r/CollegeRant

...it is insanity to expect me to read 200 pages of a 19th century novel in 2 days, then the last 100 pages in another 2 days, etc. alongside lengthy discussion posts, 3x/week quizzes, weekly exams, etc.

I'm saying this as an English-focused major. I love reading! I loved this class! It was so incredibly interesting and I loved the texts my professor has chosen! But I physically CANNOT read that fast! I work a full time job during the summer and got as ahead as I could but then I was barely keeping up 😭 And as soon as I'm barely finished with the first book it's time to read the first 200 pages of the next book.

I'm just complaining honestly. The course is over now. It wasn't particularly hard, just insane pacing. My only saving grace was that the prof dropped the lowest 3 quizzes and discussion posts so my last week I just played catchup and didn't turn anything in and still got an A. But it was draining.

I’m 23 from the US and just finished a 5-week study abroad in Japan. Now that it has completed, I’m going to start my job. At a glance everything seems great, and I acknowledge that, however, this post is more about my mental state and the realization that I feel I have “wasted” both my high school and especially college years.

These past 5 weeks have genuinely been the best time of my life. The fact that is is Japan is part of it, but the main reason is the relationships that I have formed with both the few people that went with me from my school, and the students at the Japanese school that I have been studying at.

Throughout my 5 years of college, I have commuted. The drive was only about 20-30 minutes, so I felt it was smart to do in order to save money. I still think this way, but in terms of social relationships, it has been a disaster and I am finally accepting that and not pushing it to the side. Outside of groups that last a semester, I have not made one college friend. I never went to any parties, hung out with anyone, did any sports, or joined any clubs. I simply went to class and went home.

I think the only thing that helped me was the few online friends I have and my supportive family. 

However, after going from 5 years of that to having the best 5 weeks of my life surrounding by people and doing both fun things and just hanging out, I now have realized what I have missed out on and it’s hitting me hard. Also, the relationships I formed during the study abroad were very natural. I would not call myself awkward at all, but I am definitely introverted and somewhat quiet, though I feel this experience has helped me grow out of my shell a decent amount.

Now that I am graduated and beginning to work, I feel it will be even harder to have experiences such as this study abroad. I am incredibly grateful that I did it, but I feel it’s hard not to feel even more lonely than if I had been ignorant to possibilities of such relationships with people and not gone at all. I acknowledge this would only have delayed the realization, but now that I have accepted it, I am confused as to what to do next.

In college, even though I clearly did not take advantage of it, you are surrounded by people the same age as you and moving from that I just need help on the right direction to go in now that I won’t have that anymore.

Another aspect of this is that everyone I was with during this trip, both students from my school and the Japanese school are not graduating. Most of them are 2nd and 3rd which makes me feel even more isolated as they will be able to go back to their college relationships while I will be trying to figure myself out in the real world.

Overall, my biggest needs for advice is 

1. How to deal with the loneliness after the temporary pause from it

2. How to come to terms with the fact I feel I wasted my teens and early 20s in terms of in person social relationships

3. How to move forward to have experiences and relationships similar to that of my study abroad.

I am not looking to replicate the feelings of the study abroad, just to move forward socially at least a little bit.

Also, I understand that apart from this, I am doing well for the most part. I am very grateful to have a job, to have a caring family, and to not have any financial burden. I do not want to sound so pessimistic in that sense, but after 9 years of high school and college loneliness, I have finally been shown the joy of in person social relationships, and I really want to do all that I can to help myself achieve that consistently in my life.

I'm 21, about to fail my first class (a thesis subject, pre-req to 4 other chain subjects) after having done well in the past 2 years. Supposedly, I only have 4 terms or a year and 3 months left (tri-sem), but I might need to extend a year or two because of the failed class.

I can't help but feel like a failure. I know it's 'normal', buy I feel so alone in this while my batch is doing well, and it also hurts to think that I'll still be in school when my friends graduate. I feel like I'm wasting time. It's affecting me mentally and emotionally, I'm losing motivation to work in other classes.

