College asshattery

[RockyRan]

Plenty of reasons to hate college. My biggest ones so far:

 

1) The fact that professors don't know how to fucking teach (if you treat a lecture as if it were a business presentation (believe me, the two are VERY similar in form and function), you'll realize just how shitty 99% of your professors are), but don't give a shit because after all, it's your ass on the line. Can't teach? Don't care. Learn it or it's your grade that gets bumraped.

 

2) Financial aid offices finding new ways to fuck you in the eye, coming up with completely wild allegations as to why they're taking away government-issued grants, then placing the burden of proof on YOU to debunk those wild allegations by demanding "evidence" that's equally as wild.

 

3) College professors/officials/staff who think it's absolutely optional to reply to an e-mail.

 

4) The "honor" system in my school being absolutely fucked, mirroring very closely a medieval aristocracy.

 

I'll stop at those 4 for now. I'll be making a full-fledged post on each one in the near future, but don't hesitate to drop your own college-related rants as well. Let's start off this fall semester with plenty of rage venting to go around!

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I quite liked my college. Nice administration people, great roommates (5 guys in a dorm room), Super Smash Bros 3-4 hours a day, and awesome food. Lots of disc golf and tennis. I did hate getting up early, though.

[Mal]

The year is 1985/95 and the community college earth science class get to go to HAWAII to look at the volcano (And to have a good, awesome time.).

Now is the year 2011 and the same community college class can't even go pass a bridge toll to look at anything.

 

I just feel that those of us in our 20's are just going to college in such a bad time.

[RockyRan]

The year is 1985/95 and the community college earth science class get to go to HAWAII to look at the volcano (And to have a good, awesome time.).

Now is the year 2011 and the same community college class can't even go pass a bridge toll to look at anything.

 

I just feel that those of us in our 20's are just going to college in such a bad time.

 

Don't even get me started on that. Tuition rates are going up while at the same time budgets are getting cut left and right and the quality of the education is getting worse (one of the professors of my classes said that we won't even HAVE a TA at all! And this is for one of those lab courses, mind you. Ones that NEED a TA and have always had one).

 

But hey, that $170 "Canker Sore Rehab Fee"? We TOTALLY need to keep charging students for that shit each semester. But hey profs, NO printing of your syllabus to students! WE CAN'T POSSIBLY AFFORD THAT.

[Mr W Phallus]

I love uni, don't get me wrong, but one thing that is kinda bad is that we get post grads as seminar tutors (at least we did last year). Now one guy I had last term was a really good, he clearly new his stuff and he knew how to lead a productive seminar and get some constructive discussion out of english lit students. Other post grads have been terrible, one was just generally socially awkward - how he ever thought he could manage a seminar is beyond me - another was a really hot girl, but she spoke so quietly in a thick Spanish accent and the way she took the seminar was just ask a question, wait for someone to give a pre-determined answer, that the seminars were as rubbish as the socially awkward guy.

 

Considering the amount it costs to go to university, you kinda expect some decent tuition. I just pity the people who are applying in the UK next year.

[CorgiShinobi]

I'm fine with my university, and I agree there are some terrible instructors, but at least the professors in my major/field have work experience, thus actual knowledge of the field. Some could actually try to improve their lectures, but it basically comes down to reading the book and keeping an active eye on the industry.

 

What I don't care for, especially today, is the last-minute student crowd. You know, the people who try to do everything the first day of classes. I had to grab two books today and it was a noisy sauna in the bookstore. The driving, oh the driving... In all my years of driving, I have never road raged as fiercely as I did in the traffic filled to the brim of incompetent numskulls.

[Luftwaffles]

Fuck out of state vs. in state tuition. That's all I really have to say right now. I go to a community college (which is dirt cheap and my financial aid covers about 10 times the tuition).

 

But here's my problem. In a year I'll be able to transfer, but I'm honestly not sure if I can afford it. I'd like to go out of state to somewhere like University of Washington, but unless I move up there for a year and establish residency $35,000 annually is just waaaaay too much to pay, even though I've been able to save about $10,000 in the past few years. As a result, I'll probably end up applying only to in state colleges, and even though schools like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo run about $12,000 annual, I can't see myself paying $23,000 dollars more just to live in a place that I enjoy more.

