# What irks you the most now at university?



## .95596 (Aug 24, 2012)

What has been bothering me the most the most at university now has been mostly the students. I don't mean to sound querulous but it seems that more students are cheating everyday. College seems like an extension of high school instead of an institution of higher learning like it is meant to be...might just be kids in my generation in my region of the States.


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## Jay-Son (Dec 18, 2008)

What irks me is the lack of applicable material to the real world that we learn.

I find the textbooks do 80% of the teaching.


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## .95596 (Aug 24, 2012)

Jay-Son said:


> What irks me is the lack of applicable material to the real world that we learn.
> 
> I find the textbooks do 80% of the teaching.


Yeah, it seems that more professors are relying on power point presentations as crutches to substitute for their shoddy teaching skills. One must turn solely to the textbook for any gain in knowledge these days.

It is funny how their is a negative trend between technology advancements and teaching ability.

I miss the days when teachers actually used blackboards...


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

cliques.


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## vanishingpt (Mar 9, 2012)

Overall I've really enjoyed my experiences at University, but the stress during midterms is not something I'd like to deal with a lot... but what can you do? :b


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## Zeppelin (Jan 23, 2012)

I find it really difficult and like half of the people there don't speak English so it's hard to make friends.


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## Zil (Feb 5, 2011)

I thought university was going to be for people who don't mind learning new material and that have natural curiosity towards self improvement.

Instead all I see are people who pack their stuff 3 minutes before the class ends while the teacher talks(disrespectful) and they whine about how boring or long the class is. 

Something else that bothers me is the fact that some of the teacher's I've had were plain bad(Poor preparation, no passion, they see it as something that needs to get done for a paycheck).


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## Brasilia (Aug 23, 2012)

What annoys me is how I (with a history of SA) seem to be the only one making the effort to try to make friends, everyone else is happy to sit in silence with their mobile phones, not interested in other people, but they go out binge drinking every night (and turn up to lectures drunk) and call themselves 'social'.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

So many college students have an enormous sense of entitlement.


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## burrito (Aug 29, 2012)

The main irks for me were the unprofessional rude instructors that are obviously wasting your time. And many new students fresh out of highschool can be pretty immature still. Usually the baseball teams seemed the worst lol.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

Multiple choice exams and curves. Yes, I'm the a-hole who says too many classes are too easy, and should be harder. My best classes were my most brutal ones, where we didn't have to only learn enough to recognize it as a choice, but had to show that we understood what we learned through essays, short answer, mathematical solving, drawing out step by step mechanisms for reactions, etc. It's funny how much we pay for our education, and yet we usually prefer that we get less bang for our buck, because we value that grade we get more than the content we learn.


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## Wurli (Sep 15, 2012)

So many things irk me...

But I'll start with freshman. The dumdum freshmans irk me. They come in acting like they own the place yet they don't know diddly squat.


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## Azador (Sep 4, 2012)

The library has several copies of cheap books that no one uses and single copies of key texts that everyone wants to use. The result is that you have 50 people clamouring over one book.

The teachers themselves often borrow key texts and seem to have the ability to override student reservations/requests by holding onto these books for months at a time.

Most of the lectures consist of the teacher simply reading off a powerpoint or hand-out.

The admin/IT staff seem to view students with contempt.

etc.


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## .95596 (Aug 24, 2012)

Azador said:


> The library has several copies of cheap books that no one uses and single copies of key texts that everyone wants to use. The result is that you have 50 people clamouring over one book.
> 
> The teachers themselves often borrow key texts and seem to have the ability to override student reservations/requests by holding onto these books for months at a time.
> 
> ...


Seems that there is a ubiquitous plague amongst many universities with poor education, or more specifically a lack of education in part due to terrible professors.

Also, staff seem to cause a lot of bother too especially the advisors at my school. It's nice seeing our money go to such worthy hands :blank.


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## SilentLyric (Aug 20, 2012)

Whenever the teacher attempts to be funny, falls flat, and the class erupts in laughter. What's so funny that most of us are going to be in a lot of debt struggling to get a job? And if we can't get a job we won't be able to have a car, a place to live, and most of all, a partner.


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## Guldove (Oct 17, 2012)

Poor pacing and poor choice in required texts are my biggest problems. I find that the lecturers, while knowledgeable and friendly, spend a lot of time reiterating and using analogies, neither of which help me while I'm mentally twiddling my thumbs waiting for the last piece I need to finish the puzzle and understand the concept.

