Anybody else a student? (rant thread!)

[NextInLine]

Some of you guys know I'm a college student (Middle East Technical University / Computer Engineering Dep. http://www.metu.edu.tr/ ) in a 4 year program. I'm a rather lazy student and this is my 5th year, in the past 4 years I've done nearly nothing so I suck at my lessons but this year I'm trying hard & heading towards graduation! I don't miss the classes I try to do all the homeworks etc. (be sure there are a looot of them! ) which keeps me from going out, playing guitar and maybe even having a regular life. though I'm ok with it for now (or I was! ) . But today something shitty happened that pissed me off real bad!

I had an examination for which I studied a lot, I even entered the other section's class to see what the other instructor's approach on the subject & questions is ( 2 instructors/sections 1 examination that was) And today I got to school at 9:30 am and up till the examination time which was 5.30 pm I studied really hard. I also had a 2 hour class for another course I couldn't have missed & I entered that with a couple questions in my hand trying to both keep up with the listening and solve questions bla bla

So before the examination I knew everything important about the subject really well everything was clear in my mind, people were asking me a lot of questions nearly all of which I could handle very well and getting compliments like "dude you're going for an AA"

But the examination didn't go well cause a couple of the questions were from the parts that the instructors seemed to not care (which I ignored while studying) and nearly half of the important/core stuff was ignored! Plus I did a real stupid mistake in one of the questions and now I can't stop thinking about the exam & that stupid mistake! (guess I'll have a hard time sleeping tonight not to mention it's already 3 am in the morning )

I'm not after getting a good grade, if I were I would have studied in the past years but this time I knew nearly all of the subject, most probably more than the instructors expected from a student, and I'm not going to get what I deserve and it kinda sucks!!

Thanks for reading!

[fett]

You have entered the "I can bust my balls Zone". The instructors don't give a shit. Trust me, I know. I will never forget how one Professor gave me a C on the senior field study. It was a term actually dealing with the real world. Juvenile Correction. I worked my ass off with those kids. I made a real difference in one kid's life. But, did that make a difference in my grade? No. My fucking Mentor was so jaded that he fucked me and turned me off to what I really thought could have been a fine profession. I'm not sure what the moral is here. All, I can say is that as long as someone has control over your future, you had better figure out what they want to hear. And that SUCKS bigtime.

[Freyr]

Yeah, I figured that shit out real quick... the prof's I have NEVER test you on the core elements.

Best question I ever had on a quiz... "So, now that you've read Oscar Wilde's the Importance of Being Ernest, what hotel did he stay in when he was in Halifax? (Bonus if you can say the year)"

So relevant to the book/course

[Axewielder]

I took a difficult Artificial Intelligence class as a free elective, and the Professor gave me an F for not turning in all the homework assignments, even though I passed all the tests including the final. End result: did not graduate on time (I pleaded with the Professor, but to no avail).

[QuantumRider]

Dude, just relax, appreciate and enjoy the fact that you are young, and fortunate enough to be attending an institution of higher learning.

It beats the hell out of being a working stiff

[Freyr]

Dude, just relax, appreciate and enjoy the fact that you are young, and fortunate enough to be attending an institution of higher learning.

It beats the hell out of being a working stiff

I beg to differ... I'm pulling 80 hour weeks, on average with University. 5 classes a semester * 1.25 hours a class + 4 labs * 1.25 hours a lab. All of these two times a week. 15 hours a week on a project for the Liberated Learning center. Atleast 20 hours a week on assignments and reading (understatement, this week has been more like 35... exam time of year). 10 hours a week doing CS Huskies practice (Saturdays are gone forever ). 10 hours a week travel time to/fro...

That's a light week...

[fett]

I was young once. And I know for a fact that between the Mentor and the Prof, I was a college senior, those pricks changed my life path. That was a seminal period in my life. " Cum on, you twead stinking bastard!!!!!" I made a play on words.

[QuantumRider]

I beg to differ... I'm pulling 80 hour weeks, on average with University. 5 classes a semester * 1.25 hours a class + 4 labs * 1.25 hours a lab. All of these two times a week. 15 hours a week on a project for the Liberated Learning center. Atleast 20 hours a week on assignments and reading (understatement, this week has been more like 35... exam time of year). 10 hours a week doing CS Huskies practice (Saturdays are gone forever ). 10 hours a week travel time to/fro...

That's a light week...

My first job out of school, I was working from 7AM to 11PM 5 to 6 days a week, to pay the bills (rent, heat, electricity, phone, student loans, etc.).

But I don't want to turn this thread into a competition about who's got it worse.

I'm not just talking about the time commitment.

As a student, you have exams and such that periodically tell you "how you're doing". You may be encouraged or discouraged by these evaluations, but as an employee, this happens maybe once a year, if your employer has a system of "annul merit raises" or "evaluations for promotions".

Also, while in school, you can pursue many different areas of intellectual interest. For example, after you get your core credits that you need to graduate in your major, you can take classes in subjects that you want to expand your knowledge in. As an employee, your primary function is to make more money for the business than they are paying you. I'm sure that it depends on what kind of work you do, but your intellectual pursuits will probably become more specialized (read: narrower).

