Is anyone here not good at school?

[rushyrulz]

Originally Posted by Riotpolice

Im truckin through java 1 with a ton of help from my hero, rushy.

fixt.

[Vanilla Mnm]

You guys make me feel much better

[samurai7694]

*long post*

tbh I'm kinda working my ass off this last year of high school because I'm missing a half credit of English III and a whole credit of American History from last school year, as well as failing two classes that I have now because of laziness. In fact, I might not even graduate until August (2 months after official graduation day which is June 4th for my school).

It really isn't a big deal for me what day I graduate, as long as I get it over with and make my parents proud I guess. Last year I didn't do well on those courses because instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing, I skipped a lot (about 40 class days missed in total), did drugs, felt depressed, went to the hospital for therapy last year in October, to the point where I thought school was pointless.

It's never too late for anything, so instead of worrying about being "part of the crowd", I'm staying strong and continuing with my school schedule as well as trying to accomplish virtual school at home to get the credits I need, however long it takes.

ALSO, watch out for teachers who make homework like, 60% of your ****ing grade...boy did that bite me in the ass hard....

[Cavernio]

Community college or a trade school is a great place to go, especially if you actually bother training for something that's in demand, which you should be able to do.
All arts university degrees are worthless in terms of getting a job.

Also, although I do have a bachelor's degree, I dropped out before I made it anywhere.

[A2P]

There are people here that think going to community college means you're a retard.

[Bynary Fission]

Guess I'm kind of echoing the sentiments of other people here, but anybody who thinks community colleges is for losers and failures is an idiot. Now I acknowledge that I didn't care much for high school - my grades could have been better (3.4 or so), and my SATs were nothing special or exceptional. But honestly, unless you are trying to graduate in a field like law or medicine going to a top university for a 2-year or even 4-year degree doesn't do anything except give you six figures of debt for a similar quality education. In essence, you are just buying the name. IMO, paying 200K to say I graduated from Harvard of Yale isn't worth 20 years of repaying student loans.

I got a damn good education at my community college (Valencia, one of the best in the country). I graduated without debt (thanks to Pell Grants), gained a meaningful education and got my Associates degree at 17 with a 3.74 GPA - among the top in my class. Plus, it guaranteed admission to my local university (University of Central Florida, or UCF), where I am currently achieving identical grades as I work towards my 4-year. I plan on graduating by the end of the year. Same quality education as the elite universities, with but virtually no debt.

I absolutely loved my time at the college I attended - the teachers were fantastic, the curriculum was pretty challenging and the students were infinitely more intelligent and mature than my high school counterparts, who mocked and derided me for being the bookish, academic type with an eye for future success. And at the university I'm attending, the situation is the same. Definitely worth passing up an elite university for my path (I am majoring in Political Science, later going into macroeconomics and American history).

[Hazelle]

I'm going to a community college here - it's just as good as any other college. The professors I have are excellente!
Anyway, if it helps, I'm failing a class right now that I need for *gasp* GRADUATION. Uh -oh. I'm planning on graduating at the end of this semester, and if I don't get that grade up, I'm ****ed. I'll have to redo this whole semester in the fall. That'll suck, won't it?
So don't feel too bad!! Life has its ups and downs. Sometimes you just gotta work even harder than you're already working to get back up again.

[fido123]

I don't know how things work in the U.S. but in Canada there are a lot of education snobs at least that I know. I go to College (in Canada College is more applied and University is academic) for something I love and employable, and if I maybe went to summer school once or took an extra semester I'd be able to go to University for Computer Science but you have to do two years of various math and stuff before you even touch a computer and that's just not for me. I've had countless people scoff when I tell them I go to College while they brag about their worthless Physiology degrees in their label whore clothes. Honestly when it comes down to it you don't have to go to College, or University. My current boss dropped out of College first semester from my same program and he's making loads of money as a computer consultant without any kind of post-secondary diploma/degree. You just need to be intelligent and motivated.

Also I fail a lot of classes because I'm a lazy **** and tend to scrape by doing the minimum. High School was the same.