Any advice, or any words or stories you can share?

I don’t know what to do. I started so strong in my first year, and I joined so many clubs and started working on campus now during my second year I’m trying to carry on being strong like that. But my grades have been in a landslide.

So some background info: I’m trying to get a 3.7 GPA to apply for scholarships abroad (I don’t know the language of my home country so I can’t stay here, everyday is a humiliation ritual and I’ll never find permanent work off campus)

Last semester I got a 3.4 GPA because a war broke out in my country and we had to switch to online and it’s so unfair. They gave us the option to switch to pass/fail but it’s worse to have that to for major classes than to just take the low GPA. At this point I’d realized I was doing too much so I reduced club work, work hours, etc and took a mental health break after the semester was over.

Now we have the summer semester in person (Data Structures for Comp Sci), and today I took the midterm for what is arguably my most important class, and I missed all the easy questions. I’m so exhausted. I knew I had to review the specific easy sections but I didn’t have time and I can’t afford a B+ in this class because it’s one of the most important for my major. That’ll be a 3.3, bringing my GPA down even more.

My grades are by no means bad but they’re my saving grace to escaping this hellish country and my language barrier. I study fully in English so it’s easier but idk what I’m doing wrong. I know the classes are harder but I feel so burnt out and tired all the time, there’s so much family and work stuff I have to do on the side.

Any advice? I need to be more organized and study better :(

Well, we are probably used to reading this, but this course I'm taking really sucks for the following reasons:

1. We don't get a lecture (of course) and instead get the slides for every module. The slides are SO VAGUE.
2. We only get three reading materials for each module - usually a few pages from a book, a website page we are supposed to browse through, and a video. NONE OF THOSE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ASSIGNMENTS, though.
3. For the exams, the professor said that everything (slides, links to websites, readings) are going to be included. However, the exam asked very specific questions that WERE NOT in the readings.

So anyways, I did horribly in the exam, because I'm sorry if I didn't know that I was supposed to learn. The course is very history-heavy, and in addition to the useless readings, we get a list of learning objectives that we are supposed to research on our own.

For one of the exams, I tried to do as much research as I could since it seems that about 50% of this course is about that, learning on your own. Still, I did pretty badly because I did not memorize the names of certain Nazis or people who signed this or that treaty.

What I don't understand is, if you expect me to learn VERY specific questions (names, years, etc), why aren't the learning objectives more specific? So that I can at least focus my research a little more. Telling me that I need to learn about how the extermination camps in WWII worked just to then test me on whether or not I remember the name of the three Nazi douche bags who were part of the The Wannsee Conference is wild.

I'll just fail this class because I'm literally not good at memorizing every single piece of information and I'm not a mind reader. I'm usually a good student, and I really engaged in classes. I love to learn new things. But this course? This feels like manufactured learning. Super unrealistic.

I worked so hard my first 3 years. I’m about to go into my last year of college and I literally cannot see myself working hard and getting good grades. I’m also dreading the fact that I also have to apply to grad school during that last year. I don’t want to spoil my years of hard work but also I’m literally so done w school.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but there’s nothing in this world I despise more than college. It’s genuinely painful for me to study every single day for hours without end. But If I don’t do this, there’s no way I can pass. So I just spend all of my days in agony, sadness and almost disgust.

I wish I could just take some medicine that takes away all of my feelings so I can get through this.