And last but not least, college girls

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I am super happy with my current life as a working stiff, I just wanted Berkay to look at the bright side of his situation

[Axewielder]

I beg to differ... I'm pulling 80 hour weeks, on average with University. 5 classes a semester * 1.25 hours a class + 4 labs * 1.25 hours a lab. All of these two times a week. 15 hours a week on a project for the Liberated Learning center. Atleast 20 hours a week on assignments and reading (understatement, this week has been more like 35... exam time of year). 10 hours a week doing CS Huskies practice (Saturdays are gone forever ). 10 hours a week travel time to/fro...

That's a light week...

+1....Engineering school was a nightmare of all-nighters and brutal exams for me. Graduating (eventually) and entering the workforce was an awesome experience, and I don't miss that college bullshit one bit. Hope that lifts your spirits!

[Freyr]

+1....Engineering school was a nightmare of all-nighters and brutal exams for me. Graduating (eventually) and entering the workforce was an awesome experience, and I don't miss that college bullshit one bit. Hope that lifts your spirits!

Hahaha. I love what I'm doing, don't get me wrong. I've always had a knac for getting jobs that involve where I want to go intellectually at the time... university is just an extension of a job I guess.

As far as the chicks go... fucking eh! I couldn't believe my eyes when I first started SMU, I was wondering for years where all the hot chicks in Halifax hid out at... not to mention there is an all girls private school right next door (full out skirt uniforms and everything).
Too bad I have a long-time girlfriend.

But as NextInLine was saying, it's alot of bullshit with the wrong people getting the good grades. Fuck 'em, I'd much rather get drunk then memorize trivial details

[ken]

NextInLine, I feel your pain.... but in principle a University education is not about cramming for exams. It is about learning how to learn.

Focusing on the positive: given how much effort you've put in this year, I bet you're significantly more capable at picking up and understanding facts and theories now than you were before you started knuckling down. Think of it as being mentally fit. Once you're fit enough, which only comes from exercising your grey-matter, you'll walk the exams and they won't be the primary focus of your studies.

That's the theory anyway, even if it's not what everyone experiences in practice. At least there is always the college girls to fall back on. Then again, maybe not in the Computer Engineering Department of a Technical University.

Damn, I better run. I have to set an exam and I really want to catch the class out by setting questions on obscure topics... Fett, do you have tweed jacket I can purchase?

[lerxstcat]

Put it in perspective; for 4 years you goofed off and now you're finally working. Maybe the professors don't appreciate students goofing off basically 80% of the time before they start getting serious.

It's frustrating, but if it took you 5 years to figure out that professors do this, you really haven't been paying attention in school!

Shrug it off and make sure you study more of the material per chapter or section than the professors cover. And be happy that you're going to college instead of a brickyard every day. Life is good for any college student, relatively speaking, even when you're working hard mentally.

Also, unfair profs will prepare you for unfair bosses. Guess what, they're everywhere - and you will have to put up with their unfair crap too, and smile.

[RacerX]

I wanna know what the "real stupid mistake" was

[Freyr]

Actually... I've been up for the last 6 hours procrastinating on a paper I have to hand in... in 4 hours from now.

The question...
7. "All art," claimed Wilde, "is quite useless." Write an essay that argues that the play has no moral, is an example of Aestheticism, and just a mere entertainment.


The (now tired me) response...


The Importance of Being Art
-Evan Lowry



#include <iostream>



int main(void)
{
for(int i=0;i<1000;++i)

cout << "art";
return 0;
}

This essay is all art, and therefore quite useless.




I hope your real stupid mistake is stupider* then that.



*used as a pun, get over it

[NextInLine]

Thanks for all the replies!

I took a difficult Artificial Intelligence class as a free elective, and the Professor gave me an F for not turning in all the homework assignments, even though I passed all the tests including the final. End result: did not graduate on time (I pleaded with the Professor, but to no avail).

I've gone thru that many times and it's the main reason I'm on my 5th year.. In our school if you have a grade at the section average/curve you get a CC. There has been a couple of courses in which my exams were above average but I got an FF because I didn't submit HWs

Dude, just relax, appreciate and enjoy the fact that you are young, and fortunate enough to be attending an institution of higher learning.

It beats the hell out of being a working stiff

Yeah you're quite right but I need to find the time to play guitar also, so I could use a regular working pattern I guess!

I wanna know what the "real stupid mistake" was

There are "data buckets" and you number them. You start from "0" . So if you are at the 3rd bucket that means you got passed thru 3 buckets (0,1,2) There was this question with 2 parts, in the first part I took into account that there's "bucket 0" but in the second part I didn't. Because the question said "consider you're at the 23rd bucket" & I jumped "ok there are 22 previous buckets" which should be 23

That's the theory anyway, even if it's not what everyone experiences in practice. At least there is always the college girls to fall back on. Then again, maybe not in the Computer Engineering Department of a Technical University.

Dude I'm inside the department building most of the times, if I'm not at a friend's house trying to do homework And there are not many girls in our dep. Though I'm getting lots of questions/attention lately. Maybe I can use it