[Mal]

Dude. I'm going to Cal Poly in the fall. So yeah, if you do happen to get in there, I for sure can help you find a place since god damn, finding a place is a pain in the ass, especially if you live 4 hours away.

 

So yeah, another reason to hate college. Finding a damn place to live. I tend to want to live out of the dorms since I think I will like my freedom a ton more than being so close to campus.

Most of these folks who post stuff on Craiglist don't know how to quickly follow up on stuff. If the place is taken after we both agreed to met up at your place, for whoever sake, LET ME KNOW.

Edited August 30, 2011 by MaliciousH

[Luftwaffles]

Dude. I'm going to Cal Poly in the fall. So yeah, if you do happen to get in there, I for sure can help you find a place since god damn, finding a place is a pain in the ass, especially if you live 4 hours away.

 

 

Awesome, I might have to take you up on that in a few months. I know I'll apply there, and if I end up following through with this Aerospace Engineering idea that's where I'll probably end up going, I'm just not 100% sold on the SLO area yet. Thanks for the offer.

 

I live about 6 hours away in cold, rainy Humboldt, so it would definitely be a difference moving somewhere warm and sunny.

[Mal]

Humboldt... no way that's 6 hours away, more like 10 hours plus. Unless I'm thinking of somewhere else. If you're used to small towns sort of things, it won't be that much different. I'm primarily a city folk, so the difference is pretty big.

 

Now to fry a different fish... textbooks. Everybody love to buy textbooks. We also love to update them every year or two. We gladly fork over hundreds of dollars for textbooks. What I'm looking at right now is getting close to my proposed rent.

[RockyRan]

Humboldt... no way that's 6 hours away, more like 10 hours plus. Unless I'm thinking of somewhere else. If you're used to small towns sort of things, it won't be that much different. I'm primarily a city folk, so the difference is pretty big.

 

Now to fry a different fish... textbooks. Everybody love to buy textbooks. We also love to update them every year or two. We gladly fork over hundreds of dollars for textbooks. What I'm looking at right now is getting close to my proposed rent.

 

In-fucking-deed. I love how professors say you absolutely NEED the latest (read: most expensive) edition because they pull all the homework questions from the book that are exclusive to that edition. Nevermind the fact that most of the time, the questions are the same, just scrambled in order from the previous editions.

 

Or how about the professors who write and pimp their own textbook?

[Enervation]

My professors always made a habit of saying "you can get the book if you want, but I'd rather you all share than buy separate copies." None of the faculty really cared, except the English department since the English textbook we use was written by the head of the English department.

 

Also, Malicious... Cal Poly, you say? Pomona or SLO?

[Mal]

SLO. Hopefully I get a place rented tomorrow.

 

Pomona is too close to LA. -hiss- Sort of serious

Edited September 1, 2011 by MaliciousH

[RockyRan]

My professors always made a habit of saying "you can get the book if you want, but I'd rather you all share than buy separate copies." None of the faculty really cared, except the English department since the English textbook we use was written by the head of the English department.

 

Also, Malicious... Cal Poly, you say? Pomona or SLO?

 

To this day I haven't heard any of my professors ever suggest sharing.

[deanb]

Is it an American thing or just my course, cos I've never had anything with textbooks. Only book that was ever strongly suggested was "The Animators Survival Kit"

[Mal]

If its an American thing, I will proceed to burn down all colleges

[UnstableArk]

My entire tuition is paid through financial aid, and I have to pay the difference out of pocket. What I really hate is the dispursement date. It takes about 2 weeks for the money to be dispursed, which I'm not angry about, I'm pretty patient. What bothers me is that, even though the entire school is aware of the delayed dispursement, there are some Professors who make it mandatory to have books or equipment within the 1st or 2nd week of the semester. I just can't afford that, and it's worse when they plan a quiz or a full exam in the 2nd week.

 

Also, gotta love how financial aid waits until after the add/drop deadline to tell you if you're f**ked for the semester or not.