(Please don’t tell me to drop out, because that’s not possible)

so i registered for a chem lab that starts at 8:00 am 😀 it’s on tuesday and i also have a hybrid sociology course that day, along with chem recitation at 5:00 that day.

it has 2 professors. one of them is rated really well, but the other has:

- two 5 star ratings

- one 3 star rating

- one 1 star rating

on rmp for my school. he’s also taught at some other schools too but the reviews for those are very mixed.. some ppl like him, others don’t. he seems average and some rated him only 1 or 2 stars.

the other only options i have are at 7:30 pm, on thursday. there is also a monday one at the same time. there is only one professor for each, the one who was rated very well.

both fit in my schedule, but i’m just scared because it’s so late. when i get home i feel like i wont have enough energy to do hw/study. for either the monday or thursday one, the next day i would have classes starting at 11.

if i stick with my tuesday 8 am, my final class on monday ends at 2:50, so id say i may have a decent amount of time to study/do hw and hopefully sleep early, that is if i dont take any naps during the day 💀

there are so many seats are open for these while no seats are left for my 8 am so if i switch i hope im not making a mistake!! any opinions? if you really stuck by to analyze everything you’re the best 😭

I do know that obviously I will have to sit and wait until the ban gets lifted. I got wind of the news today and couldn't believe it. So much effort, even dual enrollment and early admission, applying for scholarships and preping down the drain. I am sure I am not elegible so there is really not room to fight for.

Tbh I am probably just posting this to bent and maybe empathize if anyone is in the same boat. And see if anyone has any miraculously good news of "well x group is suing and that won't likely last long."

IDK. I ma sorry if you are in the same boat. Stay strong.

I’m 24 for context.

I’m currently studying Criminal Justice online with a concentration in cyber crime. I feel like I’m failing completely. I completely failed fall semester. Barely made it out of spring semester and almost withdrew I can’t keep up with the online structure of courses these days plus I’m currently on academic probation. I was trying to get into my local four year university for in-person courses but that failed because of my recent gpa downfall, despite my overall gpa still being a 2.3. I was doing well back during the covid era with online courses. Idk what happened. It feels like I don’t really have connections with other online students these days. It’s harder trying to get help with professors. I honestly don’t know. When I was earning my associate’s in business straight out of high school, those days were easier. I just want the in-person structure back.

This is why trying to get into one of my local technical colleges and start from the bottom. My current options are Forensic Lab Tech at one tech college *I’m honestly leaning towards that* or cybersecurity at another separate tech college. I just feel like FLT aligns more with what I want to do. I want to go into forensics or investigation in general. Plain Criminal Justice just doesn’t feel right to me. I also understand that some agencies and other employers want more specialized degrees rather than CJ. I feel lost. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing at this point. What would you do in my situation?

I attend an online university that drops students from class if no assignments are completed by the end of the week (Sunday 11:59 PM EST). My first assignment was due today at 11:59 PM EST. I had logged in today to complete my assignment, which would have been turned in well before that time, yet my class was not appearing on my dashboard. I was confused at first and assumed it was a glitch until I checked my email.

I got an email at around 10 AM EST reminding me of the deadline, as well as a reminder at the end stating I needed to submit a graded assignment before Sunday 11:59 PM EST to avoid being dropped. I received another email less than three hours later staying I had been suspended due to not submitting my assignment on time — the assignment that was due today at 11:59 PM EST.

Since I'm on the West Coast, by the time I noticed, admissions was closed. I sent an email and left a voicemail, and I will be following up tomorrow regardless of whether I receive a callback. Other than that, I am at a loss. I don't understand why I was dropped well before the first assignment deadline, and other than complaining to admissions, I don't know what to do.

Any and all advice welcome, I am beyond livid and stressed.

This is more like a vent. I am really upset and just need to write this down.

I failed histology last semester. Took a special exam and didn't make it. My friends comforted me and I ended up accepting it is normal to fail specially on your first ever college semester.

Took the class again this semester, but this time, I actually tried. I studied a lot for my finals and still didn't get a decent final grade. Somehow I did worse than last time. The special exam is next week and I am already so anxious. I can't stop crying with the possibility of having to retake this AGAIN.

I feel so dumb. I am not confident I will get enough to pass. I will torture my soul trying to study even more, but oh dude, how discouraging this is. I feel absolutely stupid seeing classmates that didn't have to retake anything until now. Feels like such a waste of time. I am still really young (19) but I can't help but worry how late I am gonna be to graduation.

