I loathe group projects. I’m kind of cocky when it comes to doing school work, and when I’m put in a group I just think I should do the whole project myself. I don’t trust anyone else’s ideas or work. Mine are better. I know that sounds mean, but I once presented a project with a group in front of my advertising class, and the boy in my group had to say the word “kinetic”. Well he said “Connecticut”, and I decided I never want to work with people again.

So, we know I’m the control freak of the group. I have to be in charge and tell everyone what to do, and then just do it all myself. Well what about everyone else? Who’s who in your group project?

Read More »

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

When the hell did November get here? That is what I want to know. Seriously, just yesterday I was telling y’all how to prepare your brains for August and get back into the school mode. And now it’s November. How did that happen and how can I make it stop?

Well, okay, so I can’t stop the furious, oncoming train that is November. I also can’t stop December, with all of its final papers and exams and projects, from hurtling right after it. You might be thinking, “Don’t be silly. December is an entire month away! I have a whole other month before I have to start worrying about things like that. I’m not gonna worry about that ’til after Thanksgiving.”

That is where you are wrong. Let me break this down for you. Including this week, there are two more weeks until Thanksgiving. Exams start a week and a half after Thanksgiving break. Can you study for all of your exams, write multiple 15-page papers, and put together various end-of-the-semester projects in a week in a half?

Answer: no.

The solution to this post-Thanksgiving crunch is to use these two weeks that we are given to start planning ahead for finals season. I know, it may seem excessive. But if you put off preparation for your end -of-the-year work until right before or even after Thanksgiving break, you will have wished you used that two week grace period to do some of that work. Trying to organize the next month of your academic life is daunting to say the least. But with a few tips, you should at least create yourself a nice cushion of accomplished work to allow you to not completely lose your mind in the post-Thanksgiving crunch. Read More »

"Ok, so I'll do all the work and you'll take all the credit. Sound good?"

It’s the start of a new school year and to honor that, we at CollegeCandy are bringing back the fan-favorite series, “We’ve All Been There.”  (We tried to get another national holiday/long weekend for you guys but it’s way harder than we thought so this will have to do.) Every week, Lauren – University of Michigan will comment on the common experiences all college women share – like the first day of classes or trying to figure out if that boy is crushin’ too. Read, relate, cringe and enjoy.

Your midterm is assigned and not only is it a group project, but you can’t even choose who you’ll work with. Your T.A. reads off your group of four then gives you the last half of the class to discuss your ideas. You pull your desks together in a mini-circle and start the introductions.

It only takes you five minutes to realize that this group is not going to work.  Between the kid who’s only showed up to class twice and the girl who speaks maybe three words of English, it’s going to be a disaster.

With only two weeks to complete both a four-page paper and a 5-minute presentation, you need to get to work quickly. The group spends ten minutes coming up with a topic and the next twenty trying to find a time to meet that works for all of you. Unsuccessfully. One kid holds an on-campus job at the library, one girl is heading out of town for the weekend and you all have 3 other midterms that you need to somehow complete. Read More »

Just a typical Tuesday in class.

While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (selling books, sexiled, one shot too many), she also carves her own path and has her own unique adventure. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for other girls? What it’s like to be an engineer? To get married?! To play an NCAA sport? Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers (and readers!) are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds.

It’s late on a Friday and I’m enjoying a night out with my friends at the local Steak ‘n Shake. I’m just about to dig in to a nice, juicy burger when a sudden realization hits me. I have a paper due in exactly one hour, and if I miss the deadline I will fail my web design class. I rush home and spend the next hour furiously banging out the rest of my paper about famous designers. With ten minutes to go, I hit the submit button. Crisis averted—for now.

This is a typical day in my life as an online college student.

I started as an online student with just one class. With a history of barely passing my on-campus classes, I needed a change. I knew it would still take a lot of work, but taking a class in my pajamas sounded like too good an idea to pass up. The result? I squeaked by with an “A” and scored higher online than in any of my real classes. The next semester I took two more. After that, I was hooked. Last semester I started my life as a full-time online college student working toward a degree in web design.

Don’t let me mislead you into thinking online classes are easy. Sometimes they’re down right infuriating. You can only talk to your classmates and professors by email, and working on a group project is like trying to herd cats. You’ll put in just as much time and hard work into your assignments as you would in any other class, and you’ll still find yourself chugging energy drinks in the library and cramming for finals. Read More »

Imagine your time in college without finals exams. Can’t do it? Sound like music to your ears? Well, it may become reality for some extremely lucky students. Harvard is making its professors decide within the first week of class whether or not there will be a final exam at the end of semester. Universities around the country look to Harvard as a trendsetter, so this new policy may be making its way to your campus in the next few years.

We all hate finals, but would we start to miss them if they were gone?

Pro: LESS STRESS! Five days to learn an entire semester’s worth of material in six different classes? Finals week is nothing but a week-long cram session, filled with multiple all-nighters and hours spent camping out in the library. The alternative to exams (projects, term papers, presentations) are much more reflective of what you actually learned and show that you understand the History of Mental Illness. This is what you’ll be doing for your boss in the future… not bubbling circles in with a Number 2 pencil.

Con: The cute, studious guy you find poring over a textbook in the student union (Hellloo study break!) – where will he be if his classes don’t have exams?

Pro: A stronger student-professor relationship. You are no longer just a number in a Excel grading sheet. A professor has to sit down, read what you write (or listen to what you are saying) and evaluate your work. Hopefully they would remember your six-page paper on The New Face of Public Relations and be more inclined to write out a great recommendation for your dream internship next semester. Read More »

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Considering spending some time abroad? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”! They’ve got all the answers you need, no matter who you are.

