c/college-life

Had to choose between a 7am class or a 6pm class this semester

I picked the 7am because I thought I'd be more awake in the morning, but I've already fallen asleep in three lectures. Has anyone else found a way to survive early classes without chugging four coffees?

2 comments

river_hart18•6d ago

Blew $150 on a "must-have" textbook that I opened exactly once

I bought this giant chemistry book after my professor swore we'd use it every week. Spent the whole semester using free PDFs from the library instead. Anybody else get tricked into buying a book that just sat on your shelf?

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wyatt_green•6d ago

Dropped $400 on a graphing calculator I never used

First week of freshman year my advisor told me I absolutely needed a TI-84 for calculus. Bought it that day full price. Turns out my professor lets us use free phone apps for everything. That calculator is just sitting in my drawer collecting dust. Anyone else get pressured into buying expensive tech they didn't actually need?

3 comments

jordan653•7d ago

Question about failing a midterm and turning it around

I bombed my calc 2 midterm at UT Austin last week got a 54. I spent the next 5 days in the library grinding practice problems and went to every office hours session. Has anyone else managed to recover from a bad grade like this?

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leo_campbell•8d ago

Stayed up until 3 AM rewriting a 4 page history paper because the professor said my thesis was "too broad" and honestly she was right.

I spent a week throwing in random facts about 19th century trade routes when all she wanted was one specific port city's impact, has anyone else had that moment where you realize you were trying to cover too much ground instead of digging deep?

2 comments

hunt.rowan•9d ago

Tried auditing a philosophy class as a 45-year-old trucker and ended up staying the whole semester

I figured I'd just sit in the back for one lecture on ethics to see what the kids were learning these days, but the discussion on moral luck got me thinking about all the close calls I've had on icy highways, and now I'm wondering if any of y'all have taken a class that completely changed how you see your own life?

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sagey69•10d ago

The $80 textbook I bought for a class I dropped after two days

I signed up for Introduction to Eastern Philosophy thinking it would be a easy elective. Bought the required book from the campus store for $80. After the second lecture I realized it was all about ancient texts and nothing like I expected. Dropped the class and the bookstore wouldn't take the book back because I'd already written my name in it. Now it's sitting on my shelf as a $80 reminder to at least skim the syllabus next time. Has anyone else bought a textbook for a class they ended up hating?

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karenw90•11d ago

The time I got chewed out in the library basement changed how I study

I was in the basement of the main library at State College this past fall, huddled in a corner cubicle with my earbuds in. Some grad student walked over and told me I was 'taking up space' with all my snack wrappers and coffee cups spread out. I mean, I thought everyone left their stuff around there, but apparently there's an unspoken rule about keeping it tidy. Now I clean up my area before I even open my backpack, does anyone else have weird library etiquette stories?

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mason.paige•11d ago

Hot take: community college gave me a better education than my first year at state uni

Tbh I spent my first year at a big state school and felt like a number. The lectures had 300 people and I never talked to a professor once. Then I did two years at my local community college and my classes had like 15 students each. The difference was night and day, I actually learned more in those small rooms than that whole first year. Anyone else feel like they got way more out of a smaller school setting?

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nathanbennett•12d ago

Almost failed my chem midterm because of that one study spot in the library basement

I've been going to the basement floor of the science library for weeks thinking it was the quietest place to cram for exams. Turns out the air circulation down there is terrible and it made me super drowsy after about 45 minutes every time. I lost like 3 hours of study time last Tuesday nodding off over my notebook before I moved to a table near a window on the second floor. Has anyone else figured out which spots on campus are actually the worst for focusing?

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nathanbennett•12d ago

Vent: My advisor told me my study method was trash and she was right

I spent my first 2 years of college just rereading textbook chapters over and over before exams. My economics professor pulled me aside after a bad midterm and said I was basically wasting time. She told me to switch to active recall with flashcards instead. I scored a B on the final after changing my routine for just 6 weeks. Has anyone else had a prof call them out on bad habits?

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tylerw92•13d ago

Found out my college charges $200 for a parking pass but only has 300 spots for 5000 students

I was looking through the fine print on my schools website yesterday and saw the actual number of parking spots on campus. Its like 300 spots total but they sell passes to anyone who wants one. No wonder I spend 30 minutes circling every morning before my 9 AM. Has anyone else actually managed to get a good spot here or is it just a scam?

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margaretf40•13d ago

Shoutout to the math tutor who showed me the Feynman technique last semester

After bombing my calc 2 midterm, I tried explaining integrals to my roommate like he was five and suddenly the chain rule actually made sense, has anyone else had a study method that clicked out of nowhere?

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rowan_wells67•13d ago

Had a long talk with my literature professor about why I can't finish novels anymore

She said it's because I'm reading for grades instead of curiosity, and that stuck with me during office hours last Tuesday as she pointed out I hadn't asked one question about the plot all semester has anyone else felt that shift where reading becomes a chore?