I've been miserable for the past three hours so what have I got to lose

I got a 9/20 on my two most important exams and I am fucking pissed. I am confused and angry and sad and everything more. I thought I was done with them. I thought this summer would be easy-going and chill. Now I will spend the next two months pissed off to go through those 7 hours and two orals again, and if I fail them I will be kicked out of my studies. I don't want anything else I want THESE STUDIES. One of them, fine but BOTH? I am so angry, and especially about that oral exam. IT WENT PERFECTLY SO HOW-WHY THE FUCK DID I GET 9.5 ?!

Me and my fam are going shopping tomorrow, not in the mood anymore. I have a party tomorrow, too depressed to fake that i want to go anymore, I can't write or read or talk without feeling dead inside.

I feel like screaming and hating my teachers but I don't. I'm just terrified that I'm not good enough for my course but it's either this or death. I do not and will never love anything else. So I have to do more. Gain discipline. Did I study perfectly? No, but I did study. And it breaks my heart that it's not enough. And if I study 150% and give it my soul- and still fail- I'm so scared of what that says about me.

My friends will probably say 'Oh but 9 is alright' it's not. A nine means that I will have to go through it all again, my worst june case scenario happened. I seriously thought I would get ten. I told everyone 'i might get 9 but i really think i'll get 10 honestly' me saying i might 9 was just me being pessimistic. I'm sad and furious and fucking pissed off that i actually got 9, as if it would have killed them to give me 10. 9.5 even though the second part went perfectly, it's so fucking unfair. Where the hell did they find 10.5 points to take off? Why do university teachers take pride in their unfairness. I was there, I didn’t deserve to fail my oral exam. I did good. Taking off barely half a point was fucking mean and cruel and selfish. And I want to say that to my teacher when i see her but what would it change except maybe her getting a negative opinion on me.

I am genuinely so sad that I already cried twice. Those two classes were already classes that I was repeating, they are like mountains that for some reason I can't get through and it makes me want to cry

So....you mean to tell me that your pompous ass thinks you're such a badass because you stand in front of a class and take 2-3 hours to read a damn power point presentation? The same presentation that takes me 5 minutes (or less) to read (and absorb)? And you only put like 2 sentences on each slide, making the entire presentation 50 pages when it can be compressed to like 1 or 2 pages. Yeah, let's just waste all the paper on the planet.

This same shit can be learned by just reading the textbook. In 2-3 hours I can read a chapter in the textbook and learn way more shit than what the professor actually teaches in class.

On top of that, everything nowadays is literally spoon fed to the students. And not only spoon fed, but they waste the time playing a game of airplane like you're a fucking toddler, like how your mother pretends that the spoon is an airplane and she's swirling it around in front of your fucking face wasting time instead of just sticking it in your mouth. Yeah....let's just waste time spoon feeding all the students. On top of being spoon fed, they give you the most ridiculous busy work that takes hours to do at home that doesn't teach you anything instead of just letting you study the material.

Every time I have suggested to my current professor that there should be an online lecture and in class lab, she looks at me as if I have just murdered someone. I explain I'm ADHD and I can pay attention better at home and I can save gas and time considering the campus is a fucking HOUR away from my home, but no, she insists that in person "lectures" are better for asking questions and "engaging". Bitch your lectures are so boring and UNengaging. Bitch I can ask questions during your office hours, I can email you, I can call you, or I can ask questions after your shitty lecture before I go home. I don't need "interaction" with my "peers." Most of the people ask stupid questions that are answered if they would just read the damn textbook. Or they ask stupid questions that can be answered if they just read the 2 sentences on each power point slide.

My other professor, her lectures are so unorganized and her power point presentations are even more unorganized. I had to use AI to make outlines for that class, those outlines were WAY BETTER and it was the only way I learned anything in that class. She jumps around from topic to unrelated topic and her power point slides consist of pathetic cartoons with no explanations. This bitch brags about writing "so many" research papers. Bitch you can write a research paper but you can't even organize your lectures and lecture material in an understanding way.

My general chem 1 professor back in 2022 told us, "These calculations are VERY important and most of you are in trouble based on the grades you all got on the last exam." BITCH none of these useless math problems are PRACTICAL in the real world, you're not teaching SHIT that's important. This asshole also spent the whole lecture plagiarizing a power point presentation without actually teaching anything.

My gen chem 2 professor on the other hand was actually cool and told us that we won't need to know any of this shit unless we go on to take upper division physical chemistry. Even he himself thought the class was bullshit. His exams were online, at home, and unproctored, so everyone cheated on those exams and got A's.

My organic chem professor was pretty cool, he actually taught the material, didn't have power point slides, and didn't have any homework, but instead, he offered "recommended problems" which were problems in the textbook. There was no anxiety about having to turn in homework or do any busy work assignments. I could do the homework in a relaxed state instead of having anxiety just to finish it. I learned more in that class than any other stem class I took.

Anyway, I'm sick of these damn pompous professors who think they're god's gift to the academia when they don't actually do anything important, spoon feed lecture material like you're a toddler, and give too much busy work that doesn't teach anything except to hate college.

It seems really easy for most but I’m no artist and that’s probably why I’m not getting full points on my assignment.

Most of my assignments so far my professor marks it a 0 and asks for me to redo the whole thing because of small tedious details. Like I said I’m not an artist and I genuinely read the assignment instructions but his feedback is so critical over minor details like adjusting the lighting and adding more stuff.

Bruh just give me half credit or something for the instructions I did follow. He dramatically gives me a whole zero and wants me to spend another day to fix the entire thing.

I get this what school is all about and I shouldn’t complain if I’m getting these second chances to fix my work after feedback but I’m just so exhausted seeing negative comments.

This why I didn’t want to major in art. Idk how you art students don’t lose your mind and sanity over other people’s feedback. Im not build for this.

Give me a calculator and let me solve an integral, at least I’ll never get that sh*t wrong.

Hello, Im not sure what to do. Im in Bioengineering. Ive failed all my classes my first semester except 1 credit hour with an A+, second semester is withdrew from 1, another is currently an incomplete, and i passed the others. This summer semester im currently failing both. I had a full ride, now my aid for next year has come out and i would owe 20k because I lost all my scholarships. I am not failing because I cant understand the content or anything, I just cant bring my self to care to do it, even though I know im uterlly stupid for not. At the same time I care sooo much, I feel like ill die everytime I think about my classes im failing or what I will do to stay enrolled. I am diagnosed ADHD and MDD as of last spring semester, but i dont know how much or if that is contributing, i think i might just be idioticlly lazy mabey. I dont think I can tell my parents at all, ive been lying to them all this time that im doing great in school, because if im not im not i think they will be extremely angry. My mom will just be disappointed, but my dad has violent outbursts, and im sure this will cause one. Also I dont want to dissapoint them as they call me their favorite, and I know thats vapid and stupid but I don't want to lose that. High school was the same but I never failed. Freshman year I only went to 11% of my classes, but still passes with 1 C, As, and Bs, because teachers accepted late work. Sophomore year I had 100% attendance and perfect grades, this is the only year where I wasent in AP classes, advanced, or science pathways, I was im a law enforcement pathway. Junior and Senior year I had all APs and around 30% attendance but all A's because I swindled with doctors notes where I faked illnesses with my mom to turn in work late. Im trying to see how I can recreate my Sophomore year, and the only thing is I had less too do in terms of homework and I was more happy with clubs everyday untill 6-8pm. My junior and senior year i had wrestling keeping me out as late or later, but no real improvement to attendance. Ive been thinking I might join the fire department or military cuz thats what I did closest in Sophomore year, but Id have to keep it hidden from my parents, and live in my car when im supposed to be in my dorm. Any advice yall i feel so stupid yet nothing about this at the same time? Idk if im built for school.