One of the books I've completely ignored these past few weeks despite my professor occasionally commenting that I seemed to have not read it. I know the material, I just use things ahead of where we are or that aren't mentioned (sometimes, not ideal). Something that I may spend an hour on if I read from the text I can figure out in 10-15 minutes online where I'll pick up useful tidbits or trails to follow instead of clutter and a headache. It's encouraging to sit down to instead of discouraging.


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## Josefz27 (Oct 26, 2012)

1)Learning by myself. Been doing a lot of this the past three quarters because the professors can't teach and go too fast without steps or explaining.
2)Seeing the guys interacting w/the opposite sex having a great time conversing while I'm just walking alone. Not mad at them or anything but it gets to me.


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## John316C (May 1, 2011)

Everybody looks like they're in kindergarten or something.


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## Electric Emu (Oct 28, 2012)

The binge drinking and the fact that everywhere students go to hang out has to have background music that prevents you holding a conversation.


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

Jay-Son said:


> What irks me is the lack of applicable material to the real world that we learn.
> 
> I find the textbooks do 80% of the teaching.


Lol, exactly. I can say the same about my Statistics class, and in reality that can come off as a hard class for many people. This whole semester, I've been using mostly textbook and internet resources to study and still come out making As on the exam. Our professor is is straight from China, and his accent is really thick on top of all of that.

I just go to the class to show my face when it comes to "attendance".


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## cybernaut (Jul 30, 2010)

Oh and yeah, they're are still cliques in my college at least. They also talk about getting involved here in clubs to make friends. Getting involved my áss...lol. Half the time when you attempt to get involved in the "clubs", new and previous club members already know each other and have even known each other in years for most cases, which result in you being the odd one out especially if you have SA.

I can definitely go on and on in this thread. I'm not meant for the school social life..I just go to class, get the information that I need, try to good on the exams, then be on my way. It's been like this since grade school. Oh well.


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## Relz (Oct 31, 2011)

I dislike the students at my school. They all dress exactly alike (no exaggeration) and only talk to people who conform to this unofficial uniform. They're also extremely close-minded, and very vocal about their sh_i_tty opinions. For me, I feel like being a liberal minority in a predominately white, conservative college in the south instantly alienates me. I get weird looks from people just for existing.

Not to mention the curriculum is designed in such a way that it requires no brain power whatsoever to do well. And yet, the student body cares more about football and getting wasted than about their education (although the education here is very poor quality to begin with). I hated my old university with a burning passion (I transferred from there) but THIS place is so bad I actually miss it.


ratherunique11 said:


> Oh and yeah, they're are still cliques in my college at least. They also talk about getting involved here in clubs to make friends. Getting involved my áss...lol. *Half the time when you attempt to get involved in the "clubs", new and previous club members already know each other and have even known each other in years for most cases, which result in you being the odd one out especially if you have SA.*


 Seriously! Clubs are no way to make connections unless you already have some connections in the inner circle. Its so easy to go to a club meeting and be ignored--to speak to somebody you have to break into one of their pre-established groups. And in a college as cliquey as mine, you are most definitely *not* welcome to do so!


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## TheEnigma (Oct 16, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> So many college students have an enormous sense of entitlement.


Would you care to give an example? I hear this a lot and I'm always worried I'm one of them...But that could just be the SA talking. I always think I'm the worst case in everything.


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## Donnie in the Dark (Mar 15, 2011)

my biggest annoyance is that all my housemates have relationship histories.... then there is me. Ah well. At least they never make me talk about it.


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## JenN2791 (Aug 21, 2011)

Being told you have to buy the textbooks, and the teachers don't even have you use it later on in the semester.

And then when you don't buy the textbook because you feel that will probably be the case^ you end up seeing that you DO NEED IT, especially if/when the professor teaches so poorly.


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## Barette (Jan 17, 2012)

What irks me most is that college is filled with college aged people. I don't like them.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

TheEnigma said:


> Would you care to give an example? I hear this a lot and I'm always worried I'm one of them...But that could just be the SA talking. I always think I'm the worst case in everything.


