Getting disgusted with college

[Jean24]

I went back to ASU this semester after being away for few years. I've been bouncing around from school, technical training, and work but this semester has been very frustrating.

- It's expensive and my military experience and transfer credits would not have counted for my desired field
- I'm not really learning much at all. I go to class and take lots of notes every day.
- I put in a solid effort and don't even get passing grades half of the time
- I went from leading some of my classes in Community College and Technical schools to failing and feeling miserable
- It bothers me that I put in the effort while other people party all day and do make the grade
- The student healthcare plan doesn't have anything for transsexuals
- I feel that I will have to pack up and move again if by some mixed blessing of a miracle that I'm accepted somewhere else

[Lauren5]

I'm in a similar predicament too. I find class boring and I'm unable to take notes or study, and while I feel I have a firm grasp on the subject, I should just be able to go in, take the test, pass it, and chill out, like I did in high school. The thing is, the tests are no harder, but I don't do as well on them. I don't know how my roommate can be such a party girl (and she's only mildly a party girl by MSU standards) and while the only college party I've ever been I was invited to by my dad. I'm in danger of flunking out, and nowhere else accepted me as an undergrad, so I highly, highly doubt they'll accept me as a transfer or after flunking.

I feel ya, girl. I have a plan but it's shaky at best, and involves a critical loophole I need to cross that could easily be declined. I could tell you a bit about it, if you're interested.
It happens to involve the aviation field, which I know is something we're both into.

[Kaelin]

Have you approached your instructors concerning difficulty in your classes?  If you take the initiative and ask them (or an advisor) for guidance, most of them should be interested in helping (if not providing direct help, then at least directing you to where you can what you need).  If that's not getting the job done, go up the hierarchy.

If you have tried this, I offer my sympathies.  Just because colleges and universities have a structure in place doesn't mean it'll work effectively for every well-intentioned student -- we sometimes assume that a plan is just as good as an outcome, and those plans tend to crash and burn when put to the test (especially when "unforeseen" factors like personnel/funding limitations come into play).

[Jean24]

I'm in a similar predicament too. I find class boring and I'm unable to take notes or study, and while I feel I have a firm grasp on the subject, I should just be able to go in, take the test, pass it, and chill out, like I did in high school. The thing is, the tests are no harder, but I don't do as well on them. I don't know how my roommate can be such a party girl (and she's only mildly a party girl by MSU standards) and while the only college party I've ever been I was invited to by my dad. I'm in danger of flunking out, and nowhere else accepted me as an undergrad, so I highly, highly doubt they'll accept me as a transfer or after flunking.

I feel ya, girl. I have a plan but it's shaky at best, and involves a critical loophole I need to cross that could easily be declined. I could tell you a bit about it, if you're interested.
It happens to involve the aviation field, which I know is something we're both into.

I'm very interested, can you message me?

[Jean24]

Have you approached your instructors concerning difficulty in your classes?  If you take the initiative and ask them (or an advisor) for guidance, most of them should be interested in helping (if not providing direct help, then at least directing you to where you can what you need).  If that's not getting the job done, go up the hierarchy.

If you have tried this, I offer my sympathies.  Just because colleges and universities have a structure in place doesn't mean it'll work effectively for every well-intentioned student -- we sometimes assume that a plan is just as good as an outcome, and those plans tend to crash and burn when put to the test (especially when "unforeseen" factors like personnel/funding limitations come into play).

I haven't really done that much because whenever I do it really doesn't help. One of the instructors I have covers her butt thoroughly and pretty much insists any problem that a student has is on them. She also encourages asking for help, only to tell you to get back and read her instructions when you do. I'm debating on transferring and switching my major.

[Hikari]

- I'm not really learning much at all. I go to class and take lots of notes every day.

This was absolutely my frustration with college. I ended up dropping out because no matter what assignments or lectures we got, it was nothing I didn't know or couldn't just look up. The worst was teachers who refused facts because the book didn't mention them (specifically they told me I was simply wrong and that Darwin, Mach, and none of the open source parts of Mac OSX existed because our textbook listed them as "Closed Source", no matter how much I could show the teacher straight from information at Apple, he refused to accept it at all. The book is more important than reality, apparently).