[Wineandbread]

I basically agree with what leonid said. On the flip side, people who do well in school/want to appear intelligent tend to flaunt it more than others

And community college isn't a bad thing for sure, it's hella better than trying to find a job with a GED or a high school diploma xd

That being said, people who lump community college together with better universities have it pretty wrong imo; you will almost certainly get a significantly better education at somewhere like Princeton or Harvard than a community college. The reputation of the schools are typically maintained for a reason, and their reputation also helps when it comes to finding jobs (the companies that go to CMU for hiring computer science students is incredible, I imagine it's a similar case for places like MIT). However, I will add that not all professors at higher-tier universities know how to teach well, or even want to teach (for the engineering department here, professors are hired only for their ability to research, ability to teach is irrelevant).

There are definitely perks to being in 'upper-tier' universities; whether or not it's worth the debt that accumulates is another matter entirely.

Don't let school discourage you from what you like doing though. I have friends who are having the time of their lives in college right now, and they are studying things that interest them: one of my friends is studying video game design and he'll tell me interesting stories all the time about his classes and assignments; on the other hand I have friends here studying computer science that insist on pulling their hair out doing OS assignments, but are so eager for gr9 internships over the summer and beyond.

If you are interested in pursuing a certain job/career, school won't necessarily stop you from getting there if you are motivated enough and work hard at it (sure helps though usually). But I feel like if you're purposefully not caring about school, you're just setting unnecessary obstacles in the way.

[awein999]

Hardly lifted a finger for school. Hated it. Quit my sophomore year of college.

[One Winged Angel]

4th year Honours Commerce student here, haven't been enjoying what I'm learning as of late so my grades have taken a bit of a dip (nothing too drastic though). Originally I wanted to take the music route and begin playing piano professionally, but my parents urged me to get at least an undergrad in some sort of non-music as a backup.

In high school, I was a massive keener (93+ in everything, 100 in a few math courses lol). Now most of my grades are high 70s/low 80s, which is still fairly high considering the averages of some of my courses. To be honest, getting good grades in school isn't nearly as important as ultimately getting the certification, as most employers aren't going to be looking at your transcripts. As long as you obtain some sort of degree related to the career field you wish to work in, you'll most likely be safe in securing a type of job you want.

Obviously if you lack a degree in the field of work you're interested in, those that have one may have the upper hand during the initial job search. But once you land your first 'real' job, future employers will focus much less on post-secondary education and much more on your work experience as credentials for the job.

tl;dr - feel free to slack off in school unless your future job requires ridic high grades for entry level positions. If you know what you want to do with your life and you think you'd be good at doing it, you're probably good to go.

[UnkownMan]

I'm too cool for the school.

[Hazelle]

Originally Posted by One Winged Angel

4th year Honours Commerce student here, haven't been enjoying what I'm learning as of late so my grades have taken a bit of a dip (nothing too drastic though). Originally I wanted to take the music route and begin playing piano professionally, but my parents urged me to get at least an undergrad in some sort of non-music as a backup.

In high school, I was a massive keener (93+ in everything, 100 in a few math courses lol). Now most of my grades are high 70s/low 80s, which is still fairly high considering the averages of some of my courses. To be honest, getting good grades in school isn't nearly as important as ultimately getting the certification, as most employers aren't going to be looking at your transcripts. As long as you obtain some sort of degree related to the career field you wish to work in, you'll most likely be safe in securing a type of job you want.

Obviously if you lack a degree in the field of work you're interested in, those that have one may have the upper hand during the initial job search. But once you land your first 'real' job, future employers will focus much less on post-secondary education and much more on your work experience as credentials for the job.

tl;dr - feel free to slack off in school unless your future job requires ridic high grades for entry level positions. If you know what you want to do with your life and you think you'd be good at doing it, you're probably good to go.

Idk if giving the advice of "slacking off" is a good idea. Students should put full effort into every class they take, and try to take an interest in it. Sure, you will have to cut out 4 hours or whatever of your free time outside of school a day, but it's totally worth it to get those good grades. It feels SO GOOD to get an A or B, and to find out after all that hard work, you got on the dean's list! Don't waste your student loans and time just to scrape by your college years, put those years to use!
Even if the classes aren't exactly toward what your major is in, you should still try your best. Electives and filler classes make you a more intelligent person, and hey, you may discover a class or subject that you're even more interested than what you're majoring toward! Who knows.
Besides, to get good grades mean you understand the material well and are competent enough to get hired with full confidence in the workforce!
TL;DR: Don't slack - it feels so good to get good grades. Put effort in the time and $$ you use to get in school.

