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When I was in college, we were told that our classes would take three hours of study for every hour of class time. I had a normal 15-hour load my first semester, which required 45 hours of study per week, making my number of hours devoted to school per week a heavy 60 hours. Calculus I, Chemistry I, Honors English Comp, Western Civ, and Psychology. I can't imagine what kind of courses would require less than that. For people who did not devote 3x the time outside of class, how did you ever manage? Were your classes so easy that they did not require extensive outside reading, study, research and writing? Was maintaining a 4.0 average not important to you?
One semester I took 21 hours, and it nearly killed me. That was French Lit II, Foundations of Math (set theory), Advanced Geometry, Honors Seminar, French Film, and methods classes for foreign language and mathematics. All of the classes required extensive time outside class. I did nothing but eat, sleep, go to class, and study that semester.
When I was in college, we were told that our classes would take three hours of study for every hour of class time. I had a normal 15-hour load my first semester, which required 45 hours of study per week, making my number of hours devoted to school per week a heavy 60 hours. Calculus I, Chemistry I, Honors English Comp, Western Civ, and Psychology. I can't imagine what kind of courses would require less than that. For people who did not devote 3x the time outside of class, how did you ever manage? Were your classes so easy that they did not require extensive outside reading, study, research and writing? Was maintaining a 4.0 average not important to you?
One semester I took 21 hours, and it nearly killed me. That was French Lit II, Foundations of Math (set theory), Advanced Geometry, Honors Seminar, French Film, and methods classes for foreign language and mathematics. All of the classes required extensive time outside class. I did nothing but eat, sleep, go to class, and study that semester.
Same thing for me. Three hours per class hour was pretty much the minimum. Had a physics professor give the class an option -- normal final or take home final to be given out right after spring break. Naturally we voted for the take home. Oh. My. God. I think between April to end of semester I had 160 hours in that test. Granted I learned a lot. But never again did any of us ask for a take home exam.
It's kind of no wonder that those who seem overwhelmed by the work world didn't work too hard in college whereas for me I worked my butt off in college and nothing at work has compared.
When I was in college, we were told that our classes would take three hours of study for every hour of class time. I had a normal 15-hour load my first semester, which required 45 hours of study per week, making my number of hours devoted to school per week a heavy 60 hours. Calculus I, Chemistry I, Honors English Comp, Western Civ, and Psychology. I can't imagine what kind of courses would require less than that. For people who did not devote 3x the time outside of class, how did you ever manage? Were your classes so easy that they did not require extensive outside reading, study, research and writing? Was maintaining a 4.0 average not important to you?
One semester I took 21 hours, and it nearly killed me. That was French Lit II, Foundations of Math (set theory), Advanced Geometry, Honors Seminar, French Film, and methods classes for foreign language and mathematics. All of the classes required extensive time outside class. I did nothing but eat, sleep, go to class, and study that semester.
For me, college was basically a 4 year vacation. Yes, our professors would tell us that a 3 credit class would requires 9 hours of outside study. But I never needed to spend anywhere near that amount of time. Most academic subjects came naturally to me, so I never really needed to study. I would only spend time on projects and homework that was graded. What also helped was that I took a lot of AP classes in high school, so I did not have to take any weed-out classes in college. So I mostly took classes that focused on learning rather than busy work. The negative was that it caused me to be underprepared for the real world.
I think I've posted this story before: in one of my classes, the professor decided to have a review session during spring break, when the dorms were closed. I, of course, did not attend the review session. I got a B on the exam, but the professor was really mad at me. He said "You are an engineer, you have to make sacrifices". I explained that the dorms were closed, and I was living out of state. He then said that I should have either gotten a hotel room, or stayed at a friend's house, or just drove up for the day and drive back home, or spend the night in my car.
If the review session would have made a difference between me getting a D vs an F, then it would have been worth any sacrifice, and I would have done one of the options that the professor recommended. But, since it only made the difference between an A vs. a B, it was not worth it. Unfortunately for me, in the real world, you are always fighting for a D rather than an F, which is something that I never had to do. So that is why I was so underprepared for the real world.
I sooo agree with this. It's like culture shock when you have to start working. Other than homework and projects, college was so free. You just sit there, listen, and take notes. Working? Try doing the same thing and see if you still have a job.
Every major that ends up working in an office should require students to get experience working in an office before graduating to see what it's like.
I did work full time during the summer. For that reason, college was the only time in my life in which I would dread the summer, and look forward to the fall, winter, and spring.
When I realized how much the working world sucked, I naively thought that I could go to grad school and become a professor. But I did not realize that grad school sucks too. Nor did I realize that there were far more high achieving students than there are seats in PhD programs, and far more PhDs than professorships. I went into the Masters program at MIT, but I did poorly, and did not get into the PhD program, ending my chance of becoming a professor. But it was probably for the best, knowing that even if I survived the PhD program, my chances of becoming a professor would have been slim, but I would have been overqualified for any other job. I also realize that being in grad school and being a professor is not exactly the 4 year vacation that undergrad is.
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