your time and DON'T put anything above your education. You'll have plenty of time after college to do other things.

[Miscue]

Washington University in St. Louis flew me out to their campus for a visit, Thursday to Sunday. This is one of the top universities in the country and the classes were great. But damn... I've gotten 3 and a half hours of sleep 3 nights in a row. Throw in paintball, maybe tennis, and a few classes, I don't think I could get any busier. How the heck do you find that balance?

Simple, I didn't go to class. And, if I could completely skip a project or assignment and I still would pass - I wouldn't waste time working on it, I'd rather sleep. There were several classes that I literally showed up to maybe 5 times the whole semester. I showed up to the wrong final once, I was wondering why the test was so easy and then I realized I was taking an astronomy test instead of engineering physics. With primarily engineering/CS, science, and math classes, this can be done because they don't care if you show up.

I found it more important to sleep. I had some instances where I almost fell asleep at the wheel, and after that I decided nothing was worth an accident or killing myself or someone else - so I skip class all the time and show up when I feel like it if I do at all.

If I have the exact same diploma as someone who went to every class... who's the dumb one here? :p Class is usuallly a waste of time - I find 80% of higher education to be a complete joke... and an irritation... only 20% of it was worth the tuition.

[dansim]

Myman...
*slaps cue 5*

[graycie]

i was living miscue's plan for the beginning of my college years, but i wasn't so successful at it - it also didn't help that the semesters were only 10 weeks long. now that i'm a bit older and hopefully wiser i take it a little more seriously since the plan is focusing on graduation eventually. one of the first things they taught us in university seminar freshman year is the "balance", between work/career, school, and social- it is possible to do it all but not at equal level/time for each.

[Fred]

one thing that's completely whack that they try to drill into your skull in high school these days is that you NEED a college degree...
after spending 5 years in college, and getting a Masters degree... shove it, if you want to be an engineer or office type professional, you might need it, but skilled trades are in VERY high demand, because no one is learning that stuff anymore.

Had I known about that option I might not have spent around 125k the last 5 years... and I'd me making 40k+ a year already...


But, to answer your question... Sleep is overrated, most classes are overrated, most professors are too stupid to succeed in their field in the real world, and the few that aren't are the ones trying to force you into some skewed political ideology that is completely irrelevant to the course description...

12-15 credit hours per term is plenty... I've averaged 17-18, and that sucks...

and remember, if a hard course is not required, DO NOT TAKE IT. it doesn't matter if you tested in, don't give yourself any extra work... I took calc and didnt need it.. BIG MISTAKE... 4 credits of C that totally screwed my GPA first year.

---Fred

[Miscue]

one thing that's completely whack that they try to drill into your skull in high school these days is that you NEED a college degree...
after spending 5 years in college, and getting a Masters degree... shove it, if you want to be an engineer or office type professional, you might need it, but skilled trades are in VERY high demand, because no one is learning that stuff anymore.

Had I known about that option I might not have spent around 125k the last 5 years... and I'd me making 40k+ a year already...


But, to answer your question... Sleep is overrated, most classes are overrated, most professors are too stupid to succeed in their field in the real world, and the few that aren't are the ones trying to force you into some skewed political ideology that is completely irrelevant to the course description...

12-15 credit hours per term is plenty... I've averaged 17-18, and that sucks...

and remember, if a hard course is not required, DO NOT TAKE IT. it doesn't matter if you tested in, don't give yourself any extra work... I took calc and didnt need it.. BIG MISTAKE... 4 credits of C that totally screwed my GPA first year.

---Fred

My grades were kinda funny. Calc I = A. Calc II = A. Numerical Analysis = B. Intro to MIS = F. Electrical engineering 101 = A. Public Relations = D. Internet Programming = B. Intro to Web Design = D :p I refused to use DreamWeaver - I asked why I had to use that, when I could write my pages in objective PERL.

I graduated with a 2.3, and it has made absolutely no difference in my life. A 4.0 would have been a waste of time and effort. I don't remember last time I was asked my GPA on an employment application. Getting my masters - maintaining a 3.5 about, and eventually will get a PhD I think... GPA for undergrad made no difference.