[pmonibuv1]

Hmmm. I'm the kind of student that puts enough work in school to get an average grade. I don't do all the extra work to get the high 90's that i'm "supposed" to be getting so I always end up with mid 70's to mis 80's as final grades. I'd say i'm not too good at school but more of the average student. But anyway, i'm predicting a tough time in my later years @__@

[Poison-]

I hate school, but I know that to have the kind of life I want to have in the future, I have to go to University, and to get into University I need to have good grades. I slacked off in my earlier high school years and I'm paying for it now. But my grades at the moment are amazing and I plan on keeping them that way.

[One Winged Angel]

Originally Posted by Hazelle

Idk if giving the advice of "slacking off" is a good idea.

I never advised anyone to slack off, nor did I suggest or insinuate that slacking off will put you in some sort of advantageous position in the future. I said "feel free to", as again, most employers aren't going to be looking at your transcripts after providing your degree or certification. Unless you're in the top 0.1% (or perhaps an even smaller percentage), chances are you're not going to be headhunted by some company during post-secondary education, which puts everyone graduating with an average anywhere between 60-80% (maybe even closer to 90% on the upper bound) on an almost level playing field post-graduation.

If you have the intelligence and diligence to set aside enough time to graduate with top marks at a reputable post-secondary institution, all the power to you and congrats. Otherwise, put in the effort to do reasonably well and don't stress out. Better to enjoy yourself during these years than waste them trying to increase your grades by 5-10% when there's a very likely chance that the increase in grade percentage will have absolutely no effect on your future.

[Poison-]

I agree with you for the most part OWA, but those 5-10% on your grades could be the difference of a great deal of money in terms of scholarships.

[Reincarnate]

Incoming brutal truths:

The world is unfair and oftentimes skewed in favor of the haves over the have-nots.

I went to an Ivy League uni and I can tell you from experience that most of my peers came from very well-off families. It's easier to get ahead when your family is loaded, and if you're not loaded, you need supportive/intelligent parents. If you're like me and had neither, then you probably know how hard it is to focus on your studies when you simply don't have a good support network. I grew up with a lot of physical/emotional abuse, tons of unfair rules, no school help, nobody to confide in, nobody to get encouragement from, no financial support, etc -- couldn't get my parents to drive me to EC activities. Had to apply to my colleges in secret. Most kids in my situation don't end up as lucky as I am right now. The type of school you go to is usually very heavily correlated with the education/intelligence level of your parents, and that's not something any of us have control over.

So I don't see community college as a bad thing. You don't need an upper-tier education or gobs of money to be happy, although there is something to be said for having financial security. Having security is not the same as being rich -- it's about being responsible with money. When you earn a paycheck, do you blow 90% of it on stupid shit or do you save it? Do you live below your means or are you living from paycheck to paycheck? You'd be surprised at how much more money you have at your disposal when you take the time to really list out your expenses and work out an optimization scheme. What *will* make you miserable is being broke.

What will matter more than anything is intellectual drive, skills, responsible decision-making, and attitude.

OWA: Telling people it's OK to slack off is horrible advice lmfao.

[One Winged Angel]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

What will matter more than anything is intellectual drive, skills, responsible decision-making, and attitude.

OWA: Telling people it's OK to slack off is horrible advice lmfao.

Assuming you possess what's bolded, I don't see what's wrong with what I said. A by-product of getting better grades is an increase in the skills above. I'm talking solely about what your grades are gonna do for you in the future.

There's a bunch of kids in my program that eat, sleep, and breathe their studies. Hey, they're engaged, good for them. But they have absolutely no social lives whatsoever. Most of these keeners are averaging low-mid 80s, and quite a few of them have never held a job outside of school (which teaches you a fuckload about time management and responsibility, looks better on a resume, and preps you for your future career). I could understand them if they needed to be putting in 5-6 hours a day to pull their marks and if they didn't, they'd dip to below 60. But that's not the case.

Put in a solid hour or two a day and you should be good to go. Maybe you guys are overestimating the grade gap or something. If your best work potential is an 88 with 4-5 hours of work a day and you're currently pulling 75-80 with 1-2 hours of work a day, that's fine imho. Don't slack off to the point of going from a potential 88 to sub 60s. That's not slacking off, that's doing nothing.

[Reincarnate]

Grades open doors. Not having the grades mean you have to compensate elsewhere.