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aarons36•14d ago

Overheard a freshman say 'I don't need to study, I'll just cram the night before' and I had to bite my tongue

Was sitting in the campus library last Tuesday around 3pm, and this kid next to me was on the phone telling his friend he could just pull an all-nighter for his bio midterm. I wanted to tap him on the shoulder and tell him about the time I took my first chem final after three energy drinks and no sleep, and I literally wrote 'mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell' for an essay question that was asking about enzyme kinetics. Has anyone else seen the newbie overconfidence backfire that hard?

2 comments

thomas_young•14d ago

Overheard a professor say group projects "teach real skills" but I'm not so sure

I was sitting in the student union last Tuesday and heard Professor Harris from the business department telling a grad student that group projects are the BEST way to learn teamwork. But three hours earlier my group member had bailed on our marketing presentation without even texting me. So I'm stuck wondering if these forced groups actually teach us how to work together or just how to cover for lazy people. Has anyone else had a group project that actually went smoothly or is it always a disaster?

2 comments

rowan_wells67•14d ago

Swapped from all-nighters to early morning study blocks and it totally flipped my grades

Back in my first year, I used to stay up till 3am cramming for exams. Coffee and panic got me through, but my GPA was stuck around a 2.8. About halfway through sophomore year, I started getting up at 5:30am to hit the library before my 8am class. Turns out, my brain works way better at that hour, I was pulling B pluses by the end of that semester. Has anyone else made a switch like this and seen a big change?

3 comments

fisher.diana•15d ago

Chose a $200 used laptop over a $500 new one for my sophomore year

I had to pick between a refurbished ThinkPad for $200 and a shiny new HP for $500. I went with the ThinkPad because I needed something that could handle heavy Excel sheets for my econ classes. It's been 4 months now and the thing still boots up in 10 seconds flat. My roommate's new HP already has a busted hinge and a chipped screen. Has anyone else gotten a used business laptop and had it last way longer than expected?

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piper_green•15d ago

Why does the library cafe think we want $9 smoothies?

I went to the campus library cafe yesterday and saw they're charging $9 for a small smoothie. That's more than my meal plan swipe gets me at the dining hall. I get they want to make money but who in college has that kind of cash for a drink? Has anyone else noticed the prices creeping up at your campus spots too?

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craig.parker•16d ago

My advisor told me to take a 8am class for 'better focus' and it was a disaster

Professor Kim said I'd retain more with an early start, but I fell asleep in every single lecture and bombed the midterm. Has anyone else had a professor give advice that totally backfired?

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ellis.charles•18d ago

Stopped taking notes by hand and switched to typing everything in class halfway through last semester

My wrist was killing me after two hours of Econ 201 lectures so I tried typing on a cheap Chromebook and now I actually keep up with what the professor is saying instead of just writing down random words anyone else ditch the notebook?

2 comments

lisa839•18d ago

Pulled an all-nighter to study for my calc final and my brain actually worked better the next day?

I mean I always heard all-nighters are supposed to wreck you. But I had my calc 2 final last Thursday and I just couldn't sleep no matter what. So I stayed up from midnight to 7am going over integration by parts and trig subs. Took the exam at 9 and I swear I remembered everything sharper than usual. Got an 87 on it which is way better than I expected. I don't get it. Maybe it was just the adrenaline or something? Has anyone else had a weird experience where pushing through exhaustion actually helped?

2 comments

ninas70•19d ago

My professor's comment on my essay structure completely flipped my writing process

I had this English 102 prof, Dr. Chen at City College, who told me my arguments were 'like a pinball machine' instead of a clear path. She said I was bouncing all over instead of leading the reader step by step. So I started writing my thesis statement first and then building each paragraph around one single point from it. Now my papers actually make sense to me too, you know? Has anyone else had a teacher say something that totally changed how you study?

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lisa839•19d ago

Walked into my 8am philosophy class yesterday with the wrong textbook for three months straight

I had been highlighting and annotating a used copy of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil that I grabbed from the campus bookstore, but during a group discussion the professor called me out for referencing page 47 that had nothing to do with our lecture on Kant. Turns out I mixed up my ISBN numbers (dumb mistake, I know) and the bookstore wouldn't take it back since it was past the return window. Has anyone else realized halfway through a semester that they were studying completely wrong material?

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susan_wells•19d ago

I used to think group study was a waste of time until my stats midterm

I always studied alone because groups felt distracting. But last month my roommate dragged me to a library study session for our stats class. Turns out having someone explain the same problem in different words made it click way faster. I went from a C to a B on that midterm after just two sessions. Anyone else have a study habit they swore off that actually worked?

2 comments