[Koosh]

My grades were kinda funny. Calc I = A. Calc II = A. Numerical Analysis = B. Intro to MIS = F. Electrical engineering 101 = A. Public Relations = D. Internet Programming = B. Intro to Web Design = D :p

I graduated with a 2.3, and it has made absolutely no difference in my life. A 4.0 would have been a waste of time and effort. I don't remember last time I was asked my GPA on an employment application. Getting my masters - maintaining a 3.5 about, and eventually will get a PhD I think... GPA for undergrad made no difference.

Thank you miscue...

I have a 2.3 right now (sophomore at Colorado State) and while I'm going to try and get that up, I guess it won't become my all consuming passion.

[NJPaint]

Heh, I met a guy that looks exactly like you Miscue at a sigma nu party :D. I was going to ask if he knew AO, but decided not to because I would look like too much of a geek :-D

[Miscue]

Thank you miscue...

I have a 2.3 right now (sophomore at Colorado State) and while I'm going to try and get that up, I guess it won't become my all consuming passion.

Hehe, it only needs to be high enough to get into grad school if you're going to do that. I remember someone in high school, who was valedictorian - she was really snotty and thought she was smarter than everyone, treated people down. She went to UCLA - not on a full ride... she could have went to the local university for free, cuz the state gives full scholarship to valedictorians. I meet her again after she graduates, and she's about crying to me because she can't get a job, doesn't know what to do with her life, and she is in debt big time. She spent all that money on a psychology degree... and I'm thinking to myself... WTF did you expect? Now she's going to same school I went to because she could not afford UCLA anymore, going for more school in her useless degree last I heard (unless she gets a PhD at least).

In a way, I feel bad for her. But another part of me wants to burst out with: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHHHAA!

You ever hear about how A students work for C students? :p

[BobTheCow]

You ever hear about how A students work for C students? :pRock on, there IS hope!! :)

[gimp]

I look at school like it's a job. I usually spend a minimum of 8 hours a day in class, or doing work. Most of my classes start at 9, and I dont stop working till around 8ish. I dont waste my time during the day. I do my work during the day. Someone said it earlier. The key to college is time management. I'm at a nerd school. I have no life. Nobody else does either. I get plenty of sleep. I go to bed at like 10:30 every night. That is all for weeknights. I generally dont do hw on the weekend. I might do stuff sunday night because I didn't do it on friday. I'm also taking 5 classes, as opposed to the normal 4. In my opinion, if you arent an engineer, then your degree is worthless. I get into arguments over that all the time. You have to make a choice when you go to school. You need to choose wether you paid 40k a year for partying, or for an education. If your like me, and you have to pay for it. Then you'll realize why your there, and you'll get plenty of sleep.

/end rant about how rpi sucks.

[alkafluence]

You ever hear about how A students work for C students? :p

It's a quote by Al McGuire. Something to the vein of the fact that the world is run by "C" students.

[RPK]

I'm a 3rd year student at Drake University (a private university in Iowa - going for free since my step mom works there... otherwise I'd be at the local community college). I find that school sucks no matter what age you are when you attend. As of right now I think kindergarden was my favorite grade.

Anyways back to the question at hand. My "time managment" for classes and class work depends on the subject of the class and the professor. I've had professors say the first day of classes that if you only show for the exams that is fine... he gets paid either way! lol!! Then I have professors who take attendance and adjust grades if you missed more than a specific number of days that is usually specified in the syllabus.

The one thing I do enjoy about the university I am at is the class size stays around 40ish so the one on one time with professors (when needed) is easily avaliable.

RPK

[SeeK]

Just keep thinking:

Pay now so you can play later.

I didn't concentrate on a major that would be related to what I'm doing. I figured that I would take the opportunity to learn stuff I couldn't have learned on my own.

I disagree with Miscue since most of us don't posess his learning ability and retention so there is a point to doing projects and homework. But sleep is very important to the attention, retention and test taking so I would bias myself towards that IF I had been going to class and doing the work.

