college sucks

[Firestorm]

I disagree on the group projects thing. Working together with groups is a necessary skill considering there aren't many situations after post-secondary where you'll be working alone. Of course all group projects should come with a mandatory anonymous peer evaluation so those who didn't do shit can be identified for whoever marks it.

I love team projects and do quite a bit of them due to the type of program in them.

 

[Surgo]

But for things like Economics, Humanities, and so many more, the "formal" education really helps. It's probably the case where Computer Science hasn't developed itself quite yet to be as real as you might want it to be.

It really more depends on the person than the discipline. I have never needed formal education to learn economics; that's something that I can (and have) easily teach myself out of a book. Advanced mathematics, on the other hand, I have a bit more difficulty with and am glad for the formal education.

 

[Tangerine]

and the expectation that you'll listen to hours of lectures and submit necessarily contrived assignments periodically, causing you to focus more on gaming the system to improve your grades rather than actual learning

I don't think I have ever found one of my assignments to be "contrived", but I guess that's just a difference in experience and how I view things. Yes, there are people in my classes or at my school in general who are just in it to "get a good grade so they can get a job", rather than learning for the sake of learning and challenging themselves, but their presence doesn't take away from my experience at all.

You can often learn from assignments, but it's not efficient at all, and usually doesn't take into account the differences in the way people learn best.

The only way you'd get that is through "tutoring" or if you get a mentor or something. But the idea is that by the time you're at college, you're either exploring to find out what is the best for you (IE, figuring out which major fits your "way you learn" the best) or you already know how you think and will select courses accordingly.

It's probably not a matter of time before the system develops itself to my liking; the shittiness is due to fundamental issues with the college education model, namely that education programs are designed to satisfy the needs of the average student, as is economical for the schools.

I guess then I should be happy that I'm a pretty good school - "the level of the average student" really is just higher around here I guess =/ One more reason *for* getting into a top tier college

However, perhaps this would all be fine and dandy if there wasn't a widely held view that a degree makes you more of a worthy hire.

I've pretty much convinced myself that most companies are too dumb and fast paced to look anything past your GPA or how you dress for your interview - it's a system that they have accepted and I do find it sad, but I guess it is "efficient".

I have never needed formal education to learn economics; that's something that I can (and have) easily teach myself out of a book.

Of course you can learn all the "Intro" level stuff out of a book - in fact there are published books that are "best sellers" that do that too. All I'll tell you is that once you start applying partial derivatives to everything "just to *help* get an intuition on what is going on" I really doubt I could have learned that by myself - the little subtleties that I probably would have never thought of. But yes, I guess since Economics is more about intuition, you can learn a good portion of it by reading it.

Same with Humanities - You can just spend your life away reading books without critically thinking about them about 'what they mean'. A little guidance is always helpful.

 

[metalScyther]

honestly OP, you just need to harden the fuck up

your parents pay for your school and your other shit and you are bitching about it? come on. they are paying for you to have the best time of your life

seriously, you can do so many things at college.

learn new things, earn a major, participate in sporting events, go fucking nuts at school events(ever hear about mirror lake night at ohio state? yeah, i fucking jumped in last night), exercise, drink, meet girls, learn how to sustain yourself in social situations that you'll need when you start interviewing, do drugs, get good grades, join a fraternity, find a good girl, own a house with friends, have parties, BETTER YOURSELF!!!!

honestly, there are so many things you can do at college that you never can again 98% of the people saying "college is stupid" won't be making near as much money as i am when i'm out of college. you need a fucking college education in this day unless you are pursuing some obscure interest. and maybe you are doing that. but seriously. just man the fuck up.

you can bitch about "meeeeeeh math is gay lol pokemon" all you want, but how the fuck can you not want to better yourself through your studies? my biggest passion in life is learning new things, and while i agree that engineering can be really hard(I was in it for awhile before I switched to actuarial science), you just need to learn to have an appreciation for the sciences. put a little effort in it and it's not as bad as you think.

learning and having experiences is will make you a BETTER MAN, and make you MORE ATTRACTIVE TO WOMEN

not all women want unemotional drunken sex. okay, a few of them have, and sometimes i like to oblige with them. but just like you, i'm also looking for "the one" and they WILL come in time if you just get yourself out there. you'll more likely meet your woman at college than at your parents house anyway.

the idea that someone can bitch about having complete freedom to do with there life WHATEVER they want...is baffling. get outside of your house, walk around, and live life.

and not to play the good college card, because i know ohio state isn't THAT big of shit, but seriously, unless your going to a really prestigious school, it's not that hard or you just aren't very smart. it feels SO bad to go home at christmas with my 3.2 and have all my friends from high school from university of toledo or wright state(hahahahahaha) brag about their 4.0s in Communication studies

 

[Bourbon]

(I was in it for awhile before I switched to actuarial science)

If you had read anything other than the OP you would realize that I have done the exact same thing... I switched majors, and I'm still going to the same college, having a good time.