Question:
I’m in a pickle. Yes, I just said pickle. I recently drunkenly made out with a boy who lives on my hall. If that’s not bad enough, his ex GF is in, like, all of my classes and saw it happen (it was at a frat party….I know, embarrassing). Now she’s seriously giving me major sh*t for it and even bitched me out in the hallway in front of one of our lectures. I don’t think I owe her an apology (they were BROKEN UP), but I also don’t want any enemies. Especially because final projects are coming up for one of our marketing classes and there’s a chance we might be in a group together. What the eff am I supposed to do!?

GPA Girl:
Yikes! That really is a pickle. It sucks that this girl is making life difficult for you because of something that was embarrassing but not really a bad thing of you to do. I mean, I’m sure you feel bad enough about it already. As hard as it may be (and as much as you shouldn’t have to do it . . .), maybe you should talk to this girl. Write her an e-mail or pull her aside in the cafeteria or something and just say, “Hey. I am really upset because of the way you’ve been treating me around campus, and I just want to ask you to stop, please, because I don’t have anything against you and would like to put this behind us.” If she keeps being totally bogus, I recommend just avoiding her as much as possible. It’ll become pretty clear pretty quick to anyone watching that SHE’s the one with the issue, not you. Read More »

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision…like if Spring Break is for you? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”! They’ve got all the answers you need, no matter who you are.

Question:

Ever since I joined the business program at my school I’ve been overwhelmed with group projects. WTF? It’s college; doesn’t anyone know how hard it is to get people together in a group!? Anyways, I’m never good at this whole group thing because I always get frustrated and either start fights or take total control. I don’t like leaving my GPA in other peoples’ hands. I’m just wondering what you think is the best way to do group projects. Any tips? Advice? Ideas for working around the busy schedules of 6 people???

GPA Girl:

Okay. As someone who also despises working in groups, I can definitely sympathize. But I think you need to look at things from your professors’ points of view. Perhaps the reason they’re assigning group projects so often is because group work is vital in the business world. And people in the real world aren’t going to be any less busy than people are now at your b-school.

It sounds as if you have a commanding personality, which is a great for a career in business and for being a good group leader. I think you just have to channel your personality in a more positive way. You have the gift of being able to commandeer a group, so use it well! The next time you feel yourself starting to get frustrated and wanting to start a fight, just take a step back and do your best to shut out the emotional part of your brain. Focus on the logical (and, if you can, on the compassionate). What could you say that might be best in this situation? How can you work to bring people together and cooperate with all of them rather than isolating yourself by taking control? Trust me, you’ll be working with difficult people for your whole life long, so it’s best to start building an arsenal of tips and tricks ASAP. Read More »

"Ok, so I'll do all the work and you'll take all the credit. Sound good?"

Your midterm is assigned and not only is it a group project, but you can’t even choose who you’ll work with. Your T.A. reads off your group of four then gives you the last half of the class to discuss your ideas. You pull your desks together in a mini circle and start the introductions.

It only takes you five minutes to realize that this group is not going to work.  Between the kid who’s only showed up to class twice and the girl who speaks maybe three words of English, it’s going to be a disaster.

With only two weeks to complete both a four-page paper and a 5-minute presentation, you need to get to work quickly. The group spends ten minutes coming up with a topic and the next twenty trying to find a time to meet that works for all of you. Unsuccessfully. One kid holds an on-campus job at the library, one girl is heading out of town for the weekend and you all have 3 other midterms that you need to somehow complete.

The rest of the class starts packing up and – seeing a giant D in your near future – you decide to take charge.

“Ok, we’re going to break up the work. We’ll each take a portion of the paper and we’ll put it together at the end. Then we’ll use class time next week to write up our presentation. Good?”

The group agrees – most likely because they don’t want to spend another second in this classroom. You get everyone’s email address, divvy up the sections of the essay and go on your way. Read More »

We all have to admit that aside from the five days a week of partying, the sexy men, and the girl talk/Cheeto-fests that lass into the wee hours of the morning, there are those aspects of college life that aren’t so great. And we make sure everyone knows how much we hate ‘em when we whine to our friends over cafeteria slop/to our moms on the phone/to the rest of the world via our Facebook status updates.

And why not? Despite the stereotype that college students just eff around playing beer pong for four years straight, being a college student isn’t easy. (And, hello, we play flip cup, too!)

Over at US News, they documented some of the most commonly hated problems about being in college student. And we totally agree: getting closed out of the classes we need brings us to tears (and sends us into a pity binge of wine and nachos) and the boring professors make me want to rip the hair out my head.

But when I got to thinking about it, isn’t college really just one big love/ hate relationship? Sure we complain about a lot of things, but secretly deep down, we find the silver lining. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like what is cheating!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Alright, since we spent last week debating what it means to cheat in a relationship, it only seems right to figure out what the other kind of cheating means – the kind that involves teachers. Everybody thinking dirty things about teachers, get your mind out of the gutter (for now). Seriously though, we’ve all read the school policies about cheating and plagarism, but at the same time, most of us have done something that we wouldn’t really want the school to know about. How guilty should we really feel? It’s time to duke it out!

There are some things we can pretty much all agree are cheating – copying a paper word for word (or Wikipedia *cough cough*), sneaking a peek at someone else’s test answers. But what if you take someone else’s info and reword it? Or if you take the ideas from another work and write it out your own way. Afterall, most scholars read other papers on their topics and get ideas from them that they craft into thier own work and that’s not considered cheating. True, scholars add things to the information they borrow, but if you do the same thing, then is it ok? And what if you don’t borrow much? What if it’s just one sentence? Or just a quote that you forgot to mark? According to most school regulations that could qualify as cheating – and get you kicked out. Read More »