By entitled college students, I mean people who think they are due an education paid for by their parents. Many students demand that their parents pay for their college education, only to abuse this opportunity by spending all their time partying or lazing around instead of studying and working hard, which leads to horrible grades. I used to have a suitemate who nearly failed out of college due to her laziness, and I would hear her constantly argue with her mother over the phone saying that she _needed _to go to college and that her parents _had_ to pay for her. A college education is a privilege, not a right. I believe that if the parents are paying for their child to attend college, they have every right to refuse to pay if the child abuses that privilege.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

Barette said:


> What irks me most is that college is filled with college aged people. I don't like them.


oh, and THIS.


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## Koloz (Nov 11, 2011)

Barette said:


> What irks me most is that college is filled with college aged people. I don't like them.


me either, and I'm not even in college yet. I work with them and that's enough.


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## AgentOrange (Nov 11, 2012)

JenN2791 said:


> Being told you have to buy the textbooks, and the teachers don't even have you use it later on in the semester.
> 
> And then when you don't buy the textbook because you feel that will probably be the case^ you end up seeing that you DO NEED IT, especially if/when the professor teaches so poorly.


yup that'll do it.


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## Ricebunnyx3 (Sep 1, 2010)

The food. Maybe, it's because my school is inexpensive, but the food is horrible. So ****ing ****ty and tasteless, and I hate it so much. I'm not a good cook, yet I'd still prefer my cooking over there ****ty food. And they often have the same boring nasty tasteless meals over and over.


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## Ricebunnyx3 (Sep 1, 2010)

Barette said:


> What irks me most is that college is filled with college aged people. I don't like them.


What's wrong w/ college aged people?


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## Barette (Jan 17, 2012)

Ricebunnyx3 said:


> What's wrong w/ college aged people?


95% of them annoy me.


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## reaal (Jul 15, 2011)

greek life

i totally thought the jock/popular/cool groups would fade out because we are all mature adults....

boy was i wrong, frats are exactly the same as the douches were in highschool just add alcohol...


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## Mani14 (Oct 23, 2012)

Zeppelin said:


> I find it really difficult and like half of the people there don't speak English so it's hard to make friends.


this. i cannot express how much i can relate.


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## shammie (Oct 31, 2012)

Zil said:


> I thought university was going to be for people who don't mind learning new material and that have natural curiosity towards self improvement.
> 
> Instead all I see are people who pack their stuff 3 minutes before the class ends while the teacher talks(disrespectful) and they whine about how boring or long the class is.
> 
> Something else that bothers me is the fact that some of the teacher's I've had were plain bad(Poor preparation, no passion, they see it as something that needs to get done for a paycheck).


To quote my personal tutor when I raised this point at the end of my first year at Uni.

"You have to remember, a number of parents see University as an extension to child care. Rather than having their child running around on the streets, they want to know they're occupied somehow. Thus, they get sent to Uni.

And thankfully many of those fail the first year exams. "

As for your second paragraph - I've lectured briefly. I love my topic. It struck me a number of lecturers didn't seem to love their topic. I think some get jaded dealing with the same problems highlighted above. They want to teach genuinely excited students.

And like any sphere, some lecturers are just there for the money.


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## shammie (Oct 31, 2012)

Barette said:


> 95% of them annoy me.


I had a similar problem - mainly due to them messing about during lectures. It drove me nuts.

A lecturer said "Ask if you can join the part-time lectures"

"Why?"

"Well, part-timers are mostly mature students, coming back to do a degree. They have a lot riding on this, and treat it seriously. Thus, many of the lectures and tutorials are far, far better"

And it was true. Some of the times were awkward, as most part-time classes were at night to cater for working part-timers. But it was so much more enjoyable being with them.


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## queenbanana (Sep 5, 2012)

Expenses. 
They charge for absolutely everything it's ridiculous. And everything costs so much more here I hate it. I transferred from a community college to this huge university where chips are half the size and twice the price, not to mention parking, you either pay up or park far. Oh, and if you park slightly outside of range, instant ticket! Wtf. 
Not happy with that, the library charges you to check out items. Seriously it's a library, where you're supposed to be able to BORROW books, not rent them. It's annoying my brains out of me.