I disagree with everybody that says college teaches you time management. I never saw that as a class offering. It forces you to discover it yourself or fall to the wayside. I'm sure everybody has seen those that don't make it.
The same goes for test taking strategy.

Miscue is right in that there are a bunch of useless courses. How many people REALLY need to learn Intro to Web Design and Dreamweaver as a college course? There are books and classes all over that would show you the same stuff in a shorter period of time. They are just there to show to prospective employers that the graduates are ready to work when you are hired. This is also what you want to highlight to the interviewer since nobody's got time to train a new person.

[Kevmaster]

miscue, telling it like it is.

in college you don't learn time management. you learn prioritizing. you say, this is important. I'll do it. That isn't important. i wont do it. Sleep, personally, is amost always atop the "this is important" list. Classes, well, arn't.

Physics: missed 90% of non test classes
Comp Sci: missed 15% of classes
Pub Policy: missed 30% of classes
Writing: missed 1 class (attendance was graded)

grades:
Physics: B+
Comp Sci: A+
Pub Policy: B
Writing: A-

thats just how it is, you know?

[Miscue]

miscue, telling it like it is.

in college you don't learn time management. you learn prioritizing. you say, this is important. I'll do it. That isn't important. i wont do it. Sleep, personally, is amost always atop the "this is important" list. Classes, well, arn't.

Physics: missed 90% of non test classes
Comp Sci: missed 15% of classes
Pub Policy: missed 30% of classes
Writing: missed 1 class (attendance was graded)

grades:
Physics: B+
Comp Sci: A+
Pub Policy: B
Writing: A-

thats just how it is, you know?

Hehe. This was my time management: Class starts at 3:00PM. I have UNIX shell to write that I had two weeks to do. I play pool, and hang out with friends. I go home and start programming at 1AM. I finish at 8AM. I email to friend, so he can copy code and circulate it to all the A students who can't code for crap and are the biggest cheaters ever. In exchange he prints it out and delivers it for me. I go to sleep.

Required attendence is incredibly annoying. It's done because nobody would show up. I figure it this way, if you are making me show up then you better freakin teach me something particularly when I'm paying for the class - and not waste an hour of my time regurgitating from the book (I can read fine, thank you), or telling me what your retarded opinions are of everything, and what your kids did on the weekend - all because you didn't come to class prepared and you have nothing else to talk about. A lot of professors get off on people listening to them - I swear... they make you show up to get their jollies.

[TraXeR]

Heh, I'm a prime example of what NOT to do. I go to class, come home, play games till 10, then do homework till 12. Then go to bed, wake up just late enough to get to class, then do it all again. Probably explains why none of my classes I have over 65% in. Personally, I do all my work during class, projects, assignments, everything. I don't think I've done any serious homework or an ounce of studying since grade 9.

[NJPaint]

^^^ high schooler :rolleyes:

High school is way different. This is my scedule this year:

AP Biology
AP Statistics
AP Law
AP Gov
Non-linear Dynamics / Calculus III
English 12

I do not do any work at home. I don't own a notebook or any pens (I borrow on test days). I have a laptop that I use in every class (to use AIM and for AO and a few other forums). I don't take any notes because they are useless. I go to class to listen and talk to the teachers. We have some pretty freaking amazing teachers and I can learn a **** load from them by listening instead of copying down what they say. I ended last semester with a 4.16 GPA not doing any work outside of class minus a cram session here and there for bio (a lot of brute memorization).

High school doesn't mean crap :p. I was asked by a my history teacher last year why I didn't take notes or do work except reading (which I do anyways because I like reading). I told him in front of the class that I was learning and retaining more than anyone else and unlike the rest of the people I wasn't memorizing for a test and forgetting. /me shrugs to each their own i guess.

[TraXeR]

Actually, I'm in Algonquin College in Ontario.

[Sir_Brass]

Washington University in St. Louis flew me out to their campus for a visit, Thursday to Sunday. This is one of the top universities in the country and the classes were great. But damn... I've gotten 3 and a half hours of sleep 3 nights in a row. Throw in paintball, maybe tennis, and a few classes, I don't think I could get any busier. How the heck do you find that balance?

