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Group projects

addictivepersona

addictivepersona

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What do you think about group projects in college/university? Do you think they're a beneficial thing or a waste of time?

I think they're a total waste of time. I would much rather have to do all the research by myself than try and corroborate with a group. I understand that "in the real world" I will have to work with other people, but not in the same manner.

I'm so frustrated right now with a group project I have due tomorrow. There is such total lack of communication between my group members and I. They talk with each other and make decisions that impact me without speaking with me first.

For instance: I had to do the listing of the ingredients and how much it would cost. They decided to add in a bunch of ingredients at the last minute, after I had spent awhile trying to figure out how to bring down the price of what we were already getting. SO frustrating. I will be so glad when it's all over after 5p tomorrow, even though I am totally not prepared to do it. I'm prepared to cook the meal--Just not do the oral presentation beforehand.
 
Group projects in college are garbage. They don't teach you how things work in the real world because it's not the real fucking world. :X If one person doesn't give a shit, you have to make up for their lack of effort (which is I suppose how it works in the real world too), but if someone fucks up in school, there's no real consequence; if someone fucks up at work, they get fired. You can't complain to your professor about someone not pulling their weight; you CAN complain to a boss and your boss will likely do something about it. Plus, everyone's getting paid at work, and you're not getting paid in college. Even in my super intense honors classes, there were always a few kids that everyone dreaded working with. If it wasn't because they were lazy, it was because they weren't up to snuff. Most of the time in the working environment, if you're ever in a group project, most people will be on the same playing field, or they never would have been asked to participate. There is a lot less randomness in the working world.
 
^ Very good points, rant*N*rave. Complaining to the professor doesn't do shit while complaining to the boss does--I know that first hand. Though, at college, we are kind of getting paid in the longrun: If you graduate, you'll have a degree. Though it doesn't matter ifyou get straight Cs or straight As, you still have that degree. (One reason I was pretty pissed to find out only a C [not the B like I thought] is required in the courses I'm taking.)

Urgh, I'm so glad the group projects are done for this semester. Did the presentation for the group project I complained about up there yesterday. It went all right. Then had to go cook the meal we presented about. I had a girl helping me chop of the vegetables. I walked away for a few minutes to wash the mushrooms, only to come back and have the green peppers I brought in (note: the professor didn't buy them for me, *I* brought them in) were gone. So I ask the girl who was helping me where they went. She said she got someone to help chop them up. And "chop" is the nice word for it: They fucking MUTILATED them. The directions (I had four copies of the directions/ingredients) said to chop the peppers in 3/4-inch pieces. They chopped them one cut away from dicing. Oh my god I was livid. Totally ruined the aesthetics of the dish (which is part of the grade). But it's over. Sorry to rant, but it pissed me off so much yesterday.
 
I like group projects.
The favorite part about them is the moment right after a teacher tells everyone to find a partner in a room full of strangers. Everyone gets that's blank look followed by a resigned "I guess you'll do" look on their face.
I also think it's cool that you get to talk to people you wouldn't normally give the time of day.

I can understand the dismay of putting a portion of your grade in someone else's hands, but if you really are that worried you can always take up slack.
School projects in any undergraduate class are never all that hard, and often kinda fun and interesting.
Plus the more people you talk to in life the better.
 
I usually end up not wanting to rely on other people and do a lot of extra work...not the best group worker..

And SOME group projects are not that hard, the past few I've had have been pretty heavy loadwise
 
Yes group projucts are lame, and annoying, but they do show you how important communication and organization are. This is ten times more important in the "real" job world. If you don't have good communication, organization, and group skills you aren't going to last long in most jobs, no matter how educated and skilled you are in whatever.
 
School projects in any undergraduate class are never all that hard, and often kinda fun and interesting.
Click to expand...
See, that's definitely not true... Several of mine were nightmarish. That being said, I didn't have a very typical undergraduate curriculum...
 
yucatanboy2 said:
Yes group projucts are lame, and annoying, but they do show you how important communication and organization are. This is ten times more important in the "real" job world. If you don't have good communication, organization, and group skills you aren't going to last long in most jobs, no matter how educated and skilled you are in whatever.
Click to expand...
I can communicate and be organized. I always seem to be paired up with inept people. One of the ladies (she's 50 or 60) I was paired up with in my class had a break down in another over a test she never prepared for 'cause "it's all just too muuuch."
 
^ Yeah, that sucks. I have to admit I'm happy being beyond college and doing group projects with people I can't stand. You just gotta push through and deal with it and try to get good grades. My wife is still in school and can't stand the group projects she's doing, her groups drive her up the wall for similar stuff like that.
 
i hate group projects. when i was working on my master's in special ed, i was in a program with a wide range of people who wanted to change careers. there were several people who were barely computer literate and people who were uber perfectionists.
 
rant*N*rave said:
See, that's definitely not true... Several of mine were nightmarish. That being said, I didn't have a very typical undergraduate curriculum...
Click to expand...

I hear ya. Honors level biochem can weigh heavy on your mind at times, not that I'd know, but I did get pretty far into a biotech program that's still a work in progress for me at the moment.
I have fun getting lost in the problems and if the other people aren't in on it, then so be it. I could care less if I let someone put their name on work that was well over 50% all me. I'm a generous pothead at the best of times, and the more people at the party the better.
What was your most challenging group project? I'm just curious because I'm probably going for classes that are approaching that level.
 
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