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## lucyinthesky (Mar 29, 2009)

On the whole, I have only good things to say about my university. But there's also group work D:


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## DubnRun (Oct 29, 2011)

im glad I realised it was a con and never went. People dont even realise the symbolism of those square hats they are wearing, they are being mocked and laughed at


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## TheEnigma (Oct 16, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> By entitled college students, I mean people who think they are due an education paid for by their parents. Many students demand that their parents pay for their college education, only to abuse this opportunity by spending all their time partying or lazing around instead of studying and working hard, which leads to horrible grades. I used to have a suitemate who nearly failed out of college due to her laziness, and I would hear her constantly argue with her mother over the phone saying that she _needed _to go to college and that her parents _had_ to pay for her. A college education is a privilege, not a right. I believe that if the parents are paying for their child to attend college, they have every right to refuse to pay if the child abuses that privilege.


I _really_ hate people like you. It isn't right to look down on someone just because their parents are helping them out. Tons of students have parents helping them out. I'm sorry if yours can't but you shouldn't hate people because their parents help them.

I don't abuse the privledge of my parents paying for my college. I'm the perfect student. In fact, they wouldn't even have to. I may not have a job (SA), but I got 3 scholarships and loans, so I could afford for the entire thing if they didn't offer to pay a small portion (about 1000 a year)

I HATE YOU. (I'm probably breaking rules here by saying this, but I feel it needs to be said.

I ****ING HATE YOU.

This is why I hate college and college aged students. (Yes I saw your other post about entitlement = hating college aged students at college)
You are one of the reasons why I hate them.


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## Barette (Jan 17, 2012)

^Wow that's a strong reply...


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

TheEnigma said:


> I _really_ hate people like you. It isn't right to look down on someone just because their parents are helping them out. Tons of students have parents helping them out. I'm sorry if yours can't but you shouldn't hate people because their parents help them.
> 
> I don't abuse the privledge of my parents paying for my college. I'm the perfect student. In fact, they wouldn't even have to. I may not have a job (SA), but I got 3 scholarships and loans, so I could afford for the entire thing if they didn't offer to pay a small portion (about 1000 a year)
> 
> ...


Wow! You don't hold anything back. :lol Sorry if you misunderstood, but that's not the case with me. I am one of those students whose parents help them out. My parents do pay for my school, and I have scholarships, loans, and financial aid. So, I DON'T look down on people whose parents are helping them out, just on those who don't value their opportunity for a college education, regardless of who is paying.


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## TheEnigma (Oct 16, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> Wow! You don't hold anything back. :lol Sorry if you misunderstood, but that's not the case with me. I am one of those students whose parents help them out. My parents do pay for my school, and I have scholarships, loans, and financial aid. So, I DON'T look down on people whose parents are helping them out, just on those who don't value their opportunity for a college education, regardless of who is paying.


Ok ok. In that case, sorry about the misunderstanding then. But I do run into people are like what I described so often that its...taxing...on my mental state. Its not good.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

TheEnigma said:


> Ok ok. In that case, sorry about the misunderstanding then. But I do run into people are like what I described so often that its...taxing...on my mental state. Its not good.


Don't worry about it. :yes Yeah, I know what you mean. There was a guy in one of my friend's classes that would constantly call the other students spoiled brats and freeloaders just because their parents paid for their education. It's like, it's not exactly easy to be financially independent at this age!


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## TheEnigma (Oct 16, 2012)

tbyrfan said:


> Don't worry about it. :yes Yeah, I know what you mean. There was a guy in one of my friend's classes that would constantly call the other students spoiled brats and freeloaders just because their parents paid for their education. It's like, it's not exactly easy to be financially independent at this age!


I know! I hate the people call others spoiled brats and claim that they are financially independent. I know people who claim that, but they only work like 20 hours a week at a grocery store, and I'm seeing them get a $5.00 starbucks drink 5 days a week.

If you do the math, they earn about 150 a week and when you subtract the starbucks, thats 125. Assume they have a really unusually cheap food plan at college. They're down to 75. Subtract gas money. Down to about 50. Subtract the phone plan. Down to about 40 even with a not top of the line one. Subtract the money they spend on entertainment, new clothing, fancy tech stuff, tuition, etc, and they are wayy in debt. And this is just assumping they skimp and scrape with their stuff instead of buying expensive versions of this ****. *Financial independence my ***.*


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## Marlon (Jun 27, 2011)

Aside from the lazy students and awful curricula, it's the women who walk down the center of the walkway SLOW AS **** because they are on their phone texting and you can't get around them. It seriously makes me so angry. I don't want to sound sexist or anything, but really 95% of the time it's women. 