I might go back at it, but all it will be is a piece of paper, inaccurate and incomplete information abounds it seems. Just how can I pay all of this money and not even get something more than I could with a few hours on Google. I was at University of Phoenix BTW.

[Kaelin]

I can't say much about University of Phoenix other than it is an *expensive* way to get an education.  If you aren't getting much value on that, you need to attend somewhere else.  If a public college/university can meet your needs, I recommend going that route, since it'll probably cost you less.

One of the instructors I have covers her butt thoroughly and pretty much insists any problem that a student has is on them. She also encourages asking for help, only to tell you to get back and read her instructions when you do.

It sounds like they're doing it wrong.  Granted, pointing you to fulfill your end of the bargain (doing the required reading) is not unreasonable if you have not tried it already, but if the student's done/tried what they're supposed to and the desired outcome hasn't been achieved, we should investigate why.  If you can talk to someone higher in the department, that may help, but there's no guarantee.  If they're not responding, then yeah, you may not have much choice but to transfer.  But then, you also need to look where you can transfer and expect a better outcome.

As for whether you change your major, I think you should evaluate that separately, and you need to evaluate whether there is a certain major that makes you for you to transfer to.  You're giving up a little ground by changing course, so you need to have a decent reason to believe the new one would be better for you (better understanding of the material, greater enjoyment of the subject matter, better job prospects, etc) besides "the current major sucks."

[Quarky]

I feel the same about studying, but I guess that I will have to keep going if I ever want to get anywhere in this world.

[Jean24]

This was absolutely my frustration with college. I ended up dropping out because no matter what assignments or lectures we got, it was nothing I didn't know or couldn't just look up. The worst was teachers who refused facts because the book didn't mention them (specifically they told me I was simply wrong and that Darwin, Mach, and none of the open source parts of Mac OSX existed because our textbook listed them as "Closed Source", no matter how much I could show the teacher straight from information at Apple, he refused to accept it at all. The book is more important than reality, apparently).

I might go back at it, but all it will be is a piece of paper, inaccurate and incomplete information abounds it seems. Just how can I pay all of this money and not even get something more than I could with a few hours on Google. I was at University of Phoenix BTW.

That has to be frustrating. I have never experienced anything like that but everyone had a problem in HS with my math teacher's text book and she never looked at you the same if you told her about it lol. Rather than immersing you in a single problem till you knew it like the back of your hand, it would introduce you to a new concept every day and ask you 2 questions about it. Then there would be 2 questions about the new concept you had learned the day before, and 2 more about the new concept the day before that. It was all over the place.

[rbeccacross]

I hear what you are all saying and I might have a simple solution. 

I started out a community college and then after 2 years transferred up to a world renowned university.  Guess where I am now in my 4th year?  Back at the community College.  Smaller in my books is better.  At the University I had my papers marked by grad students and it was basically read the textbook and memorize it.  Last time I checked, the textbook is not always 100% correct. 

Class sizes at Universities tend to be huge.  I am back at the smaller school and I have 35 people max in a class taught by a PHD prof who actually cares if I do well or not. 

Find a school or university where teaching comes first and student research comes second. 

[Taka]

smaller classes are almost always better for learning.
i somehow ended up studying general linguistics in uni. 15 students in 1st year, half of the master students from foreign language studies. the number went down drastically on the 2nd year.

was interesting to talk to the instructors between classes. they were so enthusiastic about grammar that they always wanted to explain anything to a student, or tell what books they could find information in. and already from the 2nd year, we learned to study and analyze natural language rather than just repeating what a textbook said.

the best part was that instructors would listen to the students' ideas, and some times even ask us what we thought about a problem they were having. or just tell us what they were working on right now and all the new things they found out and...

well. smaller classes are just better for learning. find an instructor who loves their field of study, and follow them for inspiration. kind of.