Balance? You simply train your body to run hard 21 straight hours and get all the recharging it needs in 3.5 ;).

There IS NO BALANCE in college, only study time, free time to waste, and sack time ;). If you need more than 3.5 hours, you need to either get things done quicker, cut some things out of your schedule a bit (like tennis and some pball), and you simply DEAL with it ;).

When you get to college, you realize that you can't do everything you want to, so you prioritize and deal with doing what you can.

[Miscue]

I told him in front of the class that I was learning and retaining more than anyone else and unlike the rest of the people I wasn't memorizing for a test and forgetting.

I love it!

[Target Practice]

Here are a couple things about college, IMHO....

You really have to enjoy what you are doing when you first start. What I mean by that is, your first couple of semesters, you should be stoked to study and work all 16 weeks. Around the third semester, you start wishing the semester ended a couple of weeks earlier. By the last semester right before you graduate, you will be dreading the first day of class.

Sure, there are a some classes that most people can get away with not doing anything in: Health, Art Appreciation, World Religions (OK, maybe that was just me). But you should really work at the classes for your major. In my case, since I will be double majoring in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I live in the Advanced Math Lab. All of the instuctors know me as "the kid that hangs out in front of the whiteboard in the Math Department." I tutor math to help my recall. All in all, you have to live your major.

At the same time, you have to stay sane. Party. Have fun. Paintball! As long as you work as much as you play. Oh yeah, and get a job. It will keep you from spending your college money on fun, get you out of the house, and will help you meet new people.

Anyhoo, my $.02

[ntn4502]

I taking some pretty damn hard classes, and I make it through the week with only a couple hours a week worth of studying, while maintaining a 3.0??? Its not too hard :confused:

[Sir_Brass]

I taking some pretty damn hard classes, and I make it through the week with only a couple hours a week worth of studying, while maintaining a 3.0??? Its not too hard :confused:

You must not be majoring in anything truly difficult then.

I'm taking hard classes with only a couple hours a week studying and doing homework, and my GPA is a 2.6.

I'm majoring in Electrical Engineering with a minor in mathmatics, btw.

[ntn4502]

Ummm Aeronautical Studies/Flight Tech are not an easy major/minor combo by any means

[Miscue]

You must not be majoring in anything truly difficult then.

I'm taking hard classes with only a couple hours a week studying and doing homework, and my GPA is a 2.6.

I'm majoring in Electrical Engineering with a minor in mathmatics, btw.

Haha. I've had this discussion before. You can walk into upper-level classes from other majors and get As. But, if they come into engineering courses - they'll be lucky to pass introductory courses with a D and upper-level courses - impossible to get a D. There is a large disparity in the level of difficulty.

[trains are bad]

Word I had to go and bite off a physics major, and I spend from 1:00pm to 8"30 pm doing my homework. Why didn't I take more math in high school? :confused:

[Sir_Brass]

Ummm Aeronautical Studies/Flight Tech are not an easy major/minor combo by any means


Compared to engineering, it's not hard. It may not be easy, but it's definately NOT hard ;).

[darklord]

Haha, how to get things done? It's all about time management, down to the hour...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm a visual arts student, so I have 3-hour studio classes during the week. Add a 1.5 hour Art History lecture, a 1 hour Art History Discussion, and a 1 hour liberal arts class and my schedule is 28 hours of class a week. On top of this, I spend a lot of time out of class on assignments. On an average drawing homework I will spend at least a minimum of 5 hours. Major projects, I tend to stay up all night constantly working on them.

Next year, I have to take another class on top of the same schedule basically... mondays and wednesdays I will have class from 10am-9pm with 2 one hour breaks during the day. If I can balance this kind of schedule and still get my work done, anyone should be able to. I'm one lazy bastard, so sometimes I sleep through classes after pulling several all nighters, but I get my work done. Nothing is more stressful than having a 10-15 page research paper, a 3 page paper, and a major drawing assignment all due on the same day.