_*slowly rips hair out*_


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## college (Feb 1, 2012)

The college lifestyle was so hyped up for me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “These are going to be the best years of your life.” I’m currently a freshman in college and I don’t feel as if there’s much of a difference from high school, socially that is. I look at all of the older adult students and yearn to have them as peers, but few of them entertain the idea of hanging out with an 18 year old. So I have no friends.


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## TheEnigma (Oct 16, 2012)

I agree. ^^^ But only about the adult-adult students. Not the "adult" students. Like I was listening to this one ***** talk about how she's _24 _and _SO_ much more mature than all of these 18 and 19 year olds. I felt like slapping her. Had you heard her previous conversation, it was quite obvious she isn't mature. She looked like she was 12 and acted like she was 9. The 30-something plus students on the other hand, I agree with you. I like talking to them. (But they dont really entertain the ida of being REAL friends with me)


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## lavandula (Oct 3, 2012)

I agree with you guys.. ^^^ lol I noticed that a lot of older people go to class in the evening/night. I'm starting to think of taking night classes next year. >.> I have one evening class now with 10 others and it's just so relaxing I love it.


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## Phanatic26 (Oct 15, 2010)

My loud suitemate and his complete disrespect for the rest of us in our suite. Besides the whole party culture of college of course. At least that's avoidable with a single room.


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## rikkix3 (Dec 5, 2012)

Nothing is worse at college than having a super extroverted roommate. *sigh* I would switch roommates, but I don't have any other friends...


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## BeyondOsiris (Nov 2, 2012)

I'm currently attending a Community College, so I kind of expected it to be a bit like high school, but my English professor this semester is just ridiculous. He teaches like a high school freshman English teacher; he requires us to attend class even though all he does is read DIRECTLY from the book as if we can't read on our own, and he even calls roll and has a seating chart.


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## SnowSunRainClouds (Dec 3, 2012)

Oh gosh, I have a ton for this!

*People that talk during lectures.* Seriously, shut up! It's so rude and make it hard for people to focus. Want to loudly talk to friends? Get out of the classroom then.

*Professors that abuse, misuse, or don't use technology. *
I like powerpoints that are supplemented by the lecture and readings. That's kinda the whole point of them being used.
I also appreciate it when blackboard (does anyone else have this system or D2L?) is used effectively. I have a professor that refuses to put grades up on it, or to put the powerpoints up. Tells us to calculate our own GPA... just a little annoying. 
Of course there is the professor that overloads the powerpoint, and just reads off the slides. Honestly this is the worst. I have a class like this, and it's my weakest class by far.

*People that don't have laptops but use the desks with power outlets when then power free desks are still available. *

*Textbooks that are required, but aren't used or aren't useful at all. *


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## BeyondOsiris (Nov 2, 2012)

I use Blackboard, and I definitely agree with the required textbooks that aren't even used being annoying.. I've wasted at least $150 on books that were required that we didn't even use once.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

People who distract me. Some talk during the lecture constantly. Some eat and make a lot of noise doing so. Today I heard wrappers being opened up over and over again and girl next to me was dumping some sort of powder into a bottle of water. The worst are the big, stinky salad eaters. That must be the worst food to bring to class. It's always girls who do that. 

And just people who fidget in general. Guys like to kick the back of my chair just slightly but over and over again. So I keep moving my desk more forward to get away from their legs but they keep doing it. 

Twice I've sat next to nail biters. I felt like slapping their hand and asking them if they could keep their hand out of their mouth for a couple hours. One of the nail biters was shredding up and folding pieces of paper for the entire lecture once. Bizarre.


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## Owl-99 (Mar 7, 2012)

komorikun said:


> Twice I've sat next to nail biters. I felt like slapping their hand and asking them if they could keep their hand out of their mouth for a couple hours. One of the nail biters was shredding up and folding pieces of paper for the entire lecture once. Bizarre.


I agree nail biters are super gross and annoying.


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## Shrimpy (Nov 19, 2012)

Students who don't do any work & only rely on their impeccable social skills to get others to do the hard work for them. I suppose it will come back to them in the future.

People who make friends easily - Admittedly, I have no problem with this but how do you make it look so easy?! Tell me your secret!


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