OT: Its Great to be a Michigan Wolverine but...

Submitted by rbgoblue on

Sometimes being a student really sucks...

Here's to an 8:00 AM Exam!

HermosaBlue

December 17th, 2009 at 1:10 PM ^

Nothing like sneaking up on the wrong side of 8am after months of work culminating in marathon worksessions running multiple all-nighters negotiating term sheets and definitive documentation for acquisitiions.

Yeah, bankers and lawyers get paid for this, but it's still exhausting, painful, excruciating. Getting paid helps.

NickUmich

December 17th, 2009 at 3:57 AM ^

I still remember walking to my first final at 7:30am in 2000. It was so damn cold that morning...probably close to 0 degrees with bad wind chill...and I had to walk from the Hill to Angel Hall. I felt like I was going to freeze to death. I was so happy to get there in one piece that I didn't care that I lost the A I had in my Calculus III class by totally screwing up the final. I hope for your sake that you don't have to make a similar journey. Good luck on the exam!

rbgoblue

December 17th, 2009 at 4:02 AM ^

I have a Diff Eq. final tomorrow morning. Hopefully your experience from Calc III isn't a bad omen or anything. I'm writing a paper for my upper level Chemistry class, due at noon. Its been an amazing 3.5 years to date, its just times like these that really put a damper on that college experience.

I'm sure someday I'll look back on these days and miss them tho...

NickUmich

December 17th, 2009 at 4:16 AM ^

I also complained a lot that college (the actual classes) was getting in the way of my college experience. But I definitely miss even the days where I had to study for hours on end. I'm sure you will too.

I am still bitter at George Stokes for coming up with Stokes' Theorem though. That Calc III theorem was the death of me that cold December, 2000 day. I always fucked that one up. And just my luck, that was like 40% of the final that day.

NickUmich

December 17th, 2009 at 6:38 PM ^

I hope you survived. When I took the final, there was only supposed to be one section on Stokes' theorem (~20% of the final). Instead, there was a whole second section on it...it was almost half the test. I was so pissed cause it was the only thing in the class I struggled on. God I hate Stokes. And yeah, fuck Stokes.

DoubleMs

December 17th, 2009 at 4:27 AM ^

Ended that sentence incorrectly. Clearly you do not know the difference between '.' and 'but...'

Allow me to help.

"I slept with your mom, but..." has an implied connotation that perhaps nothing happened, whereas "I slept with your mom." is a steadfast statement of fact.

Oh, and tell her to call me.

JustGoBlue

December 17th, 2009 at 4:34 AM ^

To make up for the crazy hours we spend studying for extremely difficult finals, we have ridiculously awesome football and hockey tea...

Oh wait...

Well, I always liked volleyball and water polo best anyways?

Don

December 17th, 2009 at 9:06 AM ^

My brother is a tenured prof up at MSU, and I roll my eyes whenever he complains about his job teaching the unwashed and hungover masses up in Spartyville. IMHO there is no better deal in the world of work than being a university professor

Feat of Clay

December 17th, 2009 at 2:36 PM ^

I got to see that stuff up close and personal when I got my PhD and let me tell you, it did not look appealing.

You know that nagging feeling that you should always be doing something more--more studying, more research, more revision... that never goes away when you're a faculty member at a prestigious research university.

Parts of the job are sweet, I will grant you that. However, faculty are never off the clock. The job doesn't end at 5pm--in fact it never ends. It's like being a student with no graduation in sight. There is always something else you need to spend time on if you want to stay up to date and valued in your field. There wasn't a faculty member I knew who had a life I envied.

Topher

December 17th, 2009 at 9:11 AM ^

This wasn't at Michigan, but I overslept a final once and woke up with my alarm blaring for an hour and counting with the exam already 20 minutes over.

Hopped on my bike, and I was so amped up from adrenaline, I destroyed the exam and was even the first one to finish.

MMB 82

December 17th, 2009 at 9:13 AM ^

that will make you feel that much prouder in the years to come when you look at your diploma hanging on the wall. The steepest mountains tend to also be the highest.....

Hard Gay

December 17th, 2009 at 9:19 AM ^

Hows this,

already failed my EECS 280 exam and am about to fail my calc III exam. have to retake both and will be on academic probation next semester :(.

octal9

December 17th, 2009 at 11:02 AM ^

When I took 280 the exams only counted for 35% of the total grade, with programs counting for 65% - aced the course solely for that reason (earned 100% credit for programs, but averaged a C on exams).

281 & 381 (especially 381) will kick it up several notches. I went on and off academic probation several times; it's quite a long haul. Hang in there, if I can pull it off then I know others can.

number63

December 17th, 2009 at 12:23 PM ^

EECS 280 was the turning point of my academic career at Michigan. After failing both midterms, getting zeroes on the final three program assignments, bombing the final, and picking up three honor code violations for copying other people's code, it was pretty clear to me that I should change my major. And change I did... to IOE.

MGoJen

December 17th, 2009 at 4:14 PM ^

I'm an LSAer through and through, (Poli Sci, what!) but have always deep down wished I could hang with the School of Engineering kids, especially the EECS boys/girls. (By "hang with", I mean know what they know and do what they do.)

I feel like they are quite possibly some of the smartest kids around.

thethirdcoast

December 17th, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^

Did you have Kieras (sp?) for EECS 280?

He was my first 280 prof, and he was totally worthless. All around terrible lecturer and communicator. He also had little time for EEs (such as myself) required to take 280 who otherwise held little interest in heavy duty programming.

His office hours were on the other side of North Campus from our lecture hall, and scheduled immediately after lecture.

Also loved the section leader who told us, "Uh...I know C really well, but I'm not up on C++." Gee, thanks pal..what is the focus of this course again?

We were also one of the first classes to deal with the dread autograder. Trying to ESP what input script they might use was just loads of fun. The best moments were when you thought you had fairly robust input handling, you were on your third and final autograder submission, and the autograder feedback seemed to indicate your code hung on an error you were positive you'd fixed.

So yes, I also failed 280 the first time I took it, and it almost drove me from EECS. I retook it under another professor and got a B.

Still doesn't help me explain my 'damaged' transcripts to employers an MSEE and a DECADE later.

number63

December 17th, 2009 at 5:24 PM ^

The professor for my class was Charles Antonelli, and he was beyond worthless. And apparently I'm not the only one that feels that way: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=774451

During my time as a student at Michigan, there were only two professors/lecturers that I would describe as beyond worthless. One was Antonelli, and the other was Richard "Don't call me Dick" Gerth. Any IOE students reading this should be very familiar with that name and know exactly what I mean.