[RockyRan]

My entire tuition is paid through financial aid, and I have to pay the difference out of pocket. What I really hate is the dispursement date. It takes about 2 weeks for the money to be dispursed, which I'm not angry about, I'm pretty patient. What bothers me is that, even though the entire school is aware of the delayed dispursement, there are some Professors who make it mandatory to have books or equipment within the 1st or 2nd week of the semester. I just can't afford that, and it's worse when they plan a quiz or a full exam in the 2nd week.

 

Also, gotta love how financial aid waits until after the add/drop deadline to tell you if you're f**ked for the semester or not.

 

Just curious, what year are you?

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I needed textbooks for all my subjects at university and I'm in the UK, so I guess it is more of a course by course rather than country thing.

[UnstableArk]

Just curious, what year are you?

 

Sophomore-ish? Started in this college in the Spring of 2010, my previous college credits wouldn't carry over. Why do you ask?

[Johnny]

Is it an American thing or just my course, cos I've never had anything with textbooks. Only book that was ever strongly suggested was "The Animators Survival Kit"

 

Nah, all my friends who go to university in sweden are loaded with textbooks.

[RockyRan]

Just curious, what year are you?

 

Sophomore-ish? Started in this college in the Spring of 2010, my previous college credits wouldn't carry over. Why do you ask?

 

Just wanted to give a warning that Financial Aid offices become less and less "friendly" the closer you are to graduation.

 

See, the exact same thing happened to both me and my brother. We both got serenaded by our corresponding colleges of choice and showered with generous financial aid, then as you're a junior/senior both our F.A. offices became assholes. It was worse with my brother, seeing as they found completely random excuses to take away his aid as early as sophomore year, but as for me they started pulling shit out of their ass this semester (my senior year). We both suspect it is to entice incoming freshmen the way they enticed us, and the only way they can afford it is to take away aid from the upperclassmen.

[Hocking]

1) The fact that professors don't know how to fucking teach (if you treat a lecture as if it were a business presentation (believe me, the two are VERY similar in form and function), you'll realize just how shitty 99% of your professors are), but don't give a shit because after all, it's your ass on the line. Can't teach? Don't care. Learn it or it's your grade that gets bumraped.

 

I had this with my first lecturer last year, in his 60s, trying to act 30. He spent so much fucking time talking about surfing that none of us actually came away from his tutorials with anything relevant to the course module. Worse so he didn't even appear to understand the module he was 'teaching.' For starters he didn't understand the course timetable and proclaimed that the lot of us where a week behind, because apparently "Week 0" meant 'Week 1,' which it did not. Regardless we all ended up doing two weeks worth of coursework in a single week to "catch up."

 

He didn't have a good grasp on the course material either. It wasn't uncommon to get marked down on assignments for referencing something in the textbook because it supposedly wasn't in the textbook, you'd then get spiel about his 'expert' knowledge of the course materials when attempting to actually show content was in fact in said materials. Very headdesk.

[Waldorf and Statler]

The only college ass-hattery I had was when I emailed my teacher after the semester ended and in a very polite email asked her how bad I did in the final since it dropped me a letter grade from what I had. I had been writing with Mrs. and Mr all over the place so accidentally wrote "Mrs [last name]"

 

She replied with what was basically her calling me an idiot and telling me to respect her and to never call her miss again. I tried to make it better and said that the Doctor totally slipped my mind due to the other emails, but I've never been able to understand why it was such a big deal. I get it, you have a phD and you're proud. No need to insult me as I wasn't insulting you.

[fuchikoma]

Always remember that while they do not act like it, and surely have loads of students to choose from now, you pay their salary, and you are their customer. If the service sucks, they owe it to you to fix it.

 

I was pretty lucky with my college, though it sucked because the coursework was so heavy I had to buy a laptop just so I could see what the outdoors was like after a year of homework. I never saw the inside of the lounge until I got a job at the college after graduating... and then I got to see just how clueless and haphazard everything really was behind the scenes!

 

They did pull the textbook crap though - I have two editions of one book because they moved the page numbers over a bit from one term to the next... and of course while we "needed" them, we hardly cracked the cover of most of our books. I was in an IT program - we looked stuff up on computers! None of my professors wrote the books though, so it didn't